Honey, I'm home!

I can't believe I've been gone for 9 months! Sheesh, I could have had a BABY in that time. Thank goodness I didn't...Lord knows I'm too old and way too busy for a baby. Now a grand-baby?  Maybe one of these days.

So, where did we leave off?  Oh yes, I do believe it was February.  Where oh where do I start.  Well, it's been a VERY busy year.  I'll do my best to catch up and not bore anyone to tears.

The most exciting thing that has happened all year is that my beautiful oldest daughter, known here as "Bear" got married in April.  Crazy, isn't it? I'm WAY too young to have a daughter of marrying age, right?  Hardly! Bear got married to her fiance Barry (I did NOT make that up.) and it was a lovely, perfect wedding.

We were all thrilled that everything came together beautifully. It was both exhilarating and a huge relief at the same time. 

After the wedding, we slid into a very warm summer.  Sometime in mid May, Kona managed to tear his CCL (the dog equivalent to our ACL)  He had to have knee surgery on July 9th.  Not fun, not fun at all! 

We are extremely lucky to have a huge support system, many of them coming from Kona's FaceBook page. If you are on FaceBook, be sure to like his page. He goes by Kona the Love Sponge. I may have been gone from here for a while, but I've been busy on his page just about everyday. Priorities, right?  Haha! 

Back in July I also did something that some people might have thought was a bit odd.  I shaved my head.  One of my dearest friends is battling breast cancer, and I shaved it in her honor and to share the experience with her.  My hair has pretty much grown back now, but she is still fighting, and if I had my way, I'd still be bald.  

I didn't mind the look, and it sure was easy!  It was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat...

Kona's rehab took quite a while, but in the long run it was totally worth all the work we did with him.  He had weekly cold laser therapy sessions and underwater treadmill sessions.  We were so thankful to find a fantastic place to take him.  Here is a little bit of what he went through.

Kona wasn't the only one who surgery this summer. The Boy managed to do a heck of a job messing up his knee and also had ACL surgery...He also had a summer of physical therapy and work to get back on his feet.

As they say, if it's not one thing, it's 15 others, right?  

So now, here we are, staring the holidays in the face.  I know I've said it before, but it's amazing how the time flies. The Boy is back at school at Purdue University for his final year. It was just yesterday that he was leaving and I was a sobbing mess.  Bear is married, and Pickle, my baby, is out and about, enjoying her independence and spreading her wings. She turns 21 in less than a month. I swear I was just taking her to kindergarten...

Hubby and I celebrated out 24th anniversary in Oct.  No Halloween party this year - the wedding was enough to take care of this year.  We are kicking around the idea of another Halloween blow-out next year, but that is still to be determined.  

The dogs keep us busy - Harley will be 12 in April, Jill tunrs 10 next month, Kona turned 7 last week, and our puppy, Lucas (aka Squirt) is already 18 months old! Remember when he was just a little guy? Yup - time flies indeed. 

Well, that's it for now...a little bit of catch up. I'm sure I've forgotten a ton of stuff, I mean it has been 9 months for goodness sakes.  I'll be back soon, and I promise it won't be another 9 months.

The Canine Cancer Walk

On February 23rd I'll be walking in the San Diego K9 Cancer walk, benefiting the Morris Animal Foundation.  We walked last year with my Golden Retriever Meetup group, and we were thankful that we had 4 very healthy dogs.

Shortly after the walk, one of our girls, Jill (aka GiGi) was diagnosed with a hemangiosarcoma on her front right paw.  We were lucky and caught it in time.  We had her toe amputated, and she recovered 100%. She runs around, no worse for the wear, and is again, a healthy, happy girl.

Up until the 1st of February, we were planning on walking in her honor. She is a cancer survivor, and we felt lucky. Then, as you know, we lost our boy Jack. Sudden, shocking, and sad. He had a massive splenic tumor that ruptured. Most likely another hemangiosarcoma. This time we weren't lucky. 

So, on February 23rd, we will be walking both in honor of Jill, and in loving memory of our beautiful boy Jack.

If you have the desire to make a donation to our team, we would greatly appreciate it.  Any amount is wonderful.  I am the team leader. Here is a link if you are interested. 
http://support.morrisanimalfoundation.org/site/TR/Events/General?pg=team&fr_id=1310&team_id=5702

I had some special shirts made up for the event for Hubby and I to wear.  I was very happy with how they came out, and how fast they shipped.  I ordered these late last week and they arrived today.  Thanks CafePress.

480 Under Our Belts

It's just 1:20pm and we already have 480 miles under our belts today. We've only got about 60 more miles to go and we will be at the South Fork of the American River, where we'll spend the weekend white water rafting. I'm blogging from my phone and for the life of me I cant figure out how to upload a picture from my photo library to my post...oh well, that lesson will have to wait for another day. I've checked in with G-Ma and the pups are good. She's hanging with them this weekend and taking care of things for me. I hope she doesn't throw TOO big of a party while we are gone. Haha! Until I can sign back on.... C-ya!

In the Clear!

We got the long awaited results on Jill's biopsy yesterday.  She is cancer free! Can I get a "Hell Yeah!" ? The lab results on her toe were completely clean, and there was no evidence of more cancer cells.  She doesn't need any other follow up, no chemo, no nothing. It's about time things started to turn around in 2012, and hopefully this is the start of it! Goodness knows, I'm ready for some good stuff to start happening!

Here is how her foot looks without the toe. Its healing nicely.

She got her stitches out yesterday, and the lack of the 4th toe sure doesn't seem to bother her or slow her down. It's great to know that she is on the right road to recovery! Now she just needs a good grooming - she is WAY overdue!

Forlorn

Poor Jill was feeling a little forlorn today when the other 3 pups went out for their walk.

She hung out by the front door the entire time they were gone...then gave them each a sniff when they arrived home, and promptly plopped down and took a nap.

That's my girl!

Easter Sunday

I'm hoping that you all had a wonderful Easter, spent with your friends and family. We went out for a very nice Easter Brunch, courtesy of my Mom. We went to the same place we have gone several times in the past, a lovely restaurant in Carlsbad call "The Ocean House." Long ago it was called "Neimans" and before that it was "The Twins Inn." Over the years the name has changed, but the food is always the same -- great!

I have to admit, it was tough being there this year. Last year when we were there we had AJ with us, my brother and most of his family with us, and of course my Dad. This year there were 6 of us, my Mom, me, hubby, Pickle, Bear and Bear's Boyfriend. It was still wonderful, don't get me wrong, but the day has had a tinge of melancholy to it. I was thinking of my brother and his family, I was missing my Dad terribly, and of course with AJ in Indiana this was our first Easter apart - it was tough. (Yes, the Easter Bunny did ship him a basket!)

After way too much food not overdoing it at the buffet, we took the beach route home, and stopped here and there to enjoy the fresh air and sea breeze. It was a bit hazy, but still a very nice day.

Mark this day in history. I am wearing a dress! Goodness - don't look at the lily white legs! Yikes!

This picture got to me a bit. It's just a quick shot of Mom, taking a few minutes to reflect. For some reason this picture makes me sad way down deep...

Ah, this one is much better...a smile on her face as she poses with Bear.

Once we got home, we decided that it would be nice to let the pups swim a bit. The pool water temp was 75F which was a bit too chilly for us, but the pups LOVED it! We even let Jill swim, and considering she is going in for her toe amputation tomorrow morning, it will probably be the last time she is able to swim for at least several weeks. They all thoroughly enjoyed it, splished and splashed and wore themselves out.

I adore this picture of Harley. Freshly groomed, the look on her face is sheer bliss. This girl LOVES the pool!

When we gave Jill a bath after the pool she was so tired she could hardly move. She is such a sweet old gal!

I am praying that things go good with her toe tomorrow, and that they can get all of the cancer and we can be done with this soon! Her toe doesn't look bad, and it seems crazy that tomorrow it will be gone. Please keep your fingers crossed that it all goes well. Some good news is over due around here.

I'll finish this off with an adorable picture my friend Judy took of her pups, Rina and Surf Dog Ricochet. Judy has the cutest ideas when it comes to dressing them up for special occasions. I wanted to share this picture she took because I know there is NO WAY I could come up with anything even close to this cute!

Not the News We Wanted to Hear

Warning...I'm going to post a gross picture. Why? Because I want you to know what a hemangiosarcoma looks like.

A WHAT?

Hemangiosarcoma

AKA, cancer.

One of our Golden Girls...Jill, has a hemangiosarcoma on one of her toes on her front right foot. We noticed a sore on the toe about a month ago. We honestly didn't think much of it. With 4 goldens in the house, they are always rough-housing and running around and playing hard. It looked as if she'd scraped the top of her foot somehow, maybe even dragged it while she was on a walk. We tended to the sore, and it seemed to heal up a bit. But then she started to lick at it and when she did it bled, and it bled BAD. This is what it looked like. You can probably see the spot that looks almost like a large blood blister. That is the culprit. Damn cancer. After taking very good care of her paw, and giving it plenty of time to heal, we came to the realization that it wasn't just something that would go away on it's own. We took her to the vet and they recommended that the "mass" be removed.

A relatively easy procedure, and just over $400 later, this is what her paw looks like now. Much better, right?

Well, just when we thought that was over and done with, we got the call with the news that we didn't want to hear. The "mass" that was removed is cancerous. Have I mentioned lately how much I freaking HATE CANCER? Yup, I'm pretty sure I have....

Anyway, the next step is to have her toe amputated. I know it can be a lot worse, and hopefully after they biopsy the toe they will confirm that they were able to get all of the cancer cells, but right now I just feel pretty bummed about it.

2012 just keeps slinging shit my way...or at least that's how it feels. We are waiting to hear back as to when her next surgery will be. Please keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.

The 2011 3 Day, Day 1

I couldn't walk this year, but I wanted to cheer, and cheer I did. Cheer and clap, and hoot and holler! We got out there at about 7:30am and got home at 5:30pm.

IT

WAS

AWESOME

Tomorrow we will be there when the walkers start out on the route, which should be right around 6:30am. I feel such a kinship with these people, it's hard to explain.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today. There were lots more I could have shared...but there are also two more days of the walk I'll be sharing. Tomorrow the "Melon Patch" will be out in force. Today my friend Ed was a "Melon Man" solo act. Hubby and our other melon men friends were stuck at work. Tomorrow it's on baby!


If you are on FB, check out "The Melon Men" - they have their own public page!