Fun Monday: a prized photo or pocession

This week's Fun Monday challenge is hosted by The Lurchers and she has asked us to do the following:

Show me your favourite photograph and tell me why it's your favourite. It can be one you've taken yourself or one someone else has taken, a snapshot or a more professional image. Is there a story behind it? Do you love it for the memories it gives or just because it's pleasing to the eye? Show me and tell me!

I haven't participated in FM for a while, but this one seemed easy and fun (a few of the more recent ones have been HARD :D).

Certainly, as the years have gone by, my favorite photo has changed. Most recently, this has been my favorite: The photo is a picture of Gabi, the Girl Goober. She is about a year old at the time that I shot this, and we had been having a ball chasing fest out in the backyard. She was happy, having been running around, doing her thing, and I think that the photo captures that. Whenever I see this picture, I feel a nice little smile inside.

Now, for much the same reasons, the following two photos will likely also hit that same "This Pictures Just Makes Me Smile Inside Gallery" soon:

Both pictures have some technical faults but who cares! What can I say? I am just a sucker for a smiling dog!

Hug your hounds! Visit the other participants in this Monday's FM at The Lurchers.

Happy Birthday, Dubby-Dawg

Yesterday was Darby's birthday. He turned NINE YEARS OLD. He's doing well. Four years ago, we went into liver failure. The vet told me it was likely cancer, but given his young age, recommended a biopsy. Sure enough, it wasn't liver failure. He had significant liver scarring ( source unknown) and a bacterial infection in the portal system. He recovered -- his liver functions have been stable, but whenever we do labs, each time, his platelet count it lower, which tells me that probably, the liver scarring is worsening. After the episode of liver failure, he never quite recovered, but with time, he has slowly gotten better....he's just slow.

Every time I take Darby to the vet, some other problem is diagnosed. He has a very bad back-- probably some sort of disc issue, but because of that his back legs are slowly atrophying -- one worse than the other. He also has a severe heart murmur. Occasionally, the back pain flairs. A few months ago, I was concerned because it became so severe that he couldn't get up, and was obviously miserable. I believe that it is our role as guardian of these animals to make certain that they don't suffer unnecessarily. However, even though I was picking him up to take him outside (causing pain), his eyes were always bright. Today, he is doing well on his dose of Rimadyl. He runs slow zoomies. He even gets up on the couch to sit beside me, something he doesn't do when he is feeling poorly. He occasionally finds a nearly spent toy and wacks the tar out of it (Darby always liked to take rope toys and shake them so that they bang HIM in the head). He was the gentle alpha of the pack. With time, Gabi has taken over that role. However, when Darby is feeling good and wants in on a little Fun Police action, Gabi lets him.

Darby, you have been the best! Sorry I didn't realize that the name "Darby" was unisex applied primarily to the female side these days. May you have many more happy, pain free days!

Palliative care

A weekend ago, I traveled to my parent's home to visit. Dad had been hospitalized for the first time since his diagnosis of cancer (2 years ago, now), except for a couple of short stays for blood transfusions. He had developed horrible stomatitis -- inflammation of the mucous membranes including the gums, esophagus, and likely, the stomach s well. The inflammation had gotten so severe that he could no longer talk or swallow anything. Because he was unable to take some of his other medications, he had a few other complications beyond the pain and dehydration. Stomatitis is a potential side effect of chemotherapy, but for some reason, for my father, it was far worse than one would have ever have predicted for this particular regimen. His oncologist suggested that it was a viral infection. Perhaps, but I also realize there is much that we don't understand about medicines, and our bodies response to them.

My father has aged tremendously in the past 6 months. He has done far better than would be predicted. I was feeling great that we were "beating the curve" (so to speak), until I went to ASCO this year. For non-smokers with stage III/IV lung cancer the median survival is 18 months. So we were are still beating the curve, but the question begins to surface, "is it worth it?"

I believe that "palliative" chemotherapy should be palliative. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first definition for "palliate" is: to reduce the violence of (a disease); also : to ease (symptoms) without curing the underlying disease.

In the world of oncologic care, unfortunately, often the palliation comes at a significant physical cost. The toxicity of chemotherapy can be much greater than the toxicity of the disease. My father certainly experienced that with this last round of chemotherapy. Is it time to stop? That is a very hard concept for most cancer patients until they become extremely weak, and even then, the families frequently do not want to stop. My parents are not ready to cross that bridge, yet. I think the time is coming, soon.

I have seen time and time again that people can live longer without aggressive intervention than they do with aggressive intervention. The body becomes weak from the ravages of chemotherapy as well as the underlying cancer. At this stage, our treatments for cancer are poison. Even the majority of the "targeted" therapies have significant downsides. We try to kill rapidly growing cells without creating too much toxicity for the "normal" cells, but that's why chemotherapy has so many side effects. I often try to explain to people that they need to have an energy reserve to take chemotherapy, so that they have the energy to recover from the toxicity of the chemotherapy. People often cling to the idea that the next regimen will be The Cure. Our media showcases the extreme. This frequently participates in the drive that people use to pursue treatment far longer than they should. If Joe Smith had a miracle when he was on his death bed, why not me? There is no answer to that question. I have to believe, that when life does not go in the direction that we would hope, that there is a plan beyond us. So many people view the decision to move to symptom targeted treatment, i.e. treatment of pain, dyspnea, etc, but not treatment of the underlying malignancy as giving up. I don't think so. Living with cancer is never giving up.

In the end, there is one truth: Cancer Sucks.

On the good side: while visiting my parents, I met a few angels. One was a neighbor, that my mother met while dog walking. I totally impressed by her generosity. She showed up at the door having been to the farmer's market with a collection of fresh vegetables. Later in the day, she called. She was at the grocery store and wanted to know if my mother needed anything. I would have been happy to have made that grocery store run, but it was nice to be able to stay at home with my parents. When someone is sick, these simple acts can be huge. Later, a member of the my parent's church called. She was asking about my father, how much he was eating. In the end, she volunteered to bring over a custard -- perfect for someone whose mouth was not tolerating a whole lot.

Hug your hounds, and hug your humans. Think about the neighbors. Simple things can mean a whole lot.

Ahhh, the cleansing rain

This has been the week of major change. First, the “cold front” dropping temps from 105 to a nice, cool 95. Amazing how previous experience changes perspective.

Last night, we got some rain….it has been weeks since we have had rain. The ground is hard and cracked. Several days, we have had dark, heavy clouds overhead, only to have the rain fall south of us.

Although this rain will make it hot a muggy, there is a sense of renewal after a rain. The grass greens…life begins, again.

I didn’t run yesterday morning so was determined to do run today. Unfortunately, the clouds opened up 5 minutes into our run. Whippets are great in SOOOooo many ways, but they really do have a phobia about getting wet. (I have heard that it is something about the Great Ancestor that did melt in the rain. Myth of reality? You decide.) Since the dogs were stopping to shake off moisture every 15 seconds, we turned around and jogged (kind of….given the frequent shake breaks) back home. Hudi and Mati looked miserable. Charlie and Gabi immediately started using the furniture and towels. Oh, well. It’s good rain.

Forecasts suggest that we may get rain this evening as well. A good thing. A very good thing.

#1 Gabi in action; #2 Hudi & Gabi (note the look of disgust on Hudi's face):

Major cold front

Get out the parkas. We are having a major cold front in these parts -- high of 95 today. We went to the "ranch". We had a good run around, but it was still quite hot. The skies are overcast -- a throw off from TS Eduardo, but we only got 20 drops out of those clouds. We are getting into that desperately need rain stage.

This picture needed more depth of field, but I really like it just like this:

Play ball with me?

I love this dog. She tends to carry tennis balls around like this: half in and half out. This is the dog that chose me. I am so glad that she did.

Slow weekend II

It was a slow weekend. We went to the ranch, staying on the side away from the big, bad cows (who I have been told were probably friendly, I'm just not testing my luck). On the "dog" end, there is a pond, but it's quite small and shrinking in the 100 degree heat. Despite that, Charlie did take a swim....trying to catch those pesky frogs.

After a swim, Charlie does need a bath. Who said that whippets don't get dirty?
Hudi does NOT go swimming:
Gabi is good for a swim....but she tends to stay clean:

Gabi was one of the first to discover that the van does provide a nice bit of shade:

The hay bales also provide shade:

Ahh, the joy of running:

Mati is going out for the basketball team:
Too bad pictures don't capture sound. Mati is running and barking at the same time.


After our outings each morning, the dogs were VERY quiet. I am looking forward to the fall, when staying up at the ranch all day will be an option (I don't see how people lived in this area before AC).