Guess who?

Well it’s been a VERY long time. In fact I can’t believe how far I’ve gotten away from reading blogs and blogging.

I’m still knitting, had a brief set back in February when my Jack Russell (Cassie) accidentially bit me instead of her brother Leo (our newest member of the family – he’s a 3 year old Westie).

Long story short.. (too late) I ended up in the hospital having emergency surgery on my right index finger. I don’t have all the bend back yet in my finger, but I’m still working on it.

Now here it is April, and Cassie and Leo got into it again and my foot got in the way, and this time is was my toe! Another trip to ER because the doctor could see me on a Friday and it was starting to swell and didn’t look to pretty. Never a dull moment.

Well, I’m going to get my ducks in a row and I’ll update some knitting projects and a few pictures too.  More later!

It’s all about Cassie!

I’ve been thinking that I haven’t really put much time or energy into keeping my blog up to date, and when I do post I feel so rushed.  So tonight I will share only one thing.

Leaving the Animal Hospital on Monday, the day before surgery.

I am so thankful that I have my little Cassie Rabbit to greet me each night when I get home!

You see Cassie had surgery again last week.  New Years eve 2009 we noticed that Cass was squatting everywhere acting like she had to pee.  It was so strange, and we could see she was pain.  We called the vet and they had us bring her in right away.  She had bladder stones.  They call them stones, but they look more like flat jagged rocks.  They said they are like little razor blades!  Can you imagine how much pain that must cause.  Poor little girl.  Anyway, when she had her check up 3 weeks ago I told them that I think she might have something wrong again, but maybe I was just being a little overly protective because of just loosing Thor not long ago.  They took some blood and I dropped off a little pee sample then next morning and then x-rays on the following week, and that’s when it was confirmed… they had come back.  So last Monday they had me bring her in and put a pain patch on her.  I thought this was strange, but they said it was going to help her a great deal.  So I was very thankful for that.  Tuesday just before 5pm I picked up my little girl and took her home.  Poor thing, she was swollen and mad!  I don’t think she likes them there at her vets office anymore!

Well, she did pretty good Wednesday and Thursday and then on Friday her daddy had to take her back to have the pain patch removed.  I am so glad that I wasn’t there.  They couldn’t get the patch off.  Yes, that’s right… the patch wouldn’t come off.  They tried warm water and a few other things, but in the end they had to put a muzzle on her and I don’t want to know the rest of how they got the patch off of her.  All I know is that it took her skin off too… the poor thing looked awful when I got home on Friday night.  Rick said that she really hates everyone there now.

poor baby resting at home after having the patch removed

She is doing great now, and I am keeping the lotion on her skin to help it heal and not get infected and she gets pain meds for another day.

I won’t show you her shaved tummy and the swelling, but I will say she is doing fantastic now!

Monday night the day before surgery... she was feeling pretty good with the pain patch!

So anyway, I just wanted to record what has been going on with my little Cassie Rabbit.   Right this minute she is snoring all curled up in her daddy’s chair.  I love that spoiled little dog sooo much.

OK – my next post will up date you on everything knitting!!!

T H O R…

This post is dedicated to my much-loved sweet dog Thor.

This was one of his favorite places to lay, look out at the lake and watch the ducks.

Our big guy loved to go camping, or anywhere in the car with us.  He just loved to go places.  If you said “Beach” we went nutty, he sure loved going to the beach.

This was one of our camping trips in our pop-up trailer.

Over the 4th of July holiday weekend I noticed that Thor wasn’t eating much and was drinking tons of water.  After a couple of days I thought he was doing better and I saw him eating a bit more.  He was still drinking tons of water.

Last Friday I took him in to see his doctor.  They took blood and checked him over really good.  Doc said that his liver felt swollen but we would know more when the blood work came back.

The next day, Saturday, Thor’s doctor called and said that his numbers for his pancreas should be about 0 to 450 – Thor’s was 35,000!!! That’s when we first started talking about cancer.  He said we really needed to get an ultrasound to know what was going on for sure.

Monday morning, July 18th I took Thor to Tacoma to the animal hospital.  That’s when I was told that Thor had liver cancer and it was very bad.  All though his liver and maybe spreading into other organs.  They took a sample of his liver and sent it out to the lab.

On Tuesday night about 8:00 pm Thor’s doctor called me to tell me that it was very bad and that he thought a combination of steroids and stuff to make his stomach feel better should get him eating again.  Thor was thinking differently.  He never did eat again.  He started getting so weak and it was breaking my heart to see him hardly be able to go outside and up and down the 3 steps.  He still wiggled his tail when we talked to him and he laid by us and loved having his ears rubbed.

I took Thursday off work and stayed home with him so I could make sure he got his meds and that he was doing ok.

Thor had a gray beard from the time he was about 8 months old.

Rick was home with him on Friday and when I got home from work it really scared me… I knew the end was very near.  That night I helped him get up on the bed with Rick and he just stretched out next to him and went to sleep.  I kept our other dog Cassie out in the living room with me all night so she wouldn’t bother Thor.  My plan was to call the doctor in the morning.  Thor got up during the night and laid at the foot of our bed in his favorite spot and went to sleep.  In the morning Rick woke me to tell me that Thor passed during the night.  I walked in and saw him laying there… he looked so peaceful and like he was just sleeping.  I said good-bye and we put him on his blanket & bed.  We carried him out to the garage and called the vet on call.  About 10:00 am we delivered Thor to Petland cemetery to be cremated.  I will pick him up on Monday and we will scatter his ashes at his favorite beach.  I can’t even begin to tell you how sad I feel.  Today I have caught myself looking for him a couple of times.  I just want to have him here with us.  Rick and I got Thor the month after we moved in together.  Thor was 2 weeks old when we got him.  His mother was killed and that’s why we took him at such a young age.  I had to bottle feed him for at least the first month we had him.

Thor Thor Bing… January 2000 to July 23, 2011 – you will be missed sooooo much!

RV Blanket Love!

The sun is shining now!  It figures, I just came in from the RV and it was windy and rainy. 

Cassie decided she wanted to feel the blanket love too!

Well funny thing, and I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner.  Today when I was out in the RV was the first time I’ve stretched the blanket out.  I mean it didn’t even occur to me to spread out the blanket and see how big it really is getting to be.  It is WAY wider than I thought it was going to be. 

This is in the RV, queen size bed.

Don’t get me wrong, I love, love, love how big (wide) it is, it just surprised me.  I guess I’m going to be very glad later that I have a second Lucy Pack of yarn.  I just started the 21st wave in Shrimp.  So that’s 40 rows done!  Maybe a quarter of the way done? 

Look, I have flowers... and they are still alive after one week!

If I stayed out in the RV much longer I think Thor and Cassie would have gone nuts.  They just didn’t understand why we were not going somewhere.  I would have been happy to listen to my book and sit out there and work on my blanket!  Cassie found the bag of treats and was happy for about 2 minutes, until I found out what she was in to and took them away from her.

Many years ago my mom made the most incredible jean blanket for us.  She put our names on it and the year (2001).  We always keep it on the sofa so the dogs don’t make a mess of the light-colored fabric.  Funny thing, the year on the blanket is also the same year of our RV.  It has bandana fabric on the back, and is very heavy.  I had been giving her worn out jeans for years and now she has made us a second one, (much smaller) and we keep it on the foot of our bed in the RV. 

OK mom, let's go!

Now for a word about Daylight Saving Time…. I HATE IT!  Well, maybe not hate, but it’s just so difficult for me to get used to.  I know by next weekend I will be fine, and I do love the light (even if it is seems pretty dark with all the clouds and rain right now).  It seems like it came very early this year.  I guess it’s the first thing to me that starts to make me feel like spring is on the way!

Ready or not here comes Monday, hope you all had a great weekend.

it’s our turn…

I’ve been waiting and waiting for it to be our turn to get snow!  Wednesday we got on and off snow and sunshine.  And then… Thursday we got the snow!  Well actually it was Wednesday night.  At the beach it is a real treat to get snow and my trip to work was a long one. 

almost daylight, and snow is just starting

 

they love the snow too!

 

here comes the snow

 

brrrr... our front porch has seen warmer days

 

Rick's car in a blanket of snow, and the RV waiting for spring

 

the road to the beach

 

leaving Ocean Shores and heading to work

 

a shot out the window... only 20 miles to Aberdeen!

 

looking back toward the bay

 

 

road closed for a bit

what to do when waiting!

 

FRIDAY…

I stayed home from work today,  I wasn’t sure what the weather would bring and I really didn’t want to drive in on the ice.  I guess I could have gone in for the afternoon, but I hate to drive that far for just a few hours.  AND… I really wanted to stay home today.  Thor and Cassie are happy to have mommy home today.  We still have snow, and it is very cold.  The snow is only melting slowly in the parts of the yard that get direct sun.

clouds coming in over our roof top… praying for more snow!

 

Thor…

Oh what a Monday.  I’ve been feeling a little under the weather for several days and the weekend is all a blur… sleeping, napping, dozing, tv, crocheting, napping, reading, well you get the idea.  So today it was good to make myself get back to work, even if it was just for a partial day. 

Thor and Cassie

Thor had an appointment at noon today.  His annual exam, and his ears have been yucky and I just haven’t been able to get them clean.  He has allergies and I give him Benadryl when he wheezes and to calm him down for trips.  So he was pretty mellow the whole trip to work.  It’s funny how sweet he is when his little sister Cassie isn’t with us in the car.  (She was NOT happy that we left her at home alone.) 

Anyway, this was the longest visit at the vet ever… poor Thor, he just does not like to go there.  And they are always so nice to him.  So what happened?  Well I left there a little scared and $260.00 lighter.  Thor is going to be taking lots of meds for the next 3 weeks and then will go back to see if his ears are better.  They are very, very bad.  He compared it to Cauliflower ear.  So the doc said if his ears don’t get better they will remove his ears!  I’m not joking… I thought I heard him wrong.  But yes, they would call in a specialist and remove his ears.  He would still have the floppy ears, but underneath would be nothing.  I can’t image Thor not having ears and not being able to hear.  I think it would make him crazy.  My poor baby.  So now I am praying my little big guy gets well soon. 

I’ve started a small project, a pillow top out of the left over yarn from my bag.  I’ll post pictures later.  Tomorrow I have to go to Seattle for a meeting and I think we are going to stop at a yarn store in Federal Way.  Even if I spent all my yarn money today, I want to check it out! 

Hope you all have a great week and please pray for my little Thor boy.