Archive for the ‘Sophie’ Category

Sophie is our Official Bus Watcher. She has been faithfully on the job for 9 years now.

The Greyhounds have learned so much from Sophie; how to wait politely for treats, how nice it is to greet people in the park (and get petted!), how much fun walks are. And this is no different. Again, Sophie teaches the hounds how to take care of their humans.

A typical school day

And now the day can begin…

Today was the first day of school.

Sweet Sophie, as she has done for the last 9 years, resumed her position by the window to watch for the school bus. She started this job shortly after we adopted her, waiting for the bus at the end of the driveway that would take kids to kindergarten and first grade.

A few years later, that became not so cool, waiting for the bus with your mom. So Sophie and I resumed position in the house; me with a friendly wave to the driver, and Sophie with an eagle eye on the kids and the bus.

Today it was the first day of 7th and 8th grade. Time flies! Sophie still feels the need to watch for the kids and the bus.

 

This year, Sophie had a bus-watching apprentice. Purl was quite excited to see what the fuss was all about.

Argos, as usual, had some napping to catch up on. But he cares, too. In his own Argos-like way.

I have not been very regular with this, but I am going to try to do a weekly Wordless Wednesday. When I remember, and when I realize it is indeed Wednesday.

More info about WW on my first WW post. Click on the tag link below to see this archive as it grows.

Here is today’s photo. Your captions needed.

Purl is enjoying testing out products I receive to review. I recently received some products from West Paw – an Eco Nap flat mat and some toys.

A little uncharacteristically, Sophie hopped right on the new bed as soon as I opened the box. Usually, it is the cats and the Greyhounds who take over all pet beds with their various sleeping arrangements.

Purl requested to be the chief tester however, to put the bed through testing.

Nice. I can sleep on it.

And… look! It is also a toy!

Then I found that the label had been chewed off.

Sophie reclaimed the new comfy bed, now that it has passed through Purl Testing.

 

Continued…

Part 2 (my review) of the Eco Nap bed

 

A beautiful sunny day, a nice long walk, some snacks….

you know what’s next. Nap time!

Ugh. Those are two ugly little words no one wants to use in a sentence.

But here we are. The news of lymphoma in Teva, a very healthy 4-year old dog, came as a shock.

Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymph cells of the blood. The most common sign is enlarged lymph nodes. This is not painful, but very tiring. You could argue that chemo is a good word – after all, chemo is what we kill cancer with, but it isn’t something we readily sign up for.

A little background

Teva’s human is my dear friend Heather. Teva is the Dog of Her Life. My Sophie and her Teva are great buddies, especially when Sophie needs a Greyhound break – when she needs to hang with one of her own kind. We all needed a day or two to let this news sink in. But we didn’t sit immobilized, we got a plan in place.

First stop: WSU veterinary oncology. The first appointment was 4 weeks ago, when the Madison-Wisconsin chemotherapy protocol was started for Teva.

This week was week #4, and we traveled back to WSU for a re-check and to get the drug doxorubicin, which is in extremely short supply now and only available at the university.

The journey

As horrible as it is for us humans to grapple with, dogs still live happily in the moment. Walk?! Cookie?! Ball?! All good things that Teva gets in extra doses right now. She has no idea she has cancer – she might want to take a nap rather than hike on the day after chemo, but hey – naps are good too.

The goal of chemo is to shrink those lymph nodes, put this cancer in remission, and have life be as normal as possible for Teva. Lots of hiking, swimming, tennis balls and yummy food.

Here is a mini photo story of our trip to WSU this week

Teva bursts into WSU just like the first time – eager to greet anyone who will say ‘hi’ – no fear here. She, like all Goldens, adores balls. We let her take in this ball while she had her treatment. For her, it is like those squishy balls humans can squeeze to relieve stress. Pleasantly comforting and distracting.

Dr. Choy told us that Teva enjoyed lots of cookies while she was getting her chemo (administered slowly over the course of an hour with IV fluids) and warned Heather that Teva might not be as hungry for dinner later. An unnecessary warning, as Teva’s appetite has remained very good. Even extra-extra good, thanks to prednisone, one of the drugs used in fighting lymphoma.

Give this dog a treat and a ball, and she is all set. Living in the moment is a good lesson that I must learn over and over from my pets.

The next morning, we met for a coffee break. Doxorubicin is a strong chemo agent, and Teva was feeling a little quiet. As Heather and I sipped coffee, we looked down to find the girls hanging out on their own together.

Argos cares. So does Purl. But wow! Check out this uber-comfy special bed that Teva has! Argos notices that it way more deluxe than our beds at home. But again … dogs live in the moment. He did not retain any feelings of envy. It’s all good.

And now for some good news!

Teva’s lymph nodes have shrunk to almost normal size. Something great to celebrate.

Continuing onward

I am thinking of writing up Teva’s continuing story and more about lymphoma and chemo on About.com, including interviewing oncologists at WSU. What are your questions about Teva-cancer-lymphoma-chemo? Feel free to post them as comments here as I gather up info and ideas to write more.

As I wrote in the previous post, our best buddy Teva is undergoing treatment for lymphoma. I am hitting the road with Teva the Wunderdog and Heather tomorrow to revisit the WSU oncology team for more cancer-fighting fun.

We have snacks. We have fresh water. Lots of chat time. And dog cookies – must have dog cookies.

My pet clan is staying home, but we’ll be back soon.

As much as I want to pack you, Quincy, not gonna happen.