Can't keep a good dog down.

The hub took Charlie back to the vet this morning for another follow-up visit and to pick up his new meds.  Charlie got a fabulous report!  The vet was bewildered at how well he had recovered from surgery - he just shows NO signs of being a sick dog.  And while his prognosis was as short as 2 months, there's still that *unknown* factor.  He could be our furry little miracle dog, who knows.  Not getting our hopes up, but like we've been saying... as long as his tail is wagging, so is ours.  He has gained 3 pounds, is crazy as ever (as evidenced by the pics on my last post) and is eating like a champ.  We're incredibly grateful that he's feeling so good and we remain hopeful that it will last a long, long time.  Thanks for all the prayers!  Hope y'all have a great week... 

It's a brand new day, and I'm feeling good.

Just soakin' it all in...

Sunbathing.

Glad someone at my office is enjoying the sunshine!
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Just put on a happy face!

We had a baby shower here at the office for a co-worker.  Can't exactly escape those during tax season...  it's not like I can take the day off and conveniently miss it (and yeah, I've totally done that before).  There is no vaca during tax season - unless you want a permanent one.  So I'm not going to turn this post into a sappy pity party for me - I mean I still do a shower up right.  My gift was by far the cutest, you know.  And this girl is super sweet - I'm not hating on her, please know.  But seriously, one of the worst things about baby showers is the conversations that start while we're watching wrapping paper fly and stuffing our faces with cake.  So for a peek inside my head (and a good laugh), here's some of the random things that were said at the shower, followed by my unspoken response...

 

"Oh, [pregnant co-worker], I knew at the last office baby shower that you'd be next!"

Really?  That's awesome.  Because I've only been waiting 4 1/2 years.  Everyone feel free to jump in front of me!

 

"You know, from the back you can't even tell she's pregnant!"

Wow - really?  Because I can see her belly through walls.  I have to consciously NOT look at it.

 

"Yeah, first all your friends get married and then everyone starts having babies."

Not everyone.

 

"OK this is the last one for a while, right?  There's an official ban on getting pregnant now! Haha!"

Don't worry about me, boss... my wonky uterus is already on indefinite lock-down.

 

Smile and nod.  Stuff face with more cake.  Repeat.

My buddy.

I am loving all your sweet comments and prayers!  And so is Charlie.  He is doing so, so great.  We can gladly say that he has fully recovered from his surgery - the boy is eating everything in sight and is just plain *happy*.  And nothing makes his momma happier!  So on that end, we are just so grateful that he is feeling good and back to his old self.  (And so is Gertie - she has her wrestling partner back.)

 

As for an update on his cancer, we made some decisions late last week.  The hub took him back to the vet to have his stitches removed and was able to go over everything with the doctor and learn more.  (Again - very thankful for the hub handling all of the vet visits and whatnot - I would be a blubbering mess and they'd have to muzzle me!)  We were initially thinking we were going to move forward with chemo.  But after talking with the doctor, we have decided not to do chemo or any other "treatment."  As I mentioned, Charlie's cancer is very, very aggressive and we learned he's way off the scale of being a good candidate for chemo.  They could do it, but it will come back.  It may delay it some, but it will come back.  They say doggies actually handle chemo better than humans generally do, but we still don't want to put him through any unnecessary discomfort.  After being asked what she'd do if Charlie was her dog, the vet said she would not do the chemo.  We're instead going to go on the defense by giving him Benadryl daily (from here on out) and he'll also be starting another medication this week that should help ward off tumors from returning as quickly.  The tumors are all related to some kind of allergic reaction that ultimately develops into a growth - yeah, I have no idea how to explain it.  I can't do the medical lingo, much less understand it, so that's my best interpretation.

 

Who knows...  it could come back in a month.  Or maybe we'll be successful and can keep him tumor-free for a year or more.  There's just no way of knowing, but we definitely feel good about our decision.  And I'm feeling much better about it all simply because he's feeling so good right now.  I love seeing him all happy and playful, so I'm just trying to soak up all those moments.  I don't know how many more nights I'll have to spoon with my buddy, but I'm loving every minute I have with him now.

 

Thanks again for all the prayers - keep 'em coming!

Update on Charlie

Sorry for the long pause between updates, but it's been a long week here.  Sweet Charlie has been recovering really well from his surgery last week.  His vigorous appetite is most definitely back and his plumbing appears to be in working order!  Never been so glad to see dog poo in my life.  Everyday he's getting stronger - he's not quite up to dashing across the yard, but he's getting there.  So glad to see him happy and feeling good again...

 

Late Monday, however, we got word from the vet that his tumor is some kind of very aggressive cancer.  Like a 10 out of 10 on a scale of being bad.  We knew this was a possibility of course, but seeing him recover so quickly - especially getting his appetite back - had us believing he was going to be just fine.  So that was very scary news to hear - and even scarier not knowing what the future holds for our little guy.  The vet wanted to have a specialist examine the tumor to see if her suspicions were correct.  Tuesday we were told that it almost certainly will come back, and maybe even as soon as a few weeks.  Now we're talking about chemo options and what to do, or what not to do.  We obviously can't do more surgeries - that's not a fix for this and we just can't put him through that. 

 

Right now we're in the process of learning what can be done, what all's involved, and how it will make Charlie feel.  However long he is with us, our biggest concern is that he is happy and feeling good.  I wish we could explain to him what is going on.  So we have some decisions to make... there are no guarantees with chemo, but if successful he could have several more years.  If we don't treat this, they only give him 1 or 2 months.  And that is heartbreaking to think about.

 

So please just say a prayer for Charlie's health, his happiness, and for us as we're making some tough decisions.  We're praying for wisdom here and peace with whatever comes.  It's been a really tough week with lots of tears.  I was telling the hub yesterday that I can't remember a time when I've cried so much (y'all know I'm not a crier).  Don't tell the girls, but it's no secret to anyone that Charlie's my "favorite."  He's my buddy. 

 

Thanks for keeping up and I'll update y'all again when we know more...

Charlie's home!

Still waiting on lab results on the tumor, but our goofy fuzzball is back home.  We're keeping him crated so he can rest up and not be bothered by his crazy sisters.  Can't wait to get home and love on him!

It IS a tuma.

Charlie's out of surgery finally!  We really didn't know what kind of blockage was happening, we just knew it was *something*.  Turns out he had a pretty large tumor at the top end of his intestines - like at the entrance or whatever.  And that had grown large enough to ultimately block anything from passing through.  Thankfully, they were able to successfully remove the entire tumor and they're now testing it to see if it's cancerous or not.  Not sure what it means if it is cancerous, but whatever the case, I'm glad they got it out!  Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.  I think they'll be keeping him overnight - I miss my fuzzy little man!

Charlie.

Hey, bloggy world.  How goes it?  Can you take a half minute today to whisper a sweet prayer for our baby, Charlie?  He is having surgery this morning at the vet.  He's had a rough week of throwing up and not being able to keep anything down.  Long-story-short, they are doing "exploratory" surgery today to see what is causing the blockage in his tummy.  And poor guy LOVES to eat, so he really needs a stomach in good working order.  They call this surgery fairly "routine" but surgery is surgery.  Say a prayer for our sweet boy!  I'll give y'all an update when I have one.  Thanks, y'all!

 

 

 

You're cordially invited to pay my Visa bill.

OK so... same ole, same ole here.  Work, work, work.  But I had to hop on here really quick to share (and rant about) this new website I heard about this morning on the local news.  And just for fair warning, you should know I'm very traditional when it comes to etiquette and whatnot - especially when it comes to weddings.  I just eat the stuff up.  I did a whole speech in grad school about it.  All those little rules are simply, at the end of the day, about being considerate of others.  That's all etiquette really is.  (And yeah, I got to choose my topic - that class obviously had nothing to do with my degree!)

 

So anyway, I'm putting on my makeup this morning and I hear the news reporter interviewing a local guy who created a new type of wedding registry website called billpayregistry.com.  I'm sure you can gather the gist of it by the name, but here's the blurb on the site that explains how it works...

 

"A bill registry is similar to a traditional online wedding registry, in which you sign up for the gifts you would like to receive for your wedding. However, with billpayregistry.com, instead of gifts, you register your unpaid bills and have your friends and family make contributions to your debt as a gift to you. One of the great things about billpayregistry.com is that it's not limited to just weddings! Any event (birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.) is a great opportunity to get rid of your debt once and for all and start living again. As you receive gifts, request the bills that you would like us to pay for you and we'll submit a payment on your behalf."

 

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!  (That's me this morning nearly smearing my eyeliner while listening to this.)  Now I am in no way slamming the guy (yes, it was a guy) who developed this site.  On one hand, it's actually a pretty good idea (from a business perspective) that I think a lot of people (sadly enough) will buy into...   He says he's not doing it to make a profit, and I honestly think his intentions are good here - so kudos on that end.  However, this idea of asking wedding guests (or whomever) to pay off your debts hits me like nails on a chalkboard for two very specific, but very different reasons (and yes, I'm totally picturing myself standing at a podium with my finger pointed as I type this)...

 

1.  A bride and groom should never ask for money.  There, I said it.  And I know a LOT of people will disagree with me on this, and I'm fine with that.  And I also know that in some regions it's very traditional to give cash gifts for weddings.  Not so much in the South, but I know it's very big elsewhere in the U.S.  Nothing wrong with that at all - you can give whatever you want and shoot, cash is always appreciated!  But you should never ever *ask* for it - by whatever means.  Things like honeymoon registries make me want to vomit.  So naturally, the idea of someone asking for money to pay their bills...  well just go ahead and hand me a spoon.  And not to mention, would you not (as a guest) be tallying up the cost of the wedding you're attending in your head, wondering why the hell you're paying these people's bills when the bride's floating around the dance floor in a $2,500 gown?  Just sayin'... 

 

2.  You need to clean up your own mess.  As someone who has been working her tail end off with her husband the last 18 months to get rid of debt, I find the idea of setting up a "debt registry" very insulting.  But my feelings aside, if you've made a financial mess of things, you need to clean up your own damn mess.  This doesn't mean people can't help you - my parents have been a HUGE help to us and we're incredibly grateful.  But you've got to take responsibility for your shit.  Grab the poo bags and get to scoopin'.  Depending on family and friends and (*cough*) wedding guests to bail your ass out is ridiculous.  It may sound inviting and maybe even "smart" to some.  And hey, maybe your guests will buy into too and they can get you out of debt.  But I'm willing to bet you'll be right back in the hole - and probably a deeper one - by your 2nd anniversary.  The thing is, if you've made a mess, you need a new plan.  You will not learn your lesson and make the behavioral changes you need to make by letting others clean up your mess.  Getting out a debt - REALLY getting out of debt for good - is a spiritual journey.  Don't miss out on that.

 

 

Alright... off my soapbox and back into my desk chair for now.  So what do you guys think?  Would you opt for this type of registry as a bride or groom?  Would you participate as a guest?  No worries - I'm not gonna slam you if you disagree with me.  I'm just curious as to what others think. 

 

Hope y'all have a great week!