:Whisper, Echo and Si Ku
Posted: March 6, 2008 Filed under: Gompa Lhasa Apsos 1 CommentThanks to everyone for the great name suggestions, sent either through the blog or personally. Each and every suggestion has been placed in my Names file for future use…(keeping fingers crossed!) Ken’s suggestion – Skyob Pa Po (guardian) and call him Sky – has been reserved for Chandra and Keeper’s litter (not yet bred). Chandra means lightening, so I love the reference. The boy will be named Keeper to the Past. After all, as Julie mentioned, that’s exactly what I did! His call name, one of several suggested by my sister Kelly, is Si Ku which translates to keeper of treasury vaults. Guan Li Ren translates simply to Keeper, but Si Ku is easier to say! The girls are Whisper to the Past and Echoes to the Past, keeping in rhythm with Keeper to the Past. This morning I took some photos of the puppies. One of the females opened her eyes in the past 24 hours.
:Fun Art on a Thursday morning..
Posted: March 6, 2008 Filed under: Art and Photography, DRambles on Black Mountain Leave a commentThe sky is blue, with the promise of becoming even bluer this morning. It belies the sense of foreboding, running like an underground current through the house. Chris met for a conference with the many people that will be involved in her surgery, her quest to buy herself some more time, some more quality life. The recovery period from this type of brain surgery is from 6 weeks to a year. A year! Whew! She has already beaten the very bleak odds surrounding Inflammatory Breast Cancer. 30% survive the first year. She has entered her fifth year. Last weekend she told me that she’s okay; she’s led a great life with a wonderful husband and family, had a successful business she enjoyed and has traveled the world. What more could one want from life, she commented. She lives her life now buying time…time for family, friends and more travel. Additionally, she wants to show how to be dignified during the process. This, she achieved from the beginning of her battle. She is an inspiration for those around her, including people she’s met in the past five years going through a similar process. She truly is My Hero. And I hope this surgery leaves her with dignity.
A rather bizarre intro to the following prints. You can probably expect more over the next few weeks… 😦 So, let’s turn my frown upside down! 🙂
Mad Whine Party by Mark Durham
The Beach by Marie Mason
:Weekend show results
Posted: March 5, 2008 Filed under: FFT Lhasa Apsos | Tags: Julie Timbers 1 CommentI’m hoping Julie or Melissa will jump in here! This past weekend they attended dog shows some 4 hours away from Julie’s home. Not sure where… I know about the 4 hours because Julie drove home through bad weather. Only the last 90 miles of her trip were decent.
Carolyn Herbel judged the first day. The Damon puppies won big! Damon puppies from 3 different litters, 3 different dams, which is particularly exciting as his breeder! Savion (Damon x C’est La Vie) was RWD (Reserve Winners Dog) to a 4-point major. Karen’s young female (Damon x her Ch. Ritz) was WB (Winners Bitch) for a 4-point major. And Melissa’s Ella (Damon x Sadie) was RWB. Congrats to all!
Roger Pritchard judged the second day. All I can remember is Lily picked up a 4-point major… Fernando won Best of Breed both days and placed Group 4 both days.
:Weekend Veterinary fun..Tango does the Bop..Champ enters the fights..
Posted: March 4, 2008 Filed under: FFT Lhasa Apsos 11 CommentsNot only did the news of Chris hit me with a punch to the gut, but I spent Saturday morning to and from the vet’s office. Friday morning Tango was greatly bothered by the incision left by his neutering the previous Friday. Checking daily, the incision was healing normally. Figuring the healing was really itching Tango, I slipped an Elizabethan collar on him, loaded him up with the gang to be groomed, then down the hill for training class. Through out the day I cold-compressed the area along with slathering calendula gel which seemed to provide relief. By Saturday morning, the area had ‘blown up’ to use Katy, the vet tech’s words. It did not look infected. Besides that made no sense to me, this being eight days after surgery. It must be an allergic reaction to the dissolvable sutures. Once again, I loaded him up – sans the rest of the gang. Once again, down the hill we went.
Sure enough! Allergic reaction to the dissolvable sutures (which are under the skin). Doug says he does about 5 neuters per week. Although he uses the least reactive dissolvable suture material available, this happens about 4 times a year. Tango was injected with a long-acting prednisone for the itching and allergic reaction, along with antibiotics as a precaution against infection. The site wasn’t infected, but those pesky bacteria look for opportune moments to invade.
By Sunday morning the area was no longer ‘blown up’. Tango bops his way around. He bulldozes through, no matter the collar. It doesn’t stop him from eating, drinking or playing. It does hinder his ability to reach the reaction site. Bop! Bop! Bebop! That Elizabethan collar will never be the same!
Not wanting to miss out on Fun Day at the Vet’s Office, Champ participated. Here’s Susan’s posts from the last several days:
3/1/2008
Yup.
Not a bad dog, but little blind Champ slipped through a siny hold in the
fence and taunted him.
He got bit in three places.
The fence was too big for me to get over, so I had to run out to the
street and to the back of my neighbors property to rescue him.
He was hurt and when I tried to pick him up, he bit me….of course.
I brought him in the house, put him down, took off my bloody clothes and
went to pick him up.
He thrashed and bit me some more….
Poor little guy.
We just spent a few hours and a few more dollars at the emergency vet.
Now we wait to see if he heals.
I’m thinking he’s going to be fine. Most of the punctures have stopped
bleeding this morning. The one that is the worst and the one that seems
to be hurting him is still bleeding, and (since I haven’t quite learned
how to pick him up without hurting him) making him scream. On the other
hand, he’s eating well (I’ve been feeding him in his nest for these
first two meals), and when I took him outside to see if he would pee (he
wouldn’t), he seems to walk just fine. In other words, I don’t think
there are any breaks, although his howling when I picked him up this
morning made me fear for that. The vet was cautiously optomistic. He seemed to think that none of the
wounds were life threatening on the surface, but that we would not be
out of the woods for complications for 4-5 days. I hated that part.
Anyway, I’m giving him Clavamox (antibiotic) and also a drug I’m not
familiar with — Metacam — which is an NSAID.Today I will venture out to the pharmacy to pick up some wound cleaning
“stuff” (maybe Betadine?) and we will do a job on keeping him clean.
Then we will wash sheets and towels. And I may need to fashion some
sort of “Elizabethan collar” to keep him from licking on it; if you
have any ideas of how to fashion something to keep him from reaching his
back upper leg with his tongue, I’d appreciate that.That’s it for this morning.
Now for a cup of teaSusan
the bathroom, I noticed/remembered that when the ruckus had erupted
yesterday, I’d been wearing my pruning gloves. I’m thinking now that my
own hands would be in a whole lot worse shape if I hadn’t had them on.Any ideas how to get blood out of leather?Here’s a picture of Champ in his little hospital bed in the living room.
He slept the night in his usual place in my bed….tucked up next to my
head. I had tried to put him in a nest next to the bed, but he (or I)
really needed the comfort of having him closer.
this morning, but should taper off…The other places seem to have
stopped bleeding.
of the thumb and the wrist, but as you can see, it doesn’t hamper my
typing, so life proceeds and we will spend the day being very very quiet.
The last of the punctures finally stopped bleeding sometime during last
night.
The vet actually had to remind me multiple times that the extended
bleeding from a puncture wound is a good thing, since it increases the
probability that any infectious agents will get washed out of the
wound. Punctures are most dangerous when they close at the outside and
leave some noxious material inside to fester and abcess. So, much as
the continual bleeding feels wrong, it’s really right.
I tried to make myself put an e-collar on him yesterday, but….I
couldn’t do it. He was just too miserable. So, I just wrapped him
tightly enough that he couldn’t lick himself all the time (he still got
to it, just not constantly), and told him to stop (which he mostly did)
when he started up again. My failures as a mom are legion !!!!
I have to say that I think four dogs are too many. On the other hand,
there is not one of them that I would or could give up. It’s that
simple. I love them all, but I do think that unless you are a much
better disciplinarian (in its best meaning) than I am, it definitely
gets tricky. And on yet that other other hand, I think that one of
these days not so far from now I will be telling anyone who wants to
listen that four is the perfect number. We’re just having a rocky start
here, and I do tend towards fretting.
The sun is out and there is a lovely breeze today, the bass chime out
front is sounding most mellow, and Champ is lolling about on the couch
on the front porch. Not a bad way or place to recuperate from a mauling.
Susan
:Monday morning
Posted: March 3, 2008 Filed under: DRambles on Black Mountain 2 CommentsMaybe you’re wondering where I’ve been all weekend. Maybe not… Thursday, my sister-in-law Chris was diagnosed with another brain tumor. She will be undergoing brain surgery March 15. (Ginny and Tammy – let’s still alter clothes – it will be a long day and I have a feeling a trip – even a brief trip – over to Ginny’s sewing room will provide a little sanity for my own brain.) Julie had forwarded the following last week. I think it’s appropriate, even if I can’t get the graphics to wave and flicker.
Hello, Pretty Lady! THIS IS A TOAST … TO US … FOR THE MEN WHO HAVE US, THE LOSERS WHO HAD US, AND THE LUCKY PEOPLE WHO WILL MEET US!!Keep this circulating. Even if its to one more person.
In memory of anyone you know that has been struck down by cancer.A Candle Loses Nothing by Lighting Another Candle. Please Keep This Candle Going!
Kunza at FleetFire Timbers 