moose

I have a feeling that not a lot of people have had the relief of seeing their most beloved one turn back from the proverbial "edge". I am blessed to be able to experience that now.

Moose and I have been through a trying month. Directly when I returned from the Bahamas, it was clear to me from her chewing that Moose needed to have a growth on her leg removed promptly. (You can see the tumor fairly clearly in the third video of my last post, it was about half the size of a tennis ball and protrudes from her left hindleg) Within a few days of my return, she went under the knife. What the vet and I had assumed was a lipoma, was not. The mass had a necrotic center, which is an indicator for a fast-growing malignancy. The surgery went well: the vet noted that the tumor was encapulated, a good sign, with no involvement of the local lymph nodes or adjacent knee capsule. So, Moose got to keep her leg, and now we wait and see whether the cancer obeys capsule boundaries.

To say that Moose has been a difficult patient, is a little like saying her puppyhood was uneventful. (I can hear you laughing from here!!!) She has always been a "big chewer," as evidenced by the dozens (hundreds?) of massacred dog toys and tennis balls. This time, though, the object of her affection I mean affliction has been her leg. Keeping her away from her leg has been, well, not possible. Elizabethan collar, adhesive bandages, and crate be damned - not much can stop my pup. She has pretty much needed constant supervision - which conflicts ever-so-slightly with the fact that my school has a mandatory attendance policy, violation of which is punishable by none other than course failure (and, conveniently, the requirement to take the course again, at cost).

Moose was pretty doped up and weak after the initial surgery. Getting her home was an adventure, thankfully I have some strong friends who helped to get her in and out of my trucky. It was a rough weekend: she was lethargic at best, which was rather difficult to see, much less to feed and poop. That monday, after Moose had the surgical drains removed (not so difficult for the vet, i'm sure, since moose had them halfway out herself) the vet prescribed tranquilizers so she would sleep (or stare at the wall in a dazed stupor) rather than pick at her leg. I believe she had a reaction to the tranquilizers: the vet said to give her three tablets, every four hours; to test, I gave her one the eve we got back from drain removal, and it zonked her for 18 hours. I couldn't get her to get up in the morning. I picked her up under her armpits, and she collapsed like a rag doll. I ended up sliding rock climbing webbing under her armpits and belly so I could help her walk outside. She ate a little - kibble by kibble, it's a good thing she's a lab and catching food thrown at her is a reflex - and had a few ice cubes. Then she started to shake and her gums went gray. I actually crawled into the crate with her to try to warm her. She came around after a few hours, but I have to wonder how close that was.

Her appetite was pretty marginal in the two weeks following the surgery - the tossing food at her worked a bit, as did feeding her out of my hand, but all told she bottomed out at 80 pounds. That's 40 lb she lost since last summer. I've had four people ask me whether she's a rescue dog... I finally figured out to mix her food with white rice, and she has eaten two meals a day for the past three days. Progress.

Today she accompanied me to REI paddle demo day, she got to take a ride in a canoe, go for a short swim, and visit a whole lot of people :) She is visibly weak, moves slow and with a limp, and tires easily. The vet had to take a good chunk of muscle tissue along with the tumor, so her strength will just take a while to return. For now, it's doggy PT - lotsa walking. I look forward to when Moose can come with me up Kennesaw Mtn, or maybe hiking in NC or north Georgia. It's so hard to see her this way, especially after all of the stuff we have done together - she has always been so strong and fit.

We can't keep them forever. But she seems to be in a decent place now, and I'll go with that. I'll finish cleaning up the living room tomorrow - it has been the doggy hospital, and i've been sleeping on the couch since the surgery. Last night Moose got up the stairs, with a lot of help, and I got to sleep in my own bed!! Right now she is crashed out next to me, snoring. She looks all shiny and pretty after her bath (and no longer smells like the v-e-t). Her leg is healing nicely, at this point it just looks like a really bad skinned knee that blends into a 4" slash, the healing remnants of the incision.

So there's the update from here. Oh, and I got my part 2 scores back, I passed everything :) proud to say that my highest score was in diagnostic imaging. I worked pretty hard for that.

Off to sleep for me and the Moose.

First day of Spring!!

Yucky week. To quote my freind 'Stine, wah.

Boards are done, for now. Two "parts" down, two to go. I did as well as I could. I will find out my scores Apr 25th. Hopefully, moving onward and upward....

Today was my Soft Tissue Pathology slide exam. Purportedly the most difficult of my schooling here. The instructor projected chest xrays with various developing diseases on the screen, and we had to figure out what it came from. Fun. I only needed 1 point out of 11 to pass the class (or 3, if he is in a bad mood), so I am in OK shape - tho of course I tried to kick butt, and we'll see how that went :) Dang that drive to achieve.

Next week, mon thru thurs, is finals. We'll deal with that next week.

Today is the first day of Spring: a Pagan holiday. Last year this day found me on my bike. This year I have been a bit sick (since, oh, january?), so equinox is quieter. Rest assured, that's temporary ;)

Simple acts of kindness

So I've worked at REI for a while now. Amazingly, 3.5 years. How did that happen?

When I started work for REI up in Boston, I had just abandoned my career in biotech and was in the process of figuring out what the hell an unemployed and disillusioned biochemistry PhD was supposed to do to pay the rent. At Tom's suggestion, and with Dan Blodgett's help, I started at REI right in the middle of the xmas rush in 2004. I soon re-discovered what I had been missing in grad school, thru my semi-prestigious Harvard postdoc, and in my fast-track biotech job as a young staff scientist / enzymologist: i was lacking joy and value in work.

Working at REI, I remembered what it was like to actually enjoy a job, and to derive some sort of satisfaction from it. When I realized this, it was uber-clear to me that I had made the right decision to bail on science and biotech - I was not happy in that career, and was unlikely to be. I don't belong in a lab. Working at REI was also integral in my decision to go back to school to become a chiropractor. I know that as as chiropractor, I can actually help people. I know that I will deeply enjoy seeing my patients grow healthier, and go out and play and live a fuller life. REI has helped me to clarify my purpose: to help people be healthy, active, and happy.

This is why I have stayed with REI here at the Perimeter store in Atlanta - and every now and again, to my joy, I see the results of some influence I've had. Sometimes, someone comes in to the store grinning ear to ear about their new bike. I've also had several wonderful customers who have come in to thank me for advice on places to visit throughout the US (hell knows I've explored it, modern hippie style, to the chagrin of my parental units and my aunt) or to tell me how much they enjoy their new toys (Because, really, it's all about toys!!!). But the one described in the blog below really hit me.

http://autisticdad.blog.com/2777014/

Yes, I knew the kiddo that Tanner and I were helping was ASD, on the better-functioning end of the spectrum. He seemed like a sweet kid with a good heart and a lotta energy. So, ya take that into account and work with it. Bottom line, he's a kid looking for a bike, and Tanner and I were just helping to make that happen. The response to this has definitely made me blink, though. We helped Demetrius and his dad Jerry on Saturday. Jerry posted his blog about us on Sunday. News traveled pretty fast - by early in the workweek, the story of how Tanner and I had helped an autistic boy to find the perfect bike had been repeated at the morning huddle of every REI store in the southeast, and someone had sent the "story" to REI corporate.

Yesterday at work I found a letter in my box (HANDWRITTEN!!!!!) from Sally Jewell, the president and CEO of REI, thanking me for what we'd done. I'm not sure I've ever had more admiration for REI. I mean, we as a company do lots of good stuff - from our internal recycling programs (paper, plastic, batteries, light bulbs, cardboard), to the drive to make REI stores carbon-neutral, to the $10K grant given by every store last year to an environmental organization of its choice (anyone want to plant a tree?), or our PEAK and Leave No Trace programs designed to educate on no-impact camping and hiking - But a handwritten note to a mere peon from the CEO? That takes the cake. And disseminating the anecdote of Tanner and I helping Demetrius to find a bike? Who knows what that simple act of kindness inspired?

Holy cow, you really never know how far-reaching simple actions can be. I think Tanner and I put a lot of smiles on a lot of people's faces :)

So now, it's your turn. I challenge you: sometime in the next few days, commit a random act of kindness. Open a door for someone whose arms are full; stash a few flowers on someone's desk; bring in cookies for your co-workers (and send me some while you're at it). Make someone smile. You never know how far the ripple will spread in the pond.

Kennesaw hike

Yesterday I got a few messages from Darcy and Chris, who were at the Moat and sent me pix of snowdrifts (12') and beer (mmmmmm!!!). Made me kinda homesick.

Today, I couldn't resist the irony and the temptation to make use of the 72 degrees and sunny here in Atlanta... so I went for a hike with friends up Kennesaw Mountain, a short hike less than 15 min north of my house.



Moose did so well!!! She was tired, and we went slow, but she made it all the way to the top and back down. The hike is about 3 miles total, with an elevation gain of a bit less than 700 feet. She is no longer the young pup who hiked Moosilauke and Chocura with me, but she got it done and by the look on her face, had a fantabulous time. She is currently crashed out downstairs. I don't expect I'll be able to get her to climb the stairs for a few days!

Yeah, I should'a spent my day studying for boards. Oh well. I still have six good hours this evening.

Temperature fluctuations....

i THINK spring is here. The pattern lately is a week of 50s or 60s, then a day or two of cold (it was 24 degrees this morning and snowed the day before that) then back to warm. The snow around here is funny, it's this granular stuff. Wierd texture.

Well, at any rate, my daffodils think it's spring:

boards, part deux

To help you all feel a bit better about living in cold yucky climates (and to offset my slightly gloating last post): guess how i spent my weekend? In a review course for national boards, part two!!

8am to 5pm yesterday and today. Yes, I was in CLASS on sunday morning at 8am (where were you, you lucky dogs??). Next weekend, fri-sat-sun, same deal. Then, midterms (weeks 5 and 6 of the quarter), boards (week 9, weekend - March 14-15), and finals (weeks 10 and 11), in a quick 1-2-3. Smack, smack, smack.

Did I mention a few times already that my family's Bahamas trip, planned for the week after finals this quarter, is a GIGANTIC carrot? Because hell knows i need something to look forward to!

So what's boards review like, you wonder? Imagine being barraged with concept-based (as in, "thought" questions rather than knee-jerk responses) multiple choice questions for sixteen hours (it will be total 40 when the review class is complete) on ALL of the material you have learned in the past 2.5 years, and imagine the questions being phrased in tricky ways that make you have to qualify or disqualify each of the four options. Essay exams would have been a hell of a lot easier. Especially when you take a mildly analytical brain like mine, that is trained to find the exception to EVERY rule.

Boards part two (of four total, part 3 will be in sept, part 4 in nov) will be six exams, 100 questions each, of the same material, over two days.

My brain hurts.

not complaining

so it's early february in atlanta. can someone please tell me what these things are that are sprouting all over my yard? :)

not to gloat, but.... i just spent a while looking at online pix of a sloppy snowstorm in milwaukee. hm, shovel snow or watch daffodils grow... hm that's a tough one...

no inga, yet

sunday as i was heading for my car to meet my cousin in SC, she called and said that her daughter, my cousin Heather, wants to try to take care of Inga. so, for now, moose and billy have their peace and quiet. i have left the offer to my cousins open, so if Heather feels that she cannot handle Inga, she still has somewhere to go.

and so my trio remains as is. Moose is back to herself, even doing her little puppy-hop to greet me as i come in the front door. and her little puppy-bark when i don't feed her quickly enough! like today, when gasp, i fed Billy first. Moose did not like that. what a princess :)

Inga

I have long spoken of the idea of being caretaker to a second pup. It seems the time has come.

Inga is a 3 year old German Shepherd, raised by my cousins' stepdad Bruce. Bruce has not been well of late. Inga will be coming to Atlanta from Florida on Sunday or Monday, depending on my cousin Terri's schedule.

My house will soon have a whole lotta ears!!

oh, my neighbor who hates dogs is gonna be a bit peeved.....

It's snowing in Hot'Lanna

and you should see people on the roads. Hilarious. I'm so, so, so glad I live less than 2 miles from school. That said, it took me an hour today to drive 3 miles to my chiropractor and 3 miles back. :) i really should have ridden my bike.

It's supposed to sleet and slop and ice overnight. I'm hoping classes are cancelled, that'd be sweet!