World Cup Mania

Every four years I retreat into my cave with my remote control and my web sites and my printed schedules and brackets. Those who know me know not to try to reach me unless it is to discuss the poor showing of the Czech Republic or the unbelievable referee that nearly cost the United States the game of the Cup. I'm simply unable to talk intelligently about anything else. I don't even know if we are still at war with Iraq, though I think it is a safe assumption that we are.

Brazil is my team. I love the way they play. The have such a tremendous love and respect for the beauty of the sport. Ronaldino plays with pure joy and delight that is so infectious I catch myself smiling at the TV. I envy their attention to detail in their skill. I always wanted to dribble like Pele did in his movies.



I love the World Cup.

Aloha!

As it turns out, I still love Kauai. Poi Pu beach is still wonderful. The monk seals enjoy the sand in the early morning hours. I saw several sea turtles - one group I think was a family (large and small turtles). We saw them while we were geocaching (very fun).

While there we toured through a time share right on Poi Pu beach. As is always the case with time shares they are priced just a bit too high, but still somehow competitive. I swear I feel like just a complete moron when it comes to time shares. I always walk away thinking that there is something I am missing or a question I didn't ask or a catch I didn't pick up on. I'm the perfect person for them. I'm like chum in the water. I walk around a beautiful property and imagine myself there and I'm ready to move in. My saving grace is this nagging feeling that there is a catch. Thankfully, Roy likes to "run the numbers" and figure out what the real story is.

So my question, do you have a time share? Where? For how long? Has it been valuable to you? Have you traded for other properties? Tell me everything.

Twenty Years Later

I just received my first notification of my upcoming high school reunion. That's right I am a card carrying member of the Palo Alto High School Class of 1987. Go Vikings! Yeah! It is all so surreal. Twenty years! Ouch.

This is one of those areas where I don't get any sympathy from friends and family. My shock and dismay at the fact that I have been out of high school more years than I had lived when I left falls on deaf ears. My mom is being notified of her 50th reunion, my husband just passed on his 40th. Most of my friends have already either dealt with or happily ignored their 20th high school reunion.

Here is the thing: I LOVED my 10 year reunion. I was stunned at how much fun I had. There was nearly 500 in my graduating class and about half came to one of the three events we had. I think I may have talked to every single one of them. What is so strange about this to me is that I have almost no memories of high school that don't involve actually attending class or playing some sort of sport. I honestly can not recall how it is I seemed to personally know all of these people. But there I was, "Sally! Hi! So you went to Brown and I think you majored in subterranean mammals, right? How is that working out for you?". This will largely be funny to those of you who know me today and know that I can't remember the details of a story you told me 30 seconds ago.

So what advice do you have for me? Lose 10 pounds? Change my hair style and color? Botox? I suppose I'll have to go shopping...

Flash Looplet

Sophie is on the mend

We call the vet on the morning of day 3 to casually ask, “Should there be this much swelling?” and she says no, bring Sophie in right now.

She looks Sophie over and says that she really doesn’t like what she sees. She wants to send us to an orthopedic specialist. Roy asks if this could be cancer and the vet says that she can not rule that out at this time. I, of course, fall to pieces which makes Dr. Blount start crying and the 3 of us are a complete mess. It would be just too much to lose Sophie especially so close to losing Sammy. She says that it may not be cancer, but it is something they have to consider. Anyway she tells us the “worst case scenario” which is that the swelling is due to bone cancer, osteocarcoma, which is very aggressive and not curable. The treatment is to amputate the leg, do chemo therapy and maybe get 6-8 more months of life from Sophie. She reminds us that it may not be cancer and sends us home to wait for our ortho appointment. That was one sad, stressful afternoon.

The orthopedic specialist took more x-rays and did a pain test on Sophie. He found the arthritis, but he did not find any fractures, dislocations, tumors or odd bone behavior. It is his opinion that the swelling is due to an infection probably due to a cat bite (one of my mom’s cats attacked Sophie last Sunday and got a few swings in before I could pull her away and trap him in the attic) and he recommended rest and antibiotics. Whew! He did say that she will probably need surgery on her shoulder to restore the support that she has worn down through the years.

I still don’t know what I would have done if Sophie had bone cancer. I don’t know if amputation is the best option for a dog that lives to run, swim and play. I just don’t know. Lots of dogs do really well. Anyway, I’m grateful we didn’t have to decide. She has been resting and getting better each day. She and I just started taking walks again, she is eating normally, and she picked up her ball yesterday and dropped it at my feet. The swelling is going down, but is not completely gone and her arm still hurts.

Whew!

Sophie - Little Trooper

My poor little Scoo.

Yesterday morning Sophie and I went on our usual 6am walk. Everything was normal, there was absolutely nothing – even looking back – that could be reported as odd. I wasn’t feeling well so I went back to bed for about 90 minutes. When I got up, Sophie was having a tough time walking. Clearly her left front leg was bothering her but it looked like she didn’t really want to walk on either leg. We thought maybe she was stiff from her nap or she jumped of “her” chair and landed funny. I was sufficiently worried to call the vet and get an appointment @ 3pm

We left her to rest while we ran some errands. When we returned, she didn’t meet us at the door, nor had she moved from the spot she was in when we left. I took her outside to relieve herself, which she did, and let her wander around the back yard. Well she limped right into a dark corner, dug a small hole and lay down in it. I called the vet back to say that I didn’t want to wait ‘til 3, they said I could bring her in, drop her off and the doctor would check her in-between her other patients. I was relieved to get Karen Blount’s call saying she saw Sophie and thought she would step in and check her out (the original appointment was with a different doctor). She prepped The Bean for x-rays and called us when they were done.

We have known that Sophie was developing arthritis in her left shoulder for probably 5 years. The x-rays showed that it has progressed. Dr. Blount is sending them to a specialist for further review and it might be that Sophie Ann Marie will have to go to San Mateo to see an orthopedist. We picked her up yesterday with a bottle full of anti-inflammatory and a bottle of pain relief medicine. Right now Sophie is a sad little pup. She is VERY swollen in her left should/elbow and can not walk at all on that leg, nor will she lie down on that side. I finally got her to eat something about 30 minutes ago, which was a huge relief since I didn’t want to continue to give her the medicine on an empty stomach, but she is in so much pain I didn’t want her to NOT have the medicine either.

Dr. Blount said the first 48 hours would be tough, so I’m trying to not freak out completely until tomorrow afternoon. I am worried about the swelling and Sophie doesn’t even want us to lightly touch the fur around the area. I got an appointment for tomorrow morning, just in case the swelling and pain don’t subside – or get worse.

That’s the scoop.

Simmer is Sensational!

Have you ever raved about a club sandwich? How about macaroni and cheese, have you ever considered it to be mind blowing? Probably not, because these are considered "basic" foods - anyone can make them. I do not believe that anymore. Nope.

I had the chicken club sandwich at Simmer. It was so good, I may never again be able to eat a club sandwich again as I will always be longing for the day I can enjoy such a simple yet perfect confulence of tastes. Roy enjoyed the macaroni and cheese. Let me put it this way, once I had my obligatory taste he did not even fake like he would offer me another taste. It was clear he wasn't sharing.

We also enjoyed mimosas which went down like a bubbly glass of juice but had a really nice kick. And if you know us you know we did not pass of dessert. I focused in on the pecan pie and was unable to listen to the rest. The owner was kind enough to bring us a sample of the key lime parfait which was fantastic. As an added touch, on your way out you are gifted a small sack of cookies (also wonderful).

Though the food was phenomenal, the real treat was the time that the owner spent with us.

Sammy Succumbed to Cancer

Sammy's surgery revealed that she had cancer in her abdomen. The cancer was a cluster type that presents as lots and lots of tiny, pinpoint size white "tumors" and they were all over her abdomen - so much so that the surgeon had difficulty identifying the organs. There is no treatment for this type of cancer. Roy and I had discussed prior to Sammy's surgery that if something like this was found we would elect not to wake her from surgery and that is what we did.

Although we are absolutely heartbroken, we know we did everything we could for her, not only in the past three weeks but for the entire 2+ years we lived with her. We miss her deeply. She was an absolute joy to be around and taught me a lesson or two about the effect of a positive attitude. Sammy was one in a million.

We can not thank all of you enough for your support, kind words and high hopes.

Sammy Goes in for Surgery

Roy and I took The Whammer (that is Sammy to those of us in her inner circle) in to consult with the surgeon this morning. We expected that we would hear the pros and cons of the surgery, and what exactly they would be doing while they had her open. We also were prepared that they would take her today and perform the surgery if that is what we decided. Which we did.

They are going to go into her chest to look and feel for things that we can't find in the testing that we have done (which is everything available). They will also remove the pericardial sac or at least create a window in it. Assuming they don't find anything (i.e. a tumor, a foxtail) in the chest to explain her situation they will explore the abdomen in a similar manner. They will take samples of everything that is safe to take samples of and have a pathologist look at them.

Her surgery is roughly 3-5pm today. We will hear from the vet after the procedure unless they find something during surgery that they need to discuss with us. Keep your fingers crossed. We are very nervous for Sammy but feel confident in this surgeon and the vet that has been working on Sammy's case. Sammy will have to stay the night and possibly a 2nd night depending on the speed of her recovery. She is very strong, healthy and brave. AND she is very motivated to get home to be with Sophie.

FilmLoop Version 1.1 on the way

Are you in the Loop? Get the FilmLoop player now and start sharing your photos today. FilmLoop is coming out with version 1.1 soon (no more beta!). You can be sure I will give you a link when it is available. Fee free to click a link below and play with the beta version.


Another Looplet:

Sammy might need surgery

We have an appointment Thursday to find out if Sammy needs surgery. Sammy continues to retain fluid. She has turned from a stuffed sausage to a barrel in the past few days. We called a spoke to the vet about what we should do and she said that exploratory surgery is the next step. We have exhausted all non-invasive methods of diagnosis and if we don't stop the fluid retention she will eventually die.

I'll know more after the appointment Thursday. What I understand right now is that the surgery is exploratory. They will likely remove the pericardial sack, take samples of the lymph nodes, and look for other abnormalities. The two causes they are hoping to find evidence of (either one ofr the other) are constrictive pericarditis and immune mediated vasculitis (article relates to humans but gives you an idea of what vasculitis is).

Poor Sammy. She is so brave.

Sammy seems pretty good

Sammy has decided she has it too good here and she wants to stick around for a while. She still has some abdominal fluid, but we don’t think she is getting larger (or smaller). She has her great Sammy attitude and she loves to track Sophie around. She has bright eyes and is quite enthusiastic. She has also decided that she doesn’t care for dry kibble anymore. She prefers roast chicken, broccoli soup, hamburgers, etc. So we are in discussions on that point. If she would just get rid of the fluid I would swear she faked the whole thing just so she could get more table scraps.

We are hopeful she has turned a corner and is heading towards good health. We'll continue to think that until the vets can diagnose where the fluid is coming from.

The Test Results are in and...

We still know nothing.

Not really, but close. We now know that Sammy does not have a mass in her chest cavity nor her abdomen. Which is great news. She does not have any pericardial fluid around her heart. Also great news. She does seem to have some swelling in the web-like tissue that surrounds her abdominal organs (there is a medical term for this stuff) and that could be from all the fluid in her abdomen or it could be cancer. She still has been accumulating fluid in her abdomen and we don't know why or from where.

Right now the vet says we just wait and watch. When she fills up with fluid we are to take her in to have it drained off and to have another ultrasound to check for pericardial fluid. We are not left with the impression that we can expect to repeat this process for years and years. I'm not sure at what point we move on to other options. We do have the option to do exploratory surgery took look for a cause. For now we will wait and watch.

Roy and I are exhausted. This cyclical life of high anxiety followed by great relief has been taxing. Thanks again for all of your kind words and I'm sorry to keep jerking you all around on the roller coaster too.

CT Scan Done Today

We took Sammy to VMS in Concord today for her CT scan of her chest and abdomin. We won't know any of the results until sometime tomorrow. She is home and she is hungry and thirsty. I imagine she will be napping for a while... her eyes are quite bleary.

We don't know what to expect. The chance that she has a heart base tumor is unchanged from the last time we spoke to a vet. The vet we spoke to today said that her symptoms didn't really add up to one diagnosis or another conclusively. She is considering the possibility that Sammy has pericardioitis (misspelled I'm sure) or inflamation in the pericardial sack. If that is the case then removal of the pericardial sack would be an option. She gave us a small ammount of hope to cling to.

I'll post the study result when we hear.

Sammy's time is short

It’s taken all day for me to have the energy to write this. Today at the vet’s office Sammy had the same two procedures as the last visit; ultrasound, echocardiogram. Still no fluid was found in the pericardial sack however they drained 2.5 liters of fluid from her abdomen and chest cavity. That’s quite a lot.

So the vet sat us down and told us that she is very concerned that Sammy has a tumor on her heart. This is the same tumor that we felt probably wasn’t there. The problem is if it exists it is high up on the heart and can not been detected by the tests we have done thus far. The vet is only able to guess that is it there based on the return of the fluid yet not finding any in the pericardial sack. Following this? View the vet's letter.

Our options:
~ Opt for surgery. They would go in through the rib cage to investigate the heart and look to get a visual on the mass. If they found one, they would call us (during surgery) to discus options since most elect not to wake the pet from surgery. There doesn’t seem to be any type of mass that is operable.
~ Get a CT scan. That would be a non-invasive way to see if there is a mass, and as mentioned before, there doesn’t seem to be a “good” mass.
~ Do nothing. If we do nothing, she will continue to retain fluid. We can have the fluid drained again.

We are going to have the CT scan, and we will do it on Wednesday. We feel we need to have conclusive evidence there is a mass. Plus we are on some level still clinging to the hope that she doesn’t have a mass (yet then we have to do more tests to figure out what the issue is.) No one really thinks this is at all likely, but we still hold out hope.

Bottom line, barring a miracle, the best case scenario is she has a month to live. What we are likely to see is increased fluid, and increased difficulty breathing and a loss of appetite. At the same time she will not be in any pain or discomfort other than that associated with the fluid and breathing. This is so hard because her personality, vitality and spirit are as they have always been. She is playful, enthusiastic and energetic. It's hard to imagine she is so sick. I'm sure all this is confusing since previous posts indicated no tumor, no cancer in the lab results. All I can say is that the vet was clear with us that these heart tumors are sometimes hard to find and the cells don't always flake off into the blood.

Thanks again for all of your kind words. We are going to spend the next days with Sammy doing all the things she loves to do and spoiling her rotten. Though we feel the two years we have had with her is not nearly enough, we are lucky to have had any time with her at all.

Incredible, Expanding Sammy

I don't know who this is harder on. Clearly Sammy is uncomfortable, she looks like she might pop at any minute. But this is torture for me too. Sammy has an appointment Monday morning for another exam and ultrasound. I was told to wait 'til then to bring her in. I'm at least thankful that the appointment is tomorrow and early. Think she really would pop if we had to wait until Tuesday.

She still has her personality though!

Sammy is a puzzle

I don’t know what to think anymore. Sammy’s sonogram showed that there is NO fluid surrounding the heart. Really good news. It means surgery is not indicated and it suggests that she does not have a tumor on her heart (which in turn supports the conclusion that this whole situation is idiopathic).

Her ultrasound showed there is still fluid in her abdomen. This is puzzling news. When she came home a week ago, she really slimed down in the first few days, suggesting the fluid had dissipated. But then she has increased in size in the past few days, suggesting the fluid has returned. Since we now know that there is no fluid surrounding her heart that either means her abdominal fluid is the “old” fluid that hasn’t gone away yet, or there is fluid coming from somewhere else. They sent a sample of the fluid to a lab to see what it consists of.

She goes back Monday for another exam just to be sure that her heart stays stable. I still think (hope) she is constipated.

Another Ultrasound for Sammy

Sammy is at the vet today for another ultrasound. She had gotten bigger in the past few days, but still not as big as she was when we took her to the ER a week ago. Over the course of this week I have become quite a bit more adept at the medical terms… though I’m sure I’ll still mess them up a little.

A week ago Sammy’s diagnosis was pseudo pericardial effusion; the cause was thought to be idiopathic. Translated, that means that the sack that surrounds her heart was filling with fluid and pumping the excess into her abdominal cavity resulting in a bloated appearance. The cause is of unexplained origin. The fact that she has again started to retain fluid does not change the diagnosis at this point. She will have another ultrasound this morning and a complete exam. If the vet confirms that she has the same condition as a week ago and does not see any signs of a tumor then she will speak with the surgeon about scheduling Sammy to have the pericardial sack removed. This would probably happen in the next day or so. She tells us that Sammy would most likely stay at the hospital for 1-3 days and then can come home – good as new. Removing the pericardial sack is curative for idiopathic pericardial infusion.

So now we steel ourselves for surgery on our precious Sammy’s heart. I'm still holding out hope that she is just really constipated.

Sammy's Puffing Up Again

It saddens me to report that Sammy seems to retaining fluids again. Over the past few days she has (to our eyes) gotten bigger and when we took her over to visit my parents, they both thought she looked bigger too.

We can't figure out what the problem is. While we were going through our ER experience and ultrasound experience last week, ironically we were going through the same set of testing as another couple and their 9 year old mastiff. The short version of the story is that the mastiffs tests revealed a tumor on her heart and that couple elected to put her down. Sammy isn't acting ANYTHING like that mastiff... no lethargy, no vomiting, no dehydration, just bloating. Yes, they checked for Bloat first thing at the ER last week.

We will keep an eye on her and probably schedule an ultrasound on Thursday if possible.

A Whole New Sammy

Sammy continues to get better and better. She was a bit sluggish yesterday, mostly napping and lying around. She made me a little nervous when up came her dinner two hours after she ate it. She did keep a couple of her cookies down though so that was hopeful. We wrapped her in a blanket in her bed (remember I said she was oddly shaven and there was a lot of cold wind last night). I woke up at 3:30 and she wasn't in her bed. I found her asleep in the Rumpus Room and convinced her to come with me back to the bedroom where she stayed the rest of the night.

This morning she was slow to get out of bed, but I think that was mostly due to having no food in her system. She enjoyed her walk as she always does. I gave her a small breakfast of rice and broth and she is a whole new Sammy! She pouced on the toy box, pulled out a toy, rolled on the floor with it and growled happily. She participated in a game of ball with Sophie and I and she has been wagging her tail like nobody's business. She is even begging to be rubbed. Now THAT is the Sammy we know and love.