The weather has been very strange this year. It's still super windy. We haven't been that warm yet either. Weird!
This month we are scheduled to go camping in our new travel trailer. We purchased a used 2007 Starcraft. It is very nice inside... the people who had it before us didn't use it much...it doesn't even look like they used it once, but good for us! It is 18 feet and the beds fold out so you have more room inside. We are planning to go to Gooseberry Mesa UT this year. Andy hasn't been before so we figure this is a good time to break in the trailer.
Emma -- well things are not looking good for our Emma. Her belly keeps filling up with fluid and she doesn't want to eat anything. In the mornings she will eat something, after trying out many different options, and then in the afternoon she doesn't want that anymore, so we have to try something else. She is getting whatever she wants to eat as long as she is eating something. We spoke to the doctor and she said that her liver is not looking good on the ultrasounds. Looks like there might be a mass on it. We thought we were doing so good with her absorbing protein, but the pills, steroids and immune suppressants are causing bad side effects. The only other option to fight this would be radiation therapy. Both expensive and hard on Emma's body, the pills are still the only course of action to help minimize/cure the infection in her body. We told the doctor we just need to get one more camping trip with her and we can decide from there.
The Vet drained 2 liters off of her the week before the trip and then she filled back up so on Monday before the trip she drained 2.6 liters off, but she filled up again, so on Thursday morning she drained another 2.6 liters off. We are just hoping to get through the camping trip so she can have some fun running around smelling all the different things.
We get to our campsite and the girls go crazy with all the smells and new things to see. Everyone is having a good time. Emma is playing with her rake and Rylee gets to play with her frisbee and Jessi gets to run on the trails... they are all happy!
Friday, June 3, 2011
April 2011
Towards the middle of the month Emma started to have lose stools and not eating.. and she really likes to eat so we took her to the vet.. they said it was pancreatitis, so we got some pills and left. After the pills were gone she still was having issues and her belly got really big and hard... so we took her in.. they did an ultrasound and said she had fluid on her belly.
It was determined that she has PLE or Protein Losing Enteropathy. This is when the body turns on itself looking for protein sources because the stomach/intestines/liver/pancreas aren't able to use the protein from food eaten in the stomach. So there might be a chance that she has an infection in her digestive system or possible Cancer.........PLE is a by product of an infection or cancer. Our worst fears are realized. Emma's a strong healthy dog, always has been. If we can rehabilitate Jessi from an FCE, we can get Emma to fight off this disease.
The Vet drained 1 liter of fluid, said there was more in there but didn't want to send her into shock by draining too much. She also said we needed to put her on some other pills and they called around and found that Costco was the cheapest...$114.........for pills!!! But Emma is worth it. We started giving her the pills and she had to go back to the doctor each week for new blood work to see if she was still losing protein.
The first couple of trips there wasn't much of a change... protein counts were still going down. The third time her protein levels had come back up and looked like we were turning the corner. She was drained again and by the next day she had absorbed the rest of the fluid that the wasn't drained. A very good sign. But sadly, she filled back up 6 days later. This time they took 2.5 liters off her. When she gets drained you can really see how skinny she is and how much damage has been done to her muscles.
We are still holding out hope for Emma. We will do what we can to get her better without sacrificing her quality of life.
It was determined that she has PLE or Protein Losing Enteropathy. This is when the body turns on itself looking for protein sources because the stomach/intestines/liver/pancreas aren't able to use the protein from food eaten in the stomach. So there might be a chance that she has an infection in her digestive system or possible Cancer.........PLE is a by product of an infection or cancer. Our worst fears are realized. Emma's a strong healthy dog, always has been. If we can rehabilitate Jessi from an FCE, we can get Emma to fight off this disease.
The Vet drained 1 liter of fluid, said there was more in there but didn't want to send her into shock by draining too much. She also said we needed to put her on some other pills and they called around and found that Costco was the cheapest...$114.........for pills!!! But Emma is worth it. We started giving her the pills and she had to go back to the doctor each week for new blood work to see if she was still losing protein.
The first couple of trips there wasn't much of a change... protein counts were still going down. The third time her protein levels had come back up and looked like we were turning the corner. She was drained again and by the next day she had absorbed the rest of the fluid that the wasn't drained. A very good sign. But sadly, she filled back up 6 days later. This time they took 2.5 liters off her. When she gets drained you can really see how skinny she is and how much damage has been done to her muscles.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
March 2011
Hi everyone... it has been a while since the last post. Lots has happened! ....
The beginning of March I told Andy I think we should ride the BCT (Black Canyon Trail) from hwy 69 down to Rock Springs. This is a great trail.. flows nice, not a lot of technical and I figured that since we are starting up north and heading south it should be down hill and not too hard.
Andy kinda just looked at me like I was a crazy person since I hadn't been riding but a couple of time this year, but still he wanted to do it so we called Sticki up and they were in too.
Steve, the crazy guy he is, wanted to get more miles in so he decided to get up early and drive to Rock Springs and ride up to the spot where Micki, Andy and I were going to leave from. We got started about 9:30 ish I believe. It was nice and still pretty cool out.. perfect for riding. There are a couple of river crossings we had to do so I brought my slip on shoes. I brought a pair for Micki as well since her Keens are very heavy. I carefully packed my shoes in my pack so as not to crush my sandwich that I had to eat later. I looked at Micki's pack and she had here shoes clipped on her pack, and her pack is the same as mine just a little newer. So I told Andy hey, I want to do that too but, as I was saying this I was looking at her pack and she has clips and my pack only has straps, so I knew it wouldn't work, but before I could make this split second decision Andy had janked them out. Then as I am yelling at him he is trying to stuff them back in my pack, which remember I was so careful not to smash my sandwich... you get the point.
We head out, it took a few minutes to find the actual trail but we were off. It really is a nice trail, ups and downs, turns and oh yeah... a big climb... I was saying to myself as I was climbing... what the heck... we are going south we should should be going all down hill no pedaling needed... what ever!
About 6 miles in we meet up with Steve. We had brought him a sandwich as well and he was hungry so we stopped and watched him eat and we looked around at the nice scenery... cows!
We head out... and as we were getting back on the bikes Andy notices that I only have one shoe....aaarrrgggg... I say... if he wouldn't have pulled them out I would still have two.. and these were my favorite... he says why would you bring your favorite out... I said I brought the other pair, but let Micki use them so I needed to bring these. I was mad for a while....
We get to the big river crossing and I am tired... I know it is only about 7 more miles and we are done but man they were really long....
We make it back and head to the restaurant to eat... food was good but I was so tired I couldn't eat. We head back to where our car was from this morning. Micki, Andy and I did 37 miles and Steve did about 70!!! Andy says on the way back... who would have thought that you could get up off the couch and do a 37 mile ride!? I said yah... who would have thought.. certainly not you!
That pretty much was the exciting thing we did on March.
But wait there's more.... I was talking to some people who where out on the trail the same day as us... I ask them if they saw my shoe and they said yes.. its about 4 miles in... and then another person said they were going to ride the trail next weekend and I asked if they could pick up my shoe. I sent the Calvary out to find my shoe! To be continued.....
The beginning of March I told Andy I think we should ride the BCT (Black Canyon Trail) from hwy 69 down to Rock Springs. This is a great trail.. flows nice, not a lot of technical and I figured that since we are starting up north and heading south it should be down hill and not too hard.
Andy kinda just looked at me like I was a crazy person since I hadn't been riding but a couple of time this year, but still he wanted to do it so we called Sticki up and they were in too.
Steve, the crazy guy he is, wanted to get more miles in so he decided to get up early and drive to Rock Springs and ride up to the spot where Micki, Andy and I were going to leave from. We got started about 9:30 ish I believe. It was nice and still pretty cool out.. perfect for riding. There are a couple of river crossings we had to do so I brought my slip on shoes. I brought a pair for Micki as well since her Keens are very heavy. I carefully packed my shoes in my pack so as not to crush my sandwich that I had to eat later. I looked at Micki's pack and she had here shoes clipped on her pack, and her pack is the same as mine just a little newer. So I told Andy hey, I want to do that too but, as I was saying this I was looking at her pack and she has clips and my pack only has straps, so I knew it wouldn't work, but before I could make this split second decision Andy had janked them out. Then as I am yelling at him he is trying to stuff them back in my pack, which remember I was so careful not to smash my sandwich... you get the point.
We head out, it took a few minutes to find the actual trail but we were off. It really is a nice trail, ups and downs, turns and oh yeah... a big climb... I was saying to myself as I was climbing... what the heck... we are going south we should should be going all down hill no pedaling needed... what ever!
About 6 miles in we meet up with Steve. We had brought him a sandwich as well and he was hungry so we stopped and watched him eat and we looked around at the nice scenery... cows!
We head out... and as we were getting back on the bikes Andy notices that I only have one shoe....aaarrrgggg... I say... if he wouldn't have pulled them out I would still have two.. and these were my favorite... he says why would you bring your favorite out... I said I brought the other pair, but let Micki use them so I needed to bring these. I was mad for a while....
We get to the big river crossing and I am tired... I know it is only about 7 more miles and we are done but man they were really long....
We make it back and head to the restaurant to eat... food was good but I was so tired I couldn't eat. We head back to where our car was from this morning. Micki, Andy and I did 37 miles and Steve did about 70!!! Andy says on the way back... who would have thought that you could get up off the couch and do a 37 mile ride!? I said yah... who would have thought.. certainly not you!
That pretty much was the exciting thing we did on March.
But wait there's more.... I was talking to some people who where out on the trail the same day as us... I ask them if they saw my shoe and they said yes.. its about 4 miles in... and then another person said they were going to ride the trail next weekend and I asked if they could pick up my shoe. I sent the Calvary out to find my shoe! To be continued.....
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