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Topics - BarkleysMum

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61
Newfoundland Discussions / Barkley had an awesome checkup!
« on: April 07, 2006, 04:01:13 pm »
http://I'm so happy!!!!

I took Barkley in for his weekly check up at the vet's.  She was so positive about what she is seeing!  She could hardly feel the lymph glands, which means the prednozone is doing its thing.  And when we were coming home, the kids were out playing ball hockey.  I opened the door of the truck and next thing I know, he's out playing ball hockey with them!  He's behaving like a pup.

I'm so happy that his last days with us are going to be this kind of memory - for both he and us.  He's happy, energetic, comfortable and enjoying life.  Can't ask for much more than that now, given the prognosis, can I?  (well I can but....)

62
Newfoundland Discussions / Barkley Bear
« on: April 03, 2006, 08:12:45 pm »
It's been 10 full days since Barkley's diagnosis.  He's having good days.  Nights are a bit more stressful for him I think - he pants and drools more at night.  He's choosing to sleep in the basement, and we're letting him do what he needs to do.

I have to be at work this week so he's on his own.  You know what's weird?  He is distancing himself from Sheba.  No one will ever be able to tell me that dogs don't understand every little thing that's going on in their lives.  This is a fascinating process to watch.

I'm still savouring every day we have together.

63
Newfoundland Pictures / Here's some more Barkley & Sheba
« on: March 31, 2006, 05:20:39 pm »
I got one set of prints back tonight - not very good ones of him but here's my guy!

64
Newfoundland Discussions / Friday Update on Barkley
« on: March 31, 2006, 02:51:21 pm »
I just got the big guy back from his check up at the vet.  The prednozone is really doing a good job!  The lymph nodes in his neck and hind quarters that had been noticeably enough enlarged (what tipped her off in the first place) have reduced in swelling.  He has gained 2 lbs this week as well.  We're going to continue on this mix of meds and food.  He had a week of good days, although he's a bit more tired today than I've seen him in a while.  We couldn't finish our full walk as he had an accident on the boardwalk (sorry other walkers  :-X ) and then got distressed about the mess he had made.  He's a cool dude that way - doesn't like to do things he knows he's not supposed to be doing!

Anyhow, I'm off to pick up a film of recent pics we took of him and will try to get some posted tonight or tomorrow.  Once again, thanks for all the support this week ... you guys are amazing.

65
Newfoundland Discussions / Am I fooling myself?
« on: March 30, 2006, 10:26:15 am »
I have to wonder if I'm just fooling myself here because I don't want to admit and accept that Barkley is sick and on his way out.  He's had good days and nights - is reacting well to the prednozone.  The vet put him back on the med to stop diarrhea (can't think of the name and I"m actually AT work today so can't run in to check the bottle!).  He's eating like a horse, lapping up the love and attention and medi-cal treats.  He's only had one small accident in the house and that was yesterday.

Last night he didn't want to come sleep upstairs with us as usual.  Instead he wanted to go in the basement and he spent the night not on his blanket but on the cool basement floor.

My MIL is at the house today.  She hasn't seen him since the diagnosis.  I just called and she said he didn't want to go outside - that he just wanted to lay on the basement floor (he was full of p&v this morning when I let him out) - and then she said "oh my, he's a sick dog.  He just looks at me with those big eyes and you know he's sick".

Am I just seeing the good and ignoring the bad?  Oh crud...now the tears are starting at work.  Not good. Not good.

66
Newfoundland Discussions / Barkley Update
« on: March 28, 2006, 01:02:09 pm »
I've been pm'ing with people that tell me folks here at BPO don't mind constant going on by Newf owners ... good thing for me!  :D

So we've had another good night and so far today, a good day.  Yesterday we got the news that the lymphoma is severe and likely spreading fast.  The vet (through her tears...how could I not love my vet???) told me to grab onto and enjoy every single good day.

Today has been a good day.  I've managed to swing it so I can work from home today and tomorrow.  So we went down to the boardwalk at lunch time and took a nice, slow walk.  We have to be careful with conserving his energy - he needs it all to fight this nasty disease.  My husband used to take Barkley and Sheba jogging with him all the time - no more jogs for the big guy I'm afraid.

Walking him on the boardwalk is always a bit hard because you get stopped so frequently by folks.  Normally I don't mind but since he's been diagnosed, every time someone tells me how beautiful he is, I want to cry! 

Also, we're going to start slowly switching him from the gastro food that he's on right now over to a low protein diet.  Apparently the folks at MediCal have done some research that shows higher fat/lower sugar diets are more effective at fighting the cancer and not giving it the energy it needs.  I'm all about stealing energy from this cancer, folks. 

Anyhow, I'm going to take this good day today, and enjoy it.  Now excuse me ... I have a Newf to cuddle  ;)

67
Newfoundland Discussions / Mediocre night
« on: March 27, 2006, 04:28:17 am »
We've had such a good weekend with Barkley, but last night wasn't the greatest.  He was having trouble settling down for bed.  I've been leaving both dogs in the basement overnight for the last few weeks because of his diarrhea (much easier to clean up the basement than the dusty rose carpets in the house!), but he's had a good few nights so I thought I'd try him back up in the bedroom with us.

He was panting - and I'm trying to figure out if it's more than usual or not.  It was enough that it sent my husband to the couch.  He did settle down and slept through the night (both husband and dog!) eventually.

This morning we woke up at our usual time, and I took a minute to go to the washroom upstairs.  By the time I got to the head of the stairs, he was squatting at the bottom having a little pee on the carpet.   He is drinking a lot and although he ate all the canned food in his breakfast, he didn't finish the dry.

And of course I have to go to work today ... no option to stay home with him as I did that two days last week before the diagnosis.

Ick.  I'm not going to like this - I can already tell.

I'm so glad I found this board - you folks are amazing. 

68
Newfoundland Discussions / My first post - and a sad one
« on: March 25, 2006, 08:12:05 pm »
I've had my amazing Landseer, Barkley, since Dec 2000 when we rescued him from the local SPCA. We weren't sure how old he was when we got him - somewhere between 2 and 4, although probably closer to 2, which makes him about 8 now.

On Friday night we got the diagnosis of lymphoma.  He's been having some real issues over the last few weeks, although previous to that he's been the picture of health.  He doesn't even have one sign of hip issues or anything!  He had some eye issues (cateract related) and recently some diahhrea.  When we took him back in this week because of the continued diahhrea, they found some abnormalities in his lymph nodes.  An ultrasound on Friday night showed the masses on his spleen.

I'm just so sad.  We've chosen not to go the chemo route, and instead have started him on prednozone.  He's eating like a horse and his cheer is great.

Has anyone had any experience with this?  I'm just devastated at the decision we will be faced with in the near future.  He's such an amazing dog.

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