My Sammy is sick

Sammy

Since April, Sam's had a bit of a cough on and off.  When we went to the vet for his annual checkup in April, the doctor listened to his heart and lungs and didn't hear anything irregular.  We both sort of thought it was down to Sam's seasonal allergies (he inherited that from me).  Toward the end of the summer, the cough got a bit deeper but was still pretty intermittent.

Over the past couple of weeks, it got pretty bad.  Again, the weather has been strange, windy and hot and my allergies have been bad so I sort of thought that his might be too but I was keeping a close eye on him.  We started to notice some weakness in his legs.  They would tremble sometimes and he started taking little breaks on walks.  The strangest thing was that he was off his food a bit (still ate but picked at it, only got really excited if it was something sort of smelly).

The weekend was pretty tough and I got him back into the vet yesterday.  I wasn’t sure what we were dealing with.  I thought it could be heartworm (he’s on a preventative but who knows right?), possible COPD (not uncommon in senior dogs and he’s 10 now), a flu/pneumonia or lung cancer.  It turns out that when he saw the vet, his heart was beating out of control, he had arrhythmia.  Not good.  Many dogs have heart murmurs but arrhythmia was uncommon.  Sam went for a chest x-ray and the results were alarming.  His heart his severely enlarged.  This could be caused by a couple of things:  heart disease or a malignant tumour in his heart.  If it’s heart disease, that’s treatable and if he responded well to medication, he could have some good years ahead of him.  If it’s cancer, well, that’s bad.  There is also a possibility, regardless of which thing it is, that he could die suddenly at any time due to his condition.

We were sent home with some drugs to try.  He’s taking Vetmedin (Pimobendan) which is used to manage congestive heart failure.  He's getting one 1.25 mg pill every 12 hours, one 20 mg Furosemide (similar to Lasix, treats build of fluid due to heart disease  - he presently has some fluid in his lungs that was seen on the X-ray) and one 5 mg Fortekor (benazepril hydrochloride) which is used to treat heart failure.  Next week we’ll go back for another X-ray.  They will be able to tell if the medication is helping and if it doesn’t seem to be doing anything, Sam will need an echocardiogram so we can find out if there is a growth or not.

It’s scary.  I was a mess driving home from Sydenham.  I cried pretty much all of the way home.  He’s been such a good sport.  Sam’s being great about taking his meds and is being his good old goofy self (which makes this easier and harder at the same time).  I have no idea what the next few weeks are going to be like for him (or me) but I’m going to spend as much time as possible with him while we figure out what is going on.  He can be a bit of jerk at times but he’s my jerk and I love him.  Since Mark died, he gets onto my bed every night and keeps me company.  I can’t imagine what I’m going to do without him but I’m trying not to think about that right now.

Because It's Tuesday - week of August 8

I'm posting this a little later than usual because I've been on vacation this week.  My routine is a bit off but that's okay because vacation, right?

Heard some sad news this afternoon, not surprising in anyway but still sad news all the same.  Glen Campbell passed away at the age of 81 after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease.  Our family has a bit of personal experience with "the long goodbye" because my grandmother was a victim of it.  It's a terrible thing to watch someone you love so dearly forget everything that is most important to them.

In the case of my grandmother, she left a lovely legacy of love behind, children and grandchildren and inlaws and outlaws and cousins and aunts and uncles who thought the world of her and remember her every day.  In Glen Campbell's case, we have a long career of musical awesomeness by which to remember him.

Many years ago, while I was working at CFRC, I heard Ghost of American Airman's cover of a Campbell classic and loved it instantly.  I'm sharing it with you today.  Have a listen, it's just an audio track, no video, but it's a great version.  Enjoy xo

because it's Tuesday - week of August 1

Everything But The Girl covers Simon and Garfunkel. 

Nothing wrong with that, at all.

Enjoy kiddos xo

because it's Tuesday - week of July 25

Can't Hardly Wait.  Such a good song by a legendary band, The Replacements.

Recently, I've been listening to a lot of Justin Townes Earle.  He covered "Can't Hardly Wait," on his 2009 album, Midnight at the Movies.  He does a great job with it.  The whole album is really solid actually, well worth a listen if you haven't heard it before.

Anyway, this particular version was performed live in Sydney.  Hope you enjoy it xo

because it's Tuesday - week of July 18

As the summer rolls along, I find myself trying really hard to not wallow too much in my memories of the summer of 2015.  Last summer, I let myself fall down a deep well of memories and it took quite a while to dig myself out, it was not easy at all.  Rather than wallow, I'm trying to find good things to focus on.  It's a struggle at times.

Mark would have absolutely agreed with my statement that two Bob's are better than one.  He was a super fan of Bob Dylan and Bob Wiseman was a wonderful friend of his for many many years when he lived in Toronto.  I was just delighted to watch this last week and wanted to share it with you.

Bob Wiseman and friends (Katasha James, Vanessa Forgue and Blake Howard) performed versions of "If Not For You" and "Wedding Song" in Toronto earlier this year.

Please listen and enjoy, you'll be so very glad you did xo