Texas Lady

ZsaZsa made it through her surgery just fine on Friday. Now she has 2 ugly incisions to heal. She went to the vet Monday for the first follow up and all was well. Going again tomorrow and then Friday. Hopefully they can take the drain out. She doesn’t care for it at all (don’t blame her a bit). There was 3 masses which they removed via two incisions. Pathology will be back in 10-14 days. Fingers crossed.

I have the first appointment with my cancer specialist on February 4th. Fingers crossed for me, too. I could use a little less stress, please. I’m less upset about myself than ZsaZsa. She’s our baby (8 1/2 years old now). She’s so miserable and doesn’t understand why she has to wear an e-collar all the time and why we won’t let her chew on her belly. (After all, it IS HER belly, Mom!)

Well, onward and upward!

I ordered embroidery blanks to stich out Christmas gifts for the babies in our family. I ordered them on November 4th. They just got here. So, they’ll all be late. Wah!!!!!! I’ve got the first of 4 keepsake baby blankets on the little machine now. Since they’re only one thread color there’s no sense in starting the 10-needle machine. But I’m happy to be able to sew at all. When they messed up my eye I couldn’t even see much less sew. I still have a lot of issues seeing thread, needle eyes, etc., but I’m bound and determined that I will get back to the hobby I’ve enjoyed so much. I’ve bought a few new things and done some reorganizing to better use what I have. I ran out of space a long time ago, so I just have to be smart about what I do have.

This year has been very evenfall in so many ways. We’ve had health challenges. The dogs have had health challenges. We lost Freddy and Khandi. Now we’re dealing with Zoe’s eye issues and ZsaZsa has mammary tumors which will be removed next month. It seems like we fix one thing and something else pops up. Wow!

Just wanted to check in here to say we’re still kicking, one way or another. Happy Holidays to all!

Last night, our sweet Khandi crossed the rainbow bridge. We rescued her 7 years ago; she would have been 14 years old December 4th. She’d been ill for over a month and gone to two different vet practices without a firm diagnosis or a solution. They both agreed that she had a massive infection somewhere in her small body. After blood work, urine testing, x-rays, ultrasounds, radiology reports and fecal samples, the conjecture ran wild. But nothing made her better. She had swollen lymph nodes, maybe cancer, but the radiologist said no masses anywhere. Her electrolytes were way off, her albumin so low that her body couldn’t heal itself any longer. Liver flukes because she loved to eat bugs? We medicated for all of it–until she had diarrhea so bad that nothing stayed in any longer. She wasn’t in any pain. She just slowed down and down and down until her heart stopped last night.

Khandi was someone’s special dog at some time before she came to us. Someone had spent time training her very well and making her secure and happy. We don’t know exactly where she came from. We were told that someone moved away and just left her running the neighborhood. No way! Somebody loved this girl, with a capital LLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!! They wouldn’t have been able to just walk away and leave her. Regardless, we were fortunate enough to love her the rest of her life. And she had a good life, too. She was her daddy’s baby. He took her out on the boat fishing, to Lowe’s, Home Depot, the feed store, Sonic, Starbucks, & just riding in the car daily. She slept in a teepee bed beside our bed. Every morning DH would rub her belly before he even got out of bed. She was loved by all, was mostly quiet and very sweet. The last few years she was leader of the pack and ruled well-most of the time. She had times when she’d use her power to roll the little dogs on the rug just to show them who the real dog was. She never hurt them, she just needed to push her weight around sometimes. She could be scary to the littles; her bark came up from the depths of hell before it burst out between her lips (do dogs have lips?). She was a great watchdog, a sweet cuddler and a joy to live with.

We love you, babygirl! We know you’re over the bridge playing with Bandit, Freddy, Dusty, Mimi and all the rest. Run free!!!!!!!!!

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Happy 16th birthday to our Gypsy. That’s 112 in dog years. Quite a feat, baby girl! She has stones in both kidneys, on prescription food, and just about blind and deaf, but she’s still happy, alert and loving.

She was born August 18, 2008 in our bed to a rescued Chihuahua mom and our sister-in-law’s male. DH just had to have one litter of puppies before we had her spayed. Since we were a part of dog rescue we’d never allowed a dog to have puppies. Every rescue and foster was spayed/neutered upon arrival. So this was a special deal and has never been repeated. Gypsy came into the world with one brother and one sister who have both found happy homes.

We know we can’t keep our dogs forever and her expiration date is past, but we’ll keep her happy and healthy as long as we can. We love you, babygirl!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty girl is getting colorful! In December Khandi will be 14 years old. When we rescued her she was solid black. Now, none of us are (humans included). She still loves us and we love her dearly. And isn’t that what matters most of all?

New addition to our extended family. My sister in law brings her babies to visit us from time to time. They are Sweetpea and Peanut. The white one is our Zoe. They like to lay on my desk when I’m working. They stay still and quiet so it’s not a problem. The littles weigh 2 pounds, Zoe is 3.5 pounds. You can carry all three of them in your elbow. Sweet hearts. We were glad to meet Peanut. He helped my heart heal from losing Freddy. Love is a powerful thing.

Last night, Freddy crossed the Rainbow Bridge. We had him almost six months. He was loved immensely and is missed terribly. Run free, my sweet boy!