Update on Denuen

On Monday Mike took Denuen to OSU Veterinary School Hospital. The doctors there diagnosed Denuen's anal gland problem as a tumor (anal sac adenocarcinoma). It is apparently a fairly common type of cancer that older female dogs are prone to. Unfortunately this type of tumor is also highly malignant. To determine a course of action, the doctors did a chest x-ray and an ultrasound of Denuen's internal organs. Fortunately they did not see any indication that the cancer had spread to those organs. This type of tumor also produces a chemical that causes the dog's body to have more Calcium in their system. They checked her current calcium level and while it is a bit elevated it is not extremely so.

Because of these findings the doctors suggested we proceed with surgery to remove the tumor. They assured us that the surgery is not likely to cause fecal incontinence (the last thing anyone would want!). The surgery was scheduled for yesterday afternoon, but late in the day we received a call that they had lots of emergencies yesterday and Denuen's surgery has been postponed until Thursday. I believe they must do evaluations on Mondays and Wednesdays and surgeries on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The doctors at OSU also confirmed that Denuen has a torn ligament in her left rear leg which will need surgery. However the tumor is the more pressing issue. After the surgery on her tumor, the tumor will be biopsied so we'll have more information on the extent of the spread, where she is likely to have the cancer pop up in the future, and what kind of monitoring of her we'll need to do. Based on their findings in the x-rays and ultrasound the doctor indicated we are likely to see the cancer pop up in her lymph nodes but fortunately this type of cancer doesn't tend to cause a lot of damage in the lymph nodes or spread from there. Basically he said Denuen is very likely to have several more years of quality life. At 11 years old several more years of quality life is a gift.

Back by popular demand

Yesterday I mentioned to my mom that I had recorded Addison and Lily in the exersaucer to show the differences in their energy levels. This morning I received an email from my sister asking when it was going to be available on the blog. Have we started a new craze across the country? Well, it is fun and fairly easy to get these videos out here, so here's our next installment. Make sure you have the sound turned up on your computer for the commentary. Oh and I figured out how to put transitions in our clips...

Starting the Christmas season

It is the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas is suddenly upon us. Many of our neighbors already have decorations up to light the night. We plan to put up decorations tomorrow and we'll be getting a tree soon. A big part of the holidays is sending cards to loved ones and we are thrilled to have 2 beautiful subjects to picture in our cards this year. We spent a bit of time doing a photo session in our living room. We felt we had several good shots. Here are some that we did not choose to use for our card:

I posted a few days ago that Lily was rolling over...back to tummy. At that time Addison was showing no interest in doing the same. Well, that is still the case. However Addison has now learned to roll from her tummy to her back. I guess it is safe to say that Lily prefers laying on her tummy and Addison prefers her back! Here's a video catching the two of them in action.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello all.

We have exciting news to share. Lily is rolling over from her back to her tummy. She has been doing this for about a week now. She's been doing belly scrunches...lifting her legs and moving around quite a bit in her crib for a while now and turning to sleep on her side. Finally she made it all the way over. Addison can do the belly scrunches and moves around a bit in the crib, but she seems pretty content to just stay on her back.

Addison had a big trip this past weekend. I went to Atlanta for planning meetings with ScreamFree and Addison went with. This meant driving to Columbus to fly to Atlanta and all of the packing, stuff lugging and security screenings that go with travelling with an infant. I must say the TSA folks in the Columbus airport were WONDERFUL. And there were also TSA folks in Atlanta...enough said. We also had more public nursing of an infant and even breast pumping than I would have ever thought I'd be comfortable with, but you do what you have to do. We left Lily and Mike with about 1/2 of her need in frozen breastmilk and returned with enough to restock the freezer. Mike will have to relay his experience as a true single parent. Suffice to say the stories told to me involved low grade fevers and ear piercing screams. But he did keep his promise to me and upon my return I found my daughter still alive.

Both of the girls are over 13 pounds now. Hard to believe they will be 5 months old next week.

Next week Mike is taking our 11 year old coonhound, Denuen, up to Columbus to the Ohio State University Veterinary School to have surgery on her anal glands...they've gotten severely impacted and have to be removed. She also has probably torn a ligament in her left rear knee and we anticipate that surgical repair to happen then too. Fortunately we feel a bit more comfortable with handling 2 infants so throwing in a convalescencing dog into the mix won't be too much of a stretch.

We bought a digital camcorder as our Christmas gift to ourselves. Here's our first attempt:

It's the Great Pumpkins, Charlie Brown

Our first Halloween. Of course, Lily and Addison wore the prescribed pumpkin outfits courtesy of Dave and Dorothy Markert. It was a rainy night in Athens, OH that night, but we had plenty of trick or treaters. To avoid having the door bell ring incessantly and the dogs scaring the trick or treaters, we opened our garage and sat there and handed out candy. Addison and Lily seemed pretty oblivious, but Mike and I were proud to be able to show off our little girls. We had plenty of oh-ing and ah-ing over the twins and their cute outfits.

Last week Addison and Lily had their 4 month check up and shots. All was well at the doctor's and they did well with their shots. This time, Mike stayed out in the waiting area while I took each of the girls back for their shots. He's much more sensitive to having them get those mean old shots that make them cry. They both did better with this round of shots. They were fussier that day, but did not run a fever.


Developmentally...Addison is weighing a little over 12 lbs. Lily is weighing about 12 1/2 lbs. But when you pick them up, you'd swear there is a 2 lb difference! Both girls are holding their heads up well when on their tummy, but Lily is much more comfortable in that position and gladly will hold her head really high for several minutes. They are not rolling over yet, but we hope to see that feat in the next few weeks. Lily loves putting her fingers in her mouth and almost prefers them to her pacifier. Addison is just getting to the point of realizing the joy of slimy fingers. While both girls are smiling and laughing, Lily has a special gift of squealing with laughter. Addison has become quite the talker...and loud. Quite often she wakes up and talks loudly into the monitor for several minutes before realizing...hey, I'm hungry. Both girls are wearing 3-6 month clothes. They've finally outgrown all of their 0-3 month outfits.