Doing Great!

I just had my three-week checkup, and the doctors at WSU are very happy - they didn't take any scans, but just looking at me and probing around, they say the tumors are essentially gone. They did give me more chemotherapy, and I have to go back in another three weeks for scans and another dose of chemo, but everything's going really well. Dr Fidel (the oncologist) is actually going to talk about me at a conference she's going to because they used this new faster radiation protocol - I'm the first American dog to do this - and she's really happy with the results and the lack of side effects.

Lack of side effects - but I lost my voice! And Dr Fidel says it's probably permanent! I think Mom is pretty happy about this horrible turn of events though - I kept warning her of all the people walking within my eyesight when we drove to and from WSU, but all that comes out is kind of a choked-sounding gasp, like I've got a really sore throat - but she kept telling me to be quiet anyway. She thinks it's funny! I don't think it's funny at all - how am I supposed to scare off all the bad things if I can't bark? I guess it's a good thing Schultz has a loud bark, but he's just not a good enough substitute for me!!!

I'm baaaack!

I'm back and feeling great!!! The treatments did the job, and we're back home! I'm happy to be home even if Schultz is still here - it's great to go on off-leash walks again and chase deer and turkeys and bark at the neighbors! We do have to go back for a checkup in three weeks, and I'll be getting some sort of continuing treatment on a regular basis, but I'm doing really well now. Here's a picture just to prove it!

I'm back to full voice!

I'm almost done with my treatments - yeah! Yesterday was supposed to be my last radiation treatments, but the machine broke, so I'm back in today for the last two. The docs say my tumors have shrunk dramatically, and I'm able to eat and bark and whine just like I used to! I don't think Mom appreciates my voice being back, but she's pretty happy about the rest of it.

We went on a nice long walk yesterday since I couldn't get treated, and we went to the Moscow dog park, but there wasn't anyone else there, which was kind of a bummer, but it was good to be off the leash and sniffing around. Mom has been feeding me like crazy, so I'm almost back to my normal weight too - I like all the treats! Schultz is going to be so jealous!

I have to have some more treatments in about three weeks, but we might be able to do that in Missoula instead of coming all the way to MSU, which would be great - I miss Dad!

Anyway, I feel great and I'm headed home tomorrow - yeah!

No Fun At All!!!

Boy, this isn't fun at all - I can't believe Mom is doing this to me! And I feel horrible too - this just sucks. So, you remember from my last post that I had this weird esophagus disease? Well, it isn't that at all.

See, I started getting worse, and coughing more, and having more pain, so we went back to the Internal Med vet and he did some ultrasounds on my throat - turns out, I have cancer. He thought it was thyroid cancer, and recommended I get surgery in Spokane or Washington State University. So, Mom made an appointment for me in Spokane, but I got sicker well before the appointment, so our regular vet stuck a bunch of needles and fluids in me, and Mom drove me to WSU late last Thursday night. Good thing she did, 'cause it turns out I was having a bad drug interaction problem, and on top of that, I don't have thyroid cancer, I have tonisillar cancer which has spread to one of my lymph nodes. The big tumor on my tonsil was the reason for my coughing and pain.

Since it's spread, surgery really isn't an option, so I'm getting radiation and chemotherapy. Which means Mom and I stay in a hotel at night, and she drops me off at the WSU vet hospital every morning, where they put me under and give me radiation treatment twice a day - or that's what they tell Mom anyway - I just fall asleep a lot there. Even though the doctors and techs are all really nice, I don't like it there and I just want to go home. But Mom says we have to stay here at least another week - yuck! My tummy is all upset all the time, and I just want to lay down on my bed next to Dad at home and sleep, but no, I'm stuck here with Mom. Mom is OK, but I really want Dad!

Anyway, even though I don't feel very good, the cancer is shrinking quickly and we should be done with this part by the end of next week. I know we'll all be happy to get back to normal!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I keep trying to get Mom to type in the blog for me, but she's always doing something else or Schultz thinks he's going to get food and he gets in my way – I have such a tough life! I wish I had opposable thumbs.

Anyway, it's been a pretty quiet fall. Mom and Dad say the colors were really nice this year – no early cold snap – and we've gotten quite a bit of snow already, although we haven't gone cross country skiing yet. Mom went downhill skiing (for the first time in 2 years) with a friend from Church last week – 9” of fresh powder – at Lost Trail Powder Mountain. It's a nice little hill, has great snow and is very reasonably priced.

Dad left me with Mom and Blockhead to visit his Dad in Missouri earlier this month. He saw his Dad's new house, met his brother's kid and played bingo – nope, I can't see Dad playing bingo either!

The fire department has been pretty quiet, although there was one 24 hour period with four car wrecks. None were particularly difficult, just a lot of directing traffic, which is actually a pretty dangerous thing to do – everyone's on their cell phone instead of paying attention to where they are going. Dad and Mom have both had to move pretty quickly to avoid being run over – which is not the easiest thing to do in the clown boots that are part of a firefighter's gear.

Mom also got herself elected to be a fire department training officer – she's a glutton for punishment – and Dad has elected himself to write up an initial training plan for new firefighters – I guess they're both gluttons for punishment! But they both have a lot of experience with training and training plans, so they're the right folks for the job.

Mom is still singing with several choirs at Church – the Christmas Vigil Mass was a rousing success – and has been asked to join the Pastoral Council. Just before we moved here, her parish had just finished building a big parish center, so they're looking for some folks to help refocus parish planning to more “normal” ministries rather than capital campaigns. Mom's background in strategic planning should come in handy.

We also added another member to our family – a new pony! No, not a real pony thank goodness, a 1965 Mustang coupe. I guess when Dad started working at O'Reilly's Auto Parts, he started remembering how much fun it was to have a classic car, 'cause all the other guys working there have project cars. So, a relative of one of his coworkers was selling their low-mileage, no-rust, two-owner '65 Mustang, so Dad HAD to take a look. Well, he liked what he saw, so now it's in our garage up on blocks. Dad's already replaced the front suspension, converted the brakes to disc brakes, and has an engine in a crate ready to put in. He's also remembering how much he hates working on cars! Especially since our garage isn't heated, so working out there this time of year isn't the most fun thing to do, for Dad anyway – I have plenty of fur to keep me warm, and Dad put a dog bed out there just for me.

While Dad's been working on the car, Mom has been attempting to implement some of the techniques you see on those 30 minute home improvement shows – without a lot of success, I'm afraid. She tried to sponge paint the loft wall so it would have a nice forest green look, and it turned out more like a swimming pool! Unfortunately, it's just paint, so she's going to try again – more things to make me sneeze, and more chances for Schultz to track paint around the house!

Speaking of sneezing, Dad and Mom were getting worried because I started coughing a lot – kind of a gagging cough. So we went to the vet (I hate going to the vet, even if she is a really nice lady) and they took an x-ray and put me on more drugs. The drugs didn't work, so up to the Internal Medicine vet in Missoula we went. Right after he came in, he stuck his hand way down my throat – I really don't like him! But, it turns out I'm pretty much OK – I just have this weird thing that only happens to larger-framed dogs – the nerves in my esophagus have gone dead, so when I'm lying down, there's nothing to tell my swallowing reflex to work to clear the saliva that normally occurs. Then, when I get up, all that saliva goes down my windpipe instead, causing me to hack and cough – it really makes it difficult to run outside fast and protect the house! Fortunately, the doc said it's just a nuisance kind of thing, not anything horribly serious – and that I'm just going to drool and cough a lot now. Like there wasn't enough drool around this house already with Blockhead around!

So, that's all the news for now – we hope you have a Very Happy New Year!

Glacier Grumbles

Well, Mom and Dad did it AGAIN! They took us to a cool place with lots of dogs, and I thought we were going to just play like last time, but no, they LEFT US THERE! For days and days - I thought they were never coming back - and they were having fun hiking! Stupid National Parks don't let dogs on the trails, so when Mom decided to re-live her youth they had to leave us in a kennel. Did I mention it sucked? Especially since I had to room with Blockhead!

So, they went hiking in Glacier National Park for four days. The pictures are are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/Glacier2010?feat=directlink

They don't all have captions yet, but that should happen shortly.


So, for those who don't know, Mom worked for two summers at Many Glacier Hotel in 1982/83. She was a maid the first year, and a singing waitress the second - this was back in the days when the employees also provided the entertainment - there were "Hootenany" Monday nights, a musical theater production each summer, multiple other evening entertainments, and the wait staff in the dining room sang 4-part harmony songs twice a night. There's a nice display in the Many Glacier Hotel lobby about those years, but Mom isn't in any of the pictures. BTW, for those who have a hard time believing Mom was a maid or waitress, she freely admits she was BAD at both of those, and was not invited back for a third summer, due to her "poor attitude" - big suprise, huh?


They spent the first night at the Belton Hotel which is just outside of the park in West Glacier. This hotel was orginally a dorm for the railroad workers building tourist facilities in the park. It has an awesome restaurant! They also drove up towards Logan Pass that afternoon/evening since the weather was so nice and Dad had never been in Glacier before. This turned out to be a very good idea, because the weather quickly deteriorated and was downright lousy the next day. Unfortuately, they had to hike the next day because Mom, trying to fulfill her childhood dreams, had booked the next night in Granite Park Chalet, which you have to hike to - there is no other way to get there, so they hiked in a cloud (and rain) all day. They did get to see a bighorn sheep up very close, and there weren't very many day hikers on the trails since the weather was so bad. They also got to do something else Mom hasn't done since her Glacier Park days - hitchhike! The park shuttle shuts down after Labor Day, so they had to leave the truck at "the Loop" lot, and hitchhike up to Logan Pass. Fortunately, a VERY nice couple from Lake Tapps picked them up (in the rain!) and got them up to Logan Pass in style! Thanks again folks!


So, even though they were hiking THE iconic Glacier trail, they couldn't really see anything - fortunately Dad was a good sport about the whole thing. It helps that the trail, although it's 7 miles long, is pretty easy hiking. He wasn't so thrilled with the "Chalet" - even though Mom had warned him it was basically just a hiker's shelter - he was still expecting cute girls with hot cocoa and a mint on his pillow, which needless to say, didn't happen. The other historic, hike-in chalet is like that, with full service meals etc...but Granite Park doesn't have a certified water system (although they did lots of testing this summer, and that's probably going to change) so they can't offer full service. What they do have is bunkbeds (you can bring a sleeping bag or order linens), a full kitchen for guest use (you bring your own food or pre-order it and it will be waiting for you), a pretty extensive list of basics for purchase (water, cocoa, candy, etc), a wood stove in the main dining room area and lots of boiled water for use in the kitchen. While the main dining area is warm and cozy, it did get a little confining - if the weather had been better, we would have spent most of the time outdoors. The bunkbeds are in individual rooms (unheated!), but the walls are pretty thin - you can definitely hear your neighbor's conversations - and they give out ear plugs before bed time! Mom slept pretty good in her cozy sleeping bag, but Dad said he was cold in the rented linens.

The next morning had better weather, but it was still pretty socked in - they did get to see a black bear in the distance, and lots of mule deer by the Chalet - and they got "attacked" by an aggresive grouse on the trail out. Evidently people have been feeding the grouse, because it was very forward, pecking at everything and climbing all over the packs. See the pictures at the link above.

So, Mom and Dad hiked out, then checked into a cabin at the Glacier Outdoor Center - they're very nice cabins and quiet - then bummed around West Glacier a while, and drove to Whitefish for dinner. The next day they went back to Logan Pass and hike the first part of the Highline Trail again, so Dad could actually see it. He was pretty impressed with the scenery - said it matches or beats Colorado - and Mom was really happy he got to see the real beauty of the place.

Then they drove to Many Glacier Hotel - it was REALLY windy there, so they didn't do much outside - but they fulfilled more of Mom's childhood dreams by eating dinner in the hotel dining room (the food is still kind of marginal) and explored the hotel. The employees don't put on entertainment anymore, and the basement area where they had the musicals and dances has been cut up into banquet rooms, so that was kind of disapointing, but it was still fun to see. They also drove over to the Swiftwater area (the other side of the lake) to see the motel and camping areas, then drove back to West Glacier. Dad took lots of "Hail Mary" photos out the window of the truck, and got some nice ones!

On their final full day, they drove up and over the pass again, and hiked 4 miles up the Piegan Pass trail on the east side of the park. They were planning on going back to Many Glacier to ride horses or hike, but the wind was going to be howling there again, so they decided to stay closer to the Pass area. But it was good decision - it was a beautiful day, and a beautiful hike - next time they plan to go to the top!

The next day they drove back and picked us up - finally free! - and we all got home safely. Mom and Dad say they're going back next year, which sucks for us, 'cause we'll be back in the kennel. Stupid National Parks and their stupid rules!

Well, we've done other stuff since then, but Mom wants to get this part posted, so I'll write further updates shortly. Have a great fall!

Catch Up Time Again!

So, it's been a busy summer! The patio and walkway from the house to the garage is almost done - just need to add the gutters and fence it off so Blockhead and I can hang out there during the heat of the day. Ok, so we'll be inside where it's even cooler - but Mom will enjoy it! We've added some new pictures so you can see the progress:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/HousePatioAddOn?feat=directlink

We've also done some hiking. Mom did a LOT of hiking, but without us - boo! Here's the last hiking trip we all took:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/Summer2010Hiking?feat=directlink
It's on the Watchtower Pass trail - since the spring was so wet and cool, the wildflowers were still blooming in July. It was a great day - not too hot, lots of water to drink from the creek and hamburgers after the hike!

Then Mom went backpacking with the Selway-Bitterroot Foundation on an eight-day trail maintenance trip - and she didn't take us! They started from Indian Creek Campground on the Idaho side of the Bitterroot Mountains - the Forest Service packed their big backpacks up the first day on mules, which was good, because the trail was really steep! Unfortunately, Charlie and the mules didn't get to go the whole way, and the group had to pack all of their gear and the trail maintenace gear (2 big crosscut saws, small saws, and pulaskis) for the rest of the trip.

The biggest problem on the trip was finding water - while they had a map with campsites and springs on it, actually finding the springs was sometimes really difficult, and involved some serious bushwacking. Finally, with the lack of water and the afternoon thunderstorms, they decided to make 'a run for the border' to the Montana side, and try to work back a bit on the trail. Day 5 of the trip was a tough one - a six-plus mile hike at 7000-8500 foot elevation - and the thunder and lightning started just before they reached the pass. They literally sprinted (as much as you can with a heavy backpack) down the pass until they reached some healthy stands of trees. Then there was just enough time to put up tents and get something to eat, and the deluge started - it stormed most of the night.

Fortunately, the next day was nicer, although they couldn't go back to the Idaho side to work on the trail due to the thunderstorm threat - but Mom and Rachel, the crew leader, did go back to the top of the pass and work their way down, while the other three crew members, Cassie, Stephen and Ben worked their way down. Fortunately for them, some Backcountry Horsemen had cleared a good bit of the trail already. Mom and Rachel also went down the trail from their camp to find an old log cabin, which had been destroyed by a falling tree. It was pretty neat to see.

So, Mom came back a day early - yeah! She was pretty tired, and said she had muscles in new places from all the sawing, but also said it was a beautiful trip and she had a good time. The pictures are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/SelwayBitterrootFoundationTrailMaintenanceJuly2010?feat=directlink
The picture locations on the map are extremely approximate! If anyone wants the actual GPS locations of our camps and springs, they're here (in UTM format):
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Aq5idZX2fIPidGhUbjdlM0hVdWZCSnVYNFZlWnBweEE&hl=en&authkey=CIOhnukC

Dad and Mom have also been up on their first Forest Service fire. They helped on the Victor Fire water tender with the Dominic Point fire, and were really, really bored. Fortunately, the weather was very cooperative, and basically put most of the fire out - so there wasn't much need for water. It was a good experience, but I don't think they'll be volunteering to do any more of it anytime soon!

Well, there's a little summer left, and I hope we get to do some more hiking - when we do, I'll post more pictures. Have a great summer!