I don’t much remember what life with Lilly was like before she got so sick with an adverse rabies vaccine reaction called meningoencephalomyelitis in January 2012. Taking care of her fills my days. Our world has gotten quite small, but we feel joy at even the tiniest “normal” thing — such as playing fetch. Here, friends, is a little video update.
Continue Reading »
It’s official. I’ve fallen out of the habit of blogging. It’s complicated. Today, for example, my plans to finish work early so that I could clean my house (which is getting scary) got slaughtered by imminent, unexpected work demands from 3 different clients. Since it looks like I’ll be cleaning all evening, I’m trying to make some space in my brain to write a real update about Lilly. Let’s see how it goes.
Continue Reading »
Why is a Dog Mom like me reviewing a book about pregnancy and babies? Well, The Business of Baby: What Doctors Don’t Tell You, What Corporations Try to Sell You, and How to Put Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Before Their Bottom Line by Jennifer Margulis is more relevant to the health decisions we make for our dogs than you might think. It’s critical reading for anyone planning to have children (or anyone who loves someone who will). And, yes, it’s written by one of my brilliant friends. I offered to help spread the word as a favor. Continue Reading »
Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in book review, Dog Book Review | Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
By now, you’ve likely read several book reviews of Pukka’s Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs by Ted Kerasote. I’m a little late to the party. It took me a while to read the book (a) because it’s long and (b) because I’ve been busy taking care of Lilly, after her latest setback (antibiotic-resistant infection and sudden inability to walk / stand). Below, I hope you’ll find a uniquely Champion of My Heart look at Pukka’s Promise.
Continue Reading »
Not nearly enough chocolate or ice cream in the house for a week like this, but here is a short recap of this week’s (mostly good) news … after Lilly became increasingly wobbly and weak, starting last Sunday.
Continue Reading »
We got mostly good news today from Lilly’s blood and basic urine tests. The urine culture takes several more days, but Lilly’s complete blood count (CBC) and senior dog blood chemistry panel look good. So, there is no reason we cannot go ahead with her cytarabine injections (“chemo”) tomorrow and Thursday. As for the sudden wobbly-weakness? Into the unknown we go …
Continue Reading »
<insert string of vociferous profanities here> Lilly is having another set-back. Whether the weakness and wobbling we’re seeing is a result of the antibiotic-resistant infection in her bladder and monster antibiotic picked to fight it (cloramphenicol)… or the resurgence of her ongoing brain and spinal cord inflammation … we don’t yet know. Here is how it unfolded (mostly in pictures).
Continue Reading »
The good news? A total of 7 weeks of antibiotics (2 different kinds) wiped out Lilly’s e coli bladder infection. The bad news? Now she has an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection called staph pseudointermedius. People get MRSA infections. Dogs sometimes get MRSP infections, like this one. All of this stems from her treatment for rabies vaccine-induced meningoencephalomyelitis (and the resulting incontinence). The drug chosen for this next canine bladder war is a doozy.
Continue Reading »
Another silly week comes to a close. Lilly received 4 more cytarabine injections Tuesday and Wednesday (that’s cycle #11, if you’re keeping tabs). Somehow, I ended up with 7 client conference calls this week, including 5 full hours on the phone Thursday. Sheesh! Just a little news this week.
Continue Reading »
Lilly is doing pretty well, if you don’t count the 2 super-soaker / super-messy diaper days in the last week and the renewed urge to eat paper products. Oh, and we even had to break out the dog toy Jaws of Life today. Honestly! Continue Reading »
The headline is that Lilly is fine, but here is a recap of how she gave me a BIG scare on Wednesday.
Continue Reading »
Whew! We’ve been running around like wild monkeys, with as many as 6 veterinary appointments per week. You have our apologies for not posting about every little shift in Lilly’s health. Here are some highlights from recent weeks, as Lilly continues to recover from a terrible bladder infection (caused by immune-suppressing treatment for her adverse rabies vaccine reaction >> brain and spinal cord inflammation).
Continue Reading »
Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in book review, Dog Book Review | Posted on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by Virginia Morell is a deeply researched trek around the world and into the minds and talents of creatures large and small. Beautifully rendered profiles of animal-intelligence researchers and their subjects make sometimes complicated topics accessible, thrilling, and fun.
Continue Reading »
Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Life, Dog Product Review | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2013
Hoo-rag (“the better bandana”) is essentially a tube of stretchy fabric that can be used a bunch of different ways. (Think Survivor buff.) At Chez Champion of My Heart, we’ve decided it’s a perfect way to protect Lilly’s shaved tummy. Because of her ongoing immune-suppression, Lilly neither sheds nor grows hair, so her post-ultrasound tummy is going to be bare for a long, long time.
Continue Reading »
Since I just came up with the pennies idea to track Lilly’s survival, I decided to go retro — retroactive, that is. I went to the bank and got rolls and rolls of pennies so that I had 1 penny for every day since Lilly received that fateful rabies vaccine on January 23, 2012, that royally screwed up her brain and spinal cord. Today marks Day 394 of Lilly’s survival. Howz that for positive thinking?
Continue Reading »
Send to Kindle
