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LadyFirebird wrote:
Don’t know how true this is but someone told me recently that shrimp belong to the cockroach family! Guess this might apply to crawdads as well urp :puke: It made me mad because I love shrimp but can’t get that ugly thought out of my mind! 🙄
Gah! I’d be miffed, too, considering how much shrimp gets eaten around here. :spank:
I think you’re safe, though. As far as I can recall, shrimp are a crustacean, while roaches are insects and not related. even though shrimp and crawdads look like bugs before you chop their little heads off 😀 ….
I had something similar to that happen over tapioca pudding, the large pearl stuff. I used to love it. Then someone said it looked like fish eggs, and they did. When I was a kid my dad fished for trout using salmon eggs, and yeah…they did kinda look like the tapioca. I haven’t been able to eat the stuff ever since. One of those “what has been seen cannot be unseen” things.The original animated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” I just love the expressions on Max, the dog. Second favorite would be “A Christmas Story”. Having lived with hunting dogs (who were expert counter surfers), the scene where the “Bumpus hounds” steal the turkey gets me every year. XD
I know there are folks here that collect more than just Windstones, so I thought I’d try this first.
The husband and I are liquidating some of our individual collections. (Non-Windstone items for now) Since I’ve been out of work since August with no leads yet on a new job, and the bills are piling up, we’ve decided to part with some stuff. 🙁At this time, I am offering the entire collection of Terry Redlin’s “Seasons To Remember” perpetual calendar plates. I DO NOT have the display rack; just all 12 plates. I have seen these on eBay listed between $40 and $50 apiece. These are all MIB with their COA’s. I’d prefer to not have to divide it up. 😉 They have been out of their boxes just once, when they first arrived to make sure they were all intact.
If there is an interest, I can post photos, just keep in mind there are a lot of plates. 🙂
Asking $540 for the set, buyer pays for shipping.I will also be selling my Norman Rockwell plates at a later date if there is any interest in those. This is an effort to try and avoid having to part with my beloved Windstones. We will also be looking for homes for several acoustic and electric guitars (mainly Gibson and Fender), bass (also Gibson and Fenders) guitars and amplifiers; Lionel “O” gauge electric trains, far more stuff than I could list at this time. My husband has been collecting for many, many years and he’s got like $300,000 in trains. (seriously! No joke.) If there is a particular item anyone is looking for, PM me or email me ( tasgrs@aol.com ) and ask–you never know; we probably do have it, considering. 🙂
LadyFirebird wrote:Imagine being on the throne and watching this happen! What a show!
Hmmm…..If something was gonna scare the…..poo…out of one, then the throne would be a handy place to be at the time. 😀 sorry….couldn’t resist!
{{Hugs}} back to you, Lokie. I hear you. Thanks for sharing–I do appreciate it.
We haven’t found where the lymphoma originated. None of her lymph nodes seem to be involved; ultrasounds and X-rays have been clear…..So far. Flurry has aged since the diagnosis. It’s hard to tell if she’s feeling the effects of the disease, or if her age just finally started catching up to her, or if it’s both. Only a few weeks ago she was playful and energetic. The vet feels that she might have had the beginnings of age-related arthritis that have been exacerbated by the meds/disease. Hard to tell, although it’s too coincidental as far as I’m concerned. Her weight is stable for the time being. One of the side effects of the prednisone is increased appetite and/or thirst. The thirst is a biggie right now. I can’t keep the water dish full enough it seems. And the muscle wasting. I was quite surprised how fast that came on. And there’s not a whole lot to be done to fight it, aside from the high protein diet, which can slow it down a little, but won’t stop it. I’m determined to take this day by day, and consider that each day she has that’s pain free is a good day. And if she enjoys her meals, then it’s an even better day. Tomorrow’s meal should be epic.
Well, some fairly good news for a change. 😀 The vet visit this afternoon went pretty well; they did check Flurry’s chest, and the fluid is not accumulating as quickly as feared. So the vet has decreased her prednisone dosage, and gave us instructions to continue at the lower dosage, keep doing what we’re doing with the diet and call him with updates in a week or so if all stays status quo or if changes occur call sooner. She does have some muscle wasting going on due to the prednisone, so we’ll be giving her a “helping hand” with a folded towel under the belly as needed to go down the stairs. I’m relieved for the moment, at least. She was pretty happy to go for another ride in the car–she was sitting up and looking around with her usual Pyr grin. I’m going to operate in the “cautiously optimistic” mode for the time being. I’m looking forward to feeding her Thanksgiving dinner this week. :yum:
{{hugs}} to Jennifer–I’m sorry to hear about Nikki….It IS supremely difficult to watch a pet decline. What makes this worse is that less than a month ago, Flurry was romping around the yard doing her “Goofy Dog” thing. This is just where she would run in circles, and play bow, with a big goofy Pyr smile on her face. In the short time since her diagnosis, she’s aged. Granted she’s not exactly a spring chicken to begin with, but still. And knowing that there really isn’t too much we can do REALLY bites.
We have a follow up visit to the vet tomorrow at noon. They’ll probably want to ultrasound her chest again to see if they can determine how much fluid has returned. Her breathing is still about the same as it was last week after the chest tap. Her appetite is good, and her color on her gums and tongue is nice and pink, so that’s good, too. She doesn’t object to the chest taps, but with me not working, I’m not sure how many times we can afford to take her to have it done. I’m trying real hard to not think about the checking account, but it’s not really working. 😳
But all we can do is take things 1 day at a time, and if that isn’t good enough, then it’ll be 1 hour at a time. As long as Flurry is eating, has good color and isn’t in any pain, then it’s a good day.Adaneth wrote:Sorry to hear the news about poor Flurry, on top of everything else that’s going on. 🙁 At least she’s getting to enjoy some real gourmet eating!
Yeah….if there is anything that can be said to be positive about losing my job, it’s that I get to spend more and better time with my dog! 😀 The menu tonight is venison steak (rare) saute`d in extra virgin olive oil, with peas and carrots and a side helping of salmon. :yum:
Oh, and I also forgot to mention in the original post that in the midst of all this, my husband was using my car, and got into a wreck. $5000 worth of damage, and a $750 deductible. Phooey. It’s like life in a beaver colony:one dam thing after another. 🙄 🙄 But at least he was okay, and so was the other driver……
LadyFirebird wrote:I have to tell you that the Great Pyrenees is my dream dog. First time I saw this breed was right in the town I live–an older couple had one outside of a Sears store. It was beautiful–pure white! If I ever got one I would name it Antarctica!
They are a neat breed. And not a very common one. We had to search for a breeder. Flurry’s “official” registered name is “Pyrless Blizzard of Odds, CGC, CD, TD”
As a rule they’re NOT known for their obedience; when asked to “Come” they often decide to “take a message and get back to you later”. And they shed…..lots and LOTS of shedding–they blow coat twice a year; the fur literally comes out in tufts and clumps. The birds here live in luxury nests, because I take all the shed fur I can gather and put it outside for them to take. It looks like I’ve just shorn a good sized sheep sometimes. They can be escape artists, digging under or going over large fences with a single bound. 😀 And bark…..they bark at air molecules…let’s not forget that, although again Flurry is somewhat unusual for her breed. She’s a phenomenal watchdog…a mouse couldn’t get in here without her knowing, and I pity the poor fool who tries to come in without our blessings. But she generally doesn’t go overboard and will quit when told that’s enough. They are wonderful with children, and don’t drool like St. Bernards or Newfies. I would get another Pyr in a hot second if I were about 10 years younger. The reason I say that is because she weighs about 85 lbs, and I can’t lift her on my own anymore. If something happens to her and my husband isn’t here or I can’t get anyone to help, I can’t get her into the car alone. And at 85 lbs, she’s on the lower end of the breed’s size scale. A big male can go about 125 lbs or more. The biggest I can lift is about 65 lbs. I’ve tried. It really sux to get old. 😛
Well, today Flurry’s looking better than she has for the last few days; I’m thinking the shot of chemo might have been what was making her seem more off. From what I’ve been able to find on line, dogs don’t have as *bad* a reaction to the stuff as humans, due to smaller dosages, but they DO react. This morning Flurry’s not quite her usual bubbly self, but she is certainly closer than she has been. We were able to do just the one shot (the one that was $300) but that will be the only one. If we need to do subsequent chest taps, we can and will. She doesn’t even flinch or fidget for that. The vets were marvelling at that. Pyrs are extremely stoic–they don’t show pain until it’s extreme, which makes them a difficult patient to diagnose since by the time they show pain, it can be far too late. She was unsteady on her back legs yesterday, but this morning she’s getting around pretty well. Her enthusiasm for cookies hasn’t changed. :yum:
I would be interested in hearing from anyone about their experience with lymphoma in their pets: good, bad, otherwise; how much time you had between diagnosis and the eventual loss of the pet, chemo/no chemo, remission times, etc. if it isn’t too painful to recall and list.
And thanks for being here, guys. It does mean a lot to me. 🙂
I hate to just pop up again and b*tch, but if I don’t get this out somewhere, I think my head will explode. 🙄
Y’all may remember that back in July we lost our older cat, Neige. Well, the fun doesn’t end there. In the beginning of August, I was laid off from work, and so far haven’t been able to find anything in my field. With the market the way it is, the number of people out of work and looking means the prospective employers are able to be picky and not have to “settle” for a candidate that may not have *ALL* the desired requirements. And this time of year is usually slow to begin with. I’ve been spending about 4-5 hours a day hunting through the job websites, and have sent about 2 dozen resumes, and still nothing.
As if this isn’t enough, in October, we lost a very dear friend quite unexpectedly. He was one of my music mentors; we shared a LOT of different files on the computer for the keyboards, he’d come out if our band was playing, and we go to see him if he was playing.And now, our beloved Great Pyrenees, Flurry, has been diagnosed with lymphoma. She’s almost 11, and up to now has been healthy and happy. With me out of work, we can’t afford to do the intensive chemo–one shot was over $300! 😮 Not to mention that even *with* the chemo she might have at best a couple of months to maybe a year. It’s already gone metastatic. We found it only because she was starting to have trouble breathing. The x-rays showed massive amounts of fluid in her chest cavity–Not in her lungs, which could be treated with diuretics, but between her lungs and her ribs. Our vet tried to get it out with needle aspiration, but could only get 8 millilters. She recommended we go see a specialist. We did, and they got 2300 mls of serous fluid out. The lab reports showed the cancer cells were in the fluid. We don’t know where the primary cancer is; no enlarged lymph nodes, no tumors in the abdomen, and her lungs were clear. Not that it matters; we wouldn’t do surgery anyway given her age.
Flurry is now on prednisone, and the only question is how long will it be before the fluid comes back, because it will. 😥
She doesn’t seem to be in any pain, and once the fluid was drained her breathing improved. It’s a quality of life vs. quantity of life thing now.I’ve been spending a lot of time researching supportive diets and I’ve changed her diet to home cooked meats with supplements of large amounts of salmon oil, canned salmon, sardines, cottage cheese, yogurt and vegetables. A good friend down in FL uses a good holistic vet, and I’ve cleared all the things we’ve added with her. Flurry’s also getting echinacea, goldenseal, reishi/maitake mushroom extract, and transfer factor to try to boost her immune system. If nothing else, she’s certainly enjoying dinner a lot more.
To say that I’m just a *little* stressed right now is like saying it’s a little chilly in Alaska. She’s the best dog we’ve ever had; she sailed through obedience training and got her obedience title in just 3 shows when she was under a year old. She’s the only dog from her breeder to ever do that, and this woman has been breeding Great Pyrenees for over 20 years. We’ve done therapy dog work when she was younger. I was working on agility with her until I blew an Achilles’ tendon back in 2001.
At this point all I want is for her to get through the holidays so we can spoil the daylights out of her even more, and if we get that far, then the next goal would be to make it to her 11th birthday in Feb. The life span of the Pyr’s is 10-14 years. I would dearly love to see her make her birthday.
Sorry to unload on you all yet again….. 😳
