Sunday, December 23, 2012

Pepper Health Update

It's been a long and difficult day. As you may know, my dog Pepper is being treated for tick fever. We found out today that that is probably not the full extent of her health problems.

Pepper is alert and excited about another patient in the animal hospital waiting room.

A week and a half ago, I strongly suspected that we were going to lose her. The Doxycycline she had been given for the tick fever was hard on her system, making her nauseated so that she stopped eating. She was lethargic and just a very sick little medium sized dog. The vet did an x-ray and mentioned that her bladder was distended and her spleen enlarged. He gave her a shot and a prescription for the steroid Prednisone to help her start eating again. And it worked! Within a few days she was eating more or less normally, and much perkier, more alert and energetic.

But after a week we were supposed to cut the dosage of Prednisone from twice a day to once a day. As a result she was barely eating as of this morning. I called to get more Prednisone and permission to resume giving her the pills twice a day so she would resume eating.

They called back and wanted to see her. The weekend urgent care vet on duty had reviewed her chart and her x-rays and didn't like what she saw, particularly the enlarged spleen. We brought her in this afternoon and left her to get an ultrasound while we went to see The Hobbit. (I had bought the movie tickets before the vet's office called.)

Result: her red blood cells and platelets are back to normal, her bladder is no longer distended and an ulcer in her mouth is healing. She's even gained back a couple of pounds, I think. So the antibiotic is getting her over the tick fever. But there are numerous nodules on her spleen that could be cancer, or could be an attempt to produce more red blood cells. There is also a mass between her stomach and (I think she said) her spleen, which could be a mass of lymph nodes or could be, you guessed it, cancer.

The plan is to finish the tick fever treatment, another two to three weeks. Then we have a choice: a needle into the spleen, with only a 60% chance of diagnosing whatever is going on in the spleen, or exploratory surgery, which would tell for sure. The other advantage of the surgery is that they would just take the spleen out, and maybe the other mass if it turns out to be something bad and is operable. The needle thing wouldn't diagnose the mass thing at all.

The thing is, we went though all this four to five years ago with Tuffy. Unable to afford the most aggressive treatment for her cancer, we spent thousands of dollars on a middle ground option that was supposed to buy her an extra six to eighteen months. Ten months later we had to put her down. We don't want to go through that again. But this is Pepper, and we love her! And it's not the same situation, medically or financially.

It's not a simple decision, either. There are no certainties here. And we're leaving town the day after Christmas, to fly to Wilmington NC, see my dad, go through his stuff with my stepsisters so we can close up the house, and break it to him that he's coming to stay at a facility here in Tucson when he's well enough. Then we're driving his Prius back here and keeping it. With his dementia, incontinence and a-fib he's no longer safe to drive, and at least he could get driven in it. (Plus John's 1999 Alero, rear-ended three times and with a missing window, needs $1500 of engine work, and that's clearly not going to happen.) So my friend Kevin will have to feed Pepper for a week and give her her pills.

After that? I don't know yet. I guess they do another ultrasound and see where things are by then, and then we make the decision. I'd like to opt for the surgery, but is that the wisest course of action, or merely the most expensive one. Or is it both?

Karen

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Round Robin: Got to Keep Moving!

It's a little ironic that tonight's Round Robin Photo Challenge topic is "On the Move." Just last night was the first day in nine months (aside from a little time shifting between day and night scheduling) that I've completely missed taking a walk. For one night, faced with an hours-long rainstorm and a hurt knee, I stopped moving!

But I have pictures anyway, taken while driving...

En route to Sedona, AZ, April 2006.

Gearing up for a summer monsoon storm, August 2012.


Downtown Tucson as seen from I-10 - but the Catalina Mountains
north of the city are virtually invisible. 12/14/12.

A bit of a haboob in the distance, or at least a dust storm. 12/14/12.

...and while walking.

Walk to End Alzheimer's, 10/13/12.

 AIDSWalk Tucson, 10/14/12.

Día de los Muertos Pilgrimage, San Xavier del Bac, 11/3/12. 

Now let's see what photography in motion the other Robins came up with!

Linking List
as of Saturday, 12/15/12, 1:28 AM MST

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
@mavarin

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredasvoice.blogspot.ca

Danielle - Posted!
My Blog Thingy
http://dindannieblogthingy.blogspot.co.uk/

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

LadyInRead- Posted!
MyRandRSpace
http://myrandrspace.blogspot.com


Karen

Friday, November 30, 2012

Round Robin: Heads AND Tails

For Round Robin Challenge: Heads or Tails? I asked to see photos of any kind of "heads" or "tails" - but not in the same photo. Here we go!






I guess it's tails! Tails over heads, 12 to 10!

Now let's check out what other Robins found for this Challenge!


Linking List
as of Saturday, December 1, 2012, 9 PM MST

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
@mavarin

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.com/

Danielle - Welcome! - Posted!
My Blog Thingy
http://dindannieblogthingy.blogspot.co.uk/

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Lady In Read - Posted!
MyRandRSpace
http://myrandrspace.blogspot.com


Karen

Friday, November 16, 2012

Round Robin: I Write On White...

For the Round Robin Challenge: The White Stuff, I asked to see anything white, or as close to white as possible. I had no idea what I would photograph for you myself, until today when I realized I was surrounded by a sea of white stuff: white papers...



and the boxes they sometimes go in. That is, if I can ever get the filing done!



These shots are all from my second job, at Small Local Non-Profit (SLNP). On Monday I stop being a temp and become an actual employee there. I've smudged out most of the writing in these photos for the sake of confidentiality.


But as you can see, maybe, I did make a little progress today with my white paper problem!

Now let's see who else has something white to show us, before I go wrangle more white papers at church tonight!

Karen

Linking List
as of Thanksgving Day

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
@mavarin

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.ca

Sue - Posted!
A picture is worth 1000 words
http://susiesphotospace.blogspot.it/

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

LadyInRead **Welcome, new participant!** - Posted!
MyRandRSpace
http://myrandrspace.blogspot.com

Janet - Posted!
fondofsnape
http://fondofsnape.com/?p=4770

Saturday, November 03, 2012

A Little Pilgrimage

In August, 2004, I had been blogging for just under six months when I happened to write a piece that I'm still rather proud of. The venue was my AOL Journal, Musings from Mâvarin. The post was titled "Let 'Em In." In it I wrote about people dying in the Arizona desert as they tried to make the crossing from Latin America into a better life in the U.S. I found it inconceivable that anyone would rather see poor people from Mexico and beyond be overcome by heat, dehydration, wild animals and human predators, leaving their bones in some remote bit of desert scrub, than let them simply immigrate to the U.S. safely and legally. Sure, let's catch the drug smugglers and other criminals, but let's stop making the attempt to come to this country a crime in and of itself.


My inspiration at the time of that original post was something in the church bulletin at St. Michael's, promoting an event sponsored by some of the local humanitarian groups dedicated to stopping the needless deaths in the desert. One such annual event is the annual Día de los Muertos Pilgrimage. Tying in with the annual "Day of the Dead" celebration, people carry small wooden crosses across the desert, each representing one of the people whose remains were found in the desert over the past year. This year, the 8.2 mile walk was from St. John's Church at 12th and Ajo Way to Mission San Xavier Del Bac. Having done so much walking this past year, I was able to participate for the first time today.


Despite painstaking forensic tests to identify each person, the names of over half of them will never be known. Sometimes it is not even possible to determine whether the few bones found are male or female. So while some of the crosses have the name and age of a specific person written on them, most say Desconocido (meaning "unidentified male"), Desconocida (meaning "unidentified female"), or even Desconocido/a (meaning "unidentified male or female").



Even though "only" 179 people died over the past year, a great improvement over the year when I wrote my original blog post, there were far more crosses than walkers to bear them. Nearly everyone carried at least two, some as many as six or eight of them. I chose one with a name, Fernando Vasquez-Casteneda, age 29, and one of the many Desconocidos.


Ila Abernathy from St. Michael's also carried one of the crucifixes from St. Michael's, wrapped with a textile banner from one of her many trips to Guatemala. Robin Donaldson and Margie, a St. Michael's parishioner whose last name I don't know, also walked today.


I forgot to bring my portable charger, so my phone ran out of battery before the 7 mile mark. By then we were on Mission Road.


At the mission itself we had a brief ceremony. All the crosses from the previous eleven years were laid out in a circle. Each name or Desconicido/a was read out, and we answered the roll call with the word "Presente." We laid out crosses at the edge of the circle, and Father Steve blessed. Them. We closed with native musicians singing about the Virgin Mary, and a bilingual prayer.

Karen

Friday, November 02, 2012

Round Robin: In the Darkness is the Light

In the darkness is the light
Surrender will win the fight
--In the Darkness, theme song from So Weird
For this week's Round Robin Challenge: In the Dark, I asked to see photographs shot in low-light conditions. This is something I personally find difficult. With my mid-priced Canon non-SLR and lack of technical expertise, I've taken thousands of grainy, yellowish pictures of night scenes and murkey interiors, particularly church interiors. Still, with the aid of my cheap photo editing software, let's see what I've managed to come up with!


Let's start with an old shot, taken in June with my iPhone. This is along the river in Wilmington, NC, taken while I was Back East for my stepmother's funeral. I must say the phone did a better job than my camera does in dim lighting.


Halloween 2012. This is where I sat all evening, making up treat bags and handing them out. Check out my Facebook Halloween 2012 photo album for shots of the front of the house and my Pele the Volcano Goddess Tiki costume.


The traditional jack o' lantern shot. Except this one is electric.


 Three tier water fountain at the neighborhood park, after midnight. The lowest one is for dogs.



The gazebo in the same park.

Now let's see everyone else's shots in the dark! I am confident you'll see much better photos than mine!

Karen

Linking List
as of Tuesday, November 6, 2012
2 AM MST

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
@mavarin

Jeanette
Net On The Net
http://netonthenet.blogspot.com

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Sue - Posted!
A picture is worth 1000 words!
http://susiesphotospace.blogspot.it/

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Janet **Welcome back!** - Posted! (11/6)
fondofsnape
http://fondofsnape.com

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Round Robin Photo: Leaves of Cloth

For Round Robin Challenge: Leaves, I asked to see any kind of leaves. I was sort of hoping that on one of my walks I would find some really pretty leaves to show you, but really, Tucson isn't generally the best place for this. Then tonight as I changed into a T-shirt for my walk, I had a very different idea for this topoc.



Over the past fifteen months and 125 pounds or so of weight loss, I've given away or thrown out many, many pieces of clothing, box after box and bag after bag. Now that I'm hovering around size 18, I'm wearing clothes I last fit into 10 to 20 years ago. It shouldn't surprise me that a lot of the surviving clothing is Aloha wear, tropical or Hawaiian shirts. Nevertheless, I'm a little surprised that there are so many of them - all with leaves in their printed patterns.


This is my one true Hawaiian shirt, from the Hawaiian manufacturer Hilo Hattie. It is my second or third shirt in this pattern. I got this one at the company's only mainland store at the time, in Orange County, CA. That store is long gone. The shirt was way too small for me for several years. Now it's way too big, but I love it too much to give it up. Look at all those big teal-colored leaves, some of them looking a little like fish! Love it!



Another shirt I'm rather fond of is as inauthentic as the Hilo Hattie one is authentic. It also came out of a trip to California. This one I bought cheap in a Southern California grocery store! I waited more than a few years for the day when I was able to wear it. Those pale green leaves go perfectly with a pair of pale green slacks I bought recently.



I think this one and the other Caribbean Joe brand shirt I still have dates back to my days at Worldwide Travel (1993-2005). The leaves on this one come in several shades. I got it at Dillard's, before they stopped carrying the larger sizes.


Here is the newest tropical shirt in my collection. I got it at Disneyland in May. Leaves aren't the most important element in this one, but they are in there. I may be passing this shirt on to John.

Now let's see everyone else's leaves!


Linking List
as of Saturday, October 20th, 1 AM

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
@mavarin

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.ca

Sue
A picture is worth 1000 words
http://susiesphotospace.blogspot.it/

Jama Hameed
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Danielle *** Welcome, new participant!***
Din_Dannie on Flickr - Posted!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43009039@N07/7961780714/in/set-72157631478705508
My Blog Thingy
http://dindannieblogthingy.blogspot.co.uk/

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com



 Karen

Thursday, October 11, 2012

I'm Walkin' - for Two Charities!


Here's my last call for sponsors on the Walk to End Alzheimer's (this Saturday) and Tucson AIDSWALK (this Sunday). I will be walking at both events, but the dogs are only allowed on the second one. 
Click below for details!


Gene C Reid Park,
Concert Place, S Country Club Rd
Tucson, AZ 85716
Coordinator: Dan Lawler
Phone: 602-528-0545
Email: dan.lawler@alz.org


Downtown Tucson -
Jacome Plaza
For more information about AIDSWALK Tucson


Karen

Monday, October 08, 2012

The Blessing of Ursa

"Today has been like a tv episode," John said to me tonight. "A lot of stuff happened, and then the day ended with everything back to normal." What happened? Let's go back in time a bit. The story really starts twelve days ago, on one of my infamous morning walks.



On September 26th I had just crossed Golf Links Road with the dogs and was passing a gas station when I saw a large, reddish-blonde dog on the sidewalk up ahead, unsecured and unaccompanied by a human. As we approached, the dog ran into the street on Kolb Road, a major intersection during morning rush hour. She crossed the relatively empty southbound lanes successfully, but as I screamed "Noooo!" she dashed into the busy northbound lanes and was immediately hit by a car.

To my amazement, she got up again a moment later and ran off onto an eastbound side street. I was in no position to chase her, but I stood on the street there for some time, trying to get Siri (the iPhone’s voice interface) to recognize the word “Pima,” as in Pima County Animal Control. Eventually I realized that they would not be open yet anyway, and the dog was long gone. So the dogs and I continued south and finished our walk.

This morning, October 7th, my dogs and I were walking on the Escalante bike path just west of Kolb when we noticed a familiar-looking dog standing in the eastbound lane of Escalante, a street only slightly less busy than Kolb most mornings, but considerably less busy on Sundays. I coaxed the dog over and got hold of her collar, One of her rear legs supported very little weight, presumably from being hit. It was definitely the same dog I had seen hit!

The collar had no license or tag of any sort, or even a loop to hold a tag or clasp a leash to. I called my husband John to come get us in the car. She was a big dog, perhaps seventy pounds, and I was on my belly in the dirt by the time John arrived twenty minutes later, just trying to hang onto her and reassure her without killing my back crouching over.

Left to right: Cayenne and Ursa at church, shortly before the blessing. 
You can also see a bit of Pepper on the right.


But this was the Sunday closest to the Feast of St. Francis, or, as I like to call it, Take Your Dog to Church Day, which we celebrate with the Blessing of the Animals. So I headed off to St. Michael’s, with three dogs in the car instead of my usual two. After all, what pet needed a blessing more than this injured stray? I decided to call her Ginger, just in case we ended up keeping her. She was a sweet dog, and John and I both liked her immediately. Still, three dogs was one over our mutually-agreed limit!

Father Smith told the congregation about Ginger during mass, in case anyone wanted to adopt her if her owner was not found. She was much petted and admired, before, during and after Mass, and one person offered to help pay her veterinary bill. But first I needed to at least try to find her owner. After church and coffee hour I took her to Valley Animal Hospital to check for a chip (and to make an appointment to have her leg looked it). Unsurprisingly for a dog with no license tag, she didn't have a chip, either. I took her home, posted pictures to Facebook and went on with my day.

Tonight I emailed http://www.found-pets.org/, which specializes pets lost and found in Pima County. Then I posted a notice on Craig’s List. Within half an hour, I got an email from the dog’s owner! He’d been out of town. The neighbors who were looking after the dog, whose real name was Ursa, had repeatedly let her escape from the yard.


The owner successfully identified Ursa by the markings on her tongue, and the dog was definitely glad to see him when they were reunited in the Safeway parking lot. Ursa was truly blessed today! And John and I are only a little sad that this dog has come and gone from our life so quickly, with no guarantee that she will be safe and healthy in the future.

I saw an article recently that pointed out that there was much more to the life of St. Francis than his connection with animals. I’m sure that’s the case, but I’m glad we celebrate the saint’s feast day by appreciating our pets and the rest of this world that God created. It helps us to remember that we are not the only creatures that matter, and that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the planet and everything in it, particularly living things. This is a concept that we should remember and honor, whether or not we include God in the equation.

A non-Christian friend of mine from college saw my listing for the Blessing of the Animals on Facebook the other day, and asked what the point was, since the Bible made no claims about an afterlife for dogs. I replied that it wasn’t about the afterlife. It was about appreciating the animals now, as St. Francis did. This includes caring for them, including, it turns out, the gimpy dog in the middle of the road.†





Karen

Saturday, October 06, 2012

Round Robin: My Madera Canyon Story

For Round Robin Challenge: Tell Me a Story, I asked people to post a picture of something, anything, and tell the story behind it. My story will be told in more than one picture, because, well, I can!

As you may know, I walk every morning with my two dogs as part of my self-designed weight loss program. (I've lost over 120 pounds.) In recent months I've averaged over six miles a day. Most of the time I walk to destinations within a few miles of home, but that gets boring. Sometimes I need to strike out, go someplace else, and try for a new challenge!

So last Saturday, I made the 48 mile drive south to Madera Canyon. It's one of the prime birding hot spots in the country, and I visited it with some frequency in 1986 and 1987 - and maybe once since then, if ever. The idea was to walk the dogs up the road there, and get in at least six miles roundtrip. It didn't work out that way.

The new map app on my iPhone said I had to ditch my car outside the park and walk the last 9 miles. It was wrong, and I didn't. Instead I drove all the way to the Madera picnic area. There I spent a few minutes at a picnic table, my foot on the dogs' leashes, and did some birdwatching. There were Mexican Jays all around, and a number of less visible species.

Then a rock squirrel turned up, and worked his way closer and closer to the picnic table. I got out my camera and managed to get this shot:



Suddenly the dogs caught the squirrel's scent. One strong tug, and they were off! The squirrel was treed within about ten seconds!


After that it was time, really past time, to start my walk. A nature trail wound past the creek over a bridge or two and through grassy meadows before dead ending, oh, any number of places. I doubled back and set off in the other direction, meeting up with a couple or older men on the way. That was lucky for me, because I lost the main trail at least twice! They got me back in track, literally.

Soon we came to a 2.75 mile nature trail, but the other way led back to the road, and I took it. I wanted to go to the gift shop. I'd left my hat, my sweatband and my hand towel at home, and I suspected that my liter of water would prove inadequate. So I hit the gift shop. The employee there gave the dogs water. I bought a really cool sweatband, a cap and more water, and got a trail map and a birding checklist.

Immediately outside the gift shop was a bird feeding area, frequented mostly by hummingbirds. Neither I nor anyone else there was in good enough practice with our bird identifications to be sure whether we were looking at Allen's Hummingbirds or Rufous Hummingbirds or both. After all, 15 species of hummers are seen there, and the females especially are extremely difficult to tell apart.


By then my camera battery was low, and my iPhone battery was lower, probably because of the spotty network coverage in the canyon. I walked back down to where I was parked, and wasted time charging my phone in the car. I managed to get about half a charge, during which time I reparked twice, trying to get a connection to answer a request to call my boss back in Tucson.

I finally managed to get through to my boss at the top of the road, where a group of kids and their adult chaperons were all looking through binoculars at where I was parked. I thought perhaps they'd spotted something wonderful, like an Elegant Trogon. But no: they told me they were looking at "pictures of birds."


And they were!



After that I drove back down to the gift shop, bought AA batteries for the camera for $2 each, and hit the trail at last. I made a few wrong turns along the way, and found the going about as steep and rugged as I can candle. But it had its rewards. We saw two deer!


And the view was frequently wonderful.


I made it to the top, and we walked, sometimes ran, down the road, back toward the car. My iPhone battery ran out about a quarter mile before we got there. I didn't quite manage my six miles, but it was a good day. And my legs were sore for a few days from all the climbing.

Karen

Now let's see who else is participating this week. So far, it's...

Linking List
as of Saturday, October 6th, 1:13 AM

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
@mavarin

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com


Friday, September 21, 2012

Round Robin Challenge: Fur Sure

For Round Robin Challenge: Big Hairy Deal!, I asked people to show us something hairy. Dissatisfied with pictures of my own hair, I've gone with pictures of pet hair. What pets? You tell me:

1.
Dog? Rabbit? Guinea pig?

2.
Something fluffy, anyway.

3.
Same animal. Know what it is yet?

4. 
I bet you recognize this one, though.

5.
Yup. It's my dog Pepper!

6.
And I assume you know about the red dog in my life. 
It's Cayenne!

But what was the animal in the first three photos? 
Here he is:
It's my friend's cat, Harvey.


Now let's see what hairy things the other Robins found to photograph!

Linking List
as of Midnight, Saturday, 9/22/2012


Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/mavarin
@mavarin

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Jeanette - Posted!
Net On The Net
http://netonthenet.blogspot.com

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.ca

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Thanks, folks!


Karen