Joy are you having fun at Aunt Kristi’s?
Hi Luna!
Hi Lucy!
Should we have taught them “Open your gift”? Too late now!
O Joy!
And to all a good night…
We made Peanut Baby Jesus in preschool Sunday school again! The kids did a great job.
Peanut Baby Jesus <3
How to…
Cut a styrofoam cup in half. Discard the top half.
Fill the cup with hay.
Draw a smile on Peanut Baby Jesus with a Sharpie. (We did this for the kids.)
Place a tiny felt blanket on Peanut Baby Jesus.
Sydney Farley invited me to speak to her middle school class about being a veterinarian. Russ, Joy and I went today. It was very fun! Very nice teachers and a great class with great questions.
From the Way Back…”Have you ever done surgery on a grape?”
Me…”No, but I’ve done surgery on a banana.”
Joy, did you love those kids so much?
Thank you for having us! We had a very fun morning with you!
Luna is three months out from the end of her chemotherapy and one year out from diagnosis of lymphoma and is doing great!
Luna in her beautiful new coat from her friend Missy
“Do these things,” Dr. Clemans said.
“Okay,” I said, and I did. Every time Dr. Clemans tells me to do things and I do, my dog lives longer. So I try to always do what she says.
The things Dr. Clemans said to do were…an exam, lab work, chest x-rays, an abdominal ultrasound and a heart ultrasound.
Kelly and I did her exam, her lab work and her chest x-rays. Dr. Krapfl did her ultrasounds.
THANK YOU DR. KRAPFL!!
“Lookit!” Dr. Krapfl said. “Luna’s bladder looks like a snow globe!” And that is how we learned that Luna probably has a urinary tract infection. We will confirm with her lab work. Just as importantly, Dr. Krapfl and I found NO enlarged lymph nodes in Luna’s whole little self! And THAT is the best news of the whole ordeal.
Even though it was Joy who had anesthesia yesterday, Luna was more wiped out than Joy. Apparently, having all the tests, and needing to be a Good Girl during both ultrasounds, was exhausting. Luna slept for most of the rest of the day.
She will have similar six month and nine month check ups. Then I dunno what…we hadn’t looked that far ahead. But now…maybe…we will.
Joy had surgery today to remove a benign (not cancerous) mass. All went well!
I tried not to include any gross pictures, but Amanda says this first picture is gross. So skip it if you are squeamish!
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It is disconcerting to see your own pet under anesthesia! Kelly was her anesthetist and kept her safe the entire time! As nervous as I was today having Joy undergo this procedure, I knew I did not need to worry a bit with her in such good hands <3
All’s well that ends well…
Abby and Amanda had their friends over, and we celebrated Joy’s 10th birthday.
Happy birthday Joy!
Joy opened all her gifts herself…
Sometimes little sisters get gifts too.
Joy, did you have a fun birthday?
Abby made us two new ornaments! I love them so much.
Notice our unflocked tree. Abby got to choose the color this year. I don’t remember the last time we had a green tree! It is pretty.
Here are pictures from Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad had Thanksgiving at their home again. Karen and Phill came. All my brothers with all their families were there <3
Felix and Oscar with Bill
Amanda, Abby and Aunt Cara doing origami
Henry and Charlie at the park - I love this one!
Bill and Dave…and Olive walking Arthur
The more things change…
Abby helping Arthur on the ropes
Robert climbing the ropes
Abby climbing up to meet the uncles
Success!
Bill, Charlie and Henry
Henry and Olive
Good night!
This is the longest I’ve gone between postings since the Riley and James website when I sometimes wrote every three months! I have tried to make this a daily blog, but obviously I haven’t written since Halloween, so…
Luna is still doing great. No return of cancer signs - woo! She will get to wear her Christmas collar! In fact, I will put it on her now and include a picture for you.
Me: Look up! Luna, look up!
Joy: I will do anything to make you happy!
Luna: (unprintable)
Luna has her three month check up with Dr. Krapfl and me this month - an exam, blood work, chest x-rays and abdominal ultrasound to check for signs of cancer - mainly enlarged lymph nodes - and a heart ultrasound to make sure the chemotherapy has not hurt her heart.
Joy is doing well too. She just turned ten years old. Abby and I checked 14 (14!) bumps on her - all benign - woo!
We got a little blue Neon car for Amanda and Abby. I love it so much. They do too! Amanda is driving all over the place. Abby is still hesitant - her first time out she crashed a parked car. They are both very good drivers though. Hopefully Abby will get her confidence back soon!
My brother Bill and his family were in town from Ohio for Thanksgiving. Hey! I will post that next. Will that be too confusing out of order? I have GOT to get my writing act together. It was a very fun holiday.
Depression has made me more tired than sad lately. I am figuring out how to ration my energy though, and that is improving. Dr. Bashara allowing me to go part time has been a life saver.
And finally, here is a picture of super tiny doll house furniture that Amanda is working on…The balls of yarn are smaller than marbles! I love it so much!
I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! More posts coming more often… :)
Joy the Puppy was a shark
Mermaids!
Good night Luna <3
My veterinary school reunion was 2 weekends ago. It was so much fun!
Russ, Amanda, Abby and I went to Ames and met up with classmates for drinks Friday night and lunches Saturday and Sunday and a tour of the school Sunday. It was good to catch up.
I don’t know why I didn’t get pictures of classmates, but here are some of my family from the weekend!
Friends, it was so good to see you again!
Great Plains Sauce and Dough Company was Russ’ and my favorite pizza place in Ames.
Ledges State Park is as beautiful as ever.
Abby and Amanda with the Gentle Doctor statue.
One time, I needed two days off very close to one another. To make it work, Dr. Bashara worked both of my shifts.
Luna has finished her chemotherapy!
Tuesday was her last round of medication. All of her friends at VCA MidWest Vet signed a pink scarf for her with encouraging notes and love. She fell asleep with her pink scarf on, surrounded by love and support.
Thank you Dr. Clemans.
Thank you Brandy.
Thank you VCA MidWest Vet Team.
Thank you Team Luna.
We are not done fighting. Luna has quarterly check-ups to look for the return of the cancer, and we will be watching for signs of its return at home as well. She may need to go through a second and even a third round of chemotherapy. We will cross those bridges at a different time. This time is for celebrating <3
Please join us for an Open House to celebrate Luna's completion of chemotherapy!
Sunday, September 9, 2018
2:00 - 5:00 pm
at
Phill and Karen Finch's Home
We will have snacks!
Message me on Facebook or e-mail me for the address and directions -
shawn@finchdvm.com
In lieu of gifts, please come and tell Luna, "Congratulations Luna!" in a high voice. She will like that :)
Today and yesterday have been cool and rainy.
Amanda made amazing spice cupcakes.
School is starting (I have mixed feelings on this!)
It feels like fall is coming.
Even without the big garden (next year!) I am starting to buzz with happy thoughts of fall. It is good to feel happy.
We did plant morning glories and cherry tomatoes, and those plants are going crazy!
I got to see Stephanie - and a super cute Husky puppy - this morning.
I made pumpkin coffee with caramel creamer.
I am settling in for the morning to write articles for Dr. McGill for Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery.
I hope you are having a good week.
More soon on starting part time...Fetch 360 (used to be CVC) and the start of the school year. Hopefully Abby will do a fall time photo shoot of Joy and Luna as she has the past two years that I can share with you soon too!
Joy says she is always buzzing with happy thoughts. And also, she loves you.
Optimism is getting your terminal dog a Christmas collar in August. Someone has to be the outlier right? Why not Luna?
She is doing great by the way! Two more chemotherapy sessions!
Luna "choosing" a new collar and leash - she wants them all! She was a hit at the Farmers' Market with her ears and tail!
Favorite client. Favorite dog.
DAYS after diagnosis, we are gathered to say good bye. Dad had opted to treat with steroids, and the dog's poor body did not handle them well.
We loved this guy and his dog. Kelly has a Boxer dog. This was a seven (seven!) year old Boxer dog. I have a three year old dog with lymphoma. This dog had lymphoma. Some euthanasias are even harder than others.
Why have I been given eight good months so far and this guy two good days? Why are they both so young? Why do I have to be punched RIGHT in the heart? Why did this guy? He did adopt a tiny Boxer puppy, which is just asking for heartache. Who am I kidding? I adopted a goofy mutt puppy, and that too is just asking for heartache...eventually.
"I will be back with a puppy, but it won't be soon," he said.
"I know," I said.
I walked Joy and Luna up to Beals Elementary. I walked until I was exhausted, then much to Luna's annoyance, picked her up for the walk home. She was exhausted too. Joy happily panted along next to us.
I have no more answers than I did when we started our walk, but I am tired enough that it is difficult to think, and that is good. I try to get into Joy's state of mind, and step back into the house. I need to call it a night early. Tomorrow is another busy day.
This is one strip of a series I created called, "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Vet" from 2011 - 2012. You've asked if I am going to draw the comic again, and I loved doing it, so maybe. I started the comic to process difficult things in my career, and thankfully, I have not had so much to process once I got this all into comic form!
I will post the next strip of the series every Friday. The entire series can be found at When I Grow Up I Want to be a Vet.
The mortality of rodents - all pets really - makes me sad. Since I was making up Hammie, I made her immortal - Hammie Hamster Tuck Everlasting : )
This is one strip of a series I created called, "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Vet" from 2011 - 2012. You've asked if I am going to draw the comic again, and I loved doing it, so maybe. I started the comic to process difficult things in my career, and thankfully, I have not had so much to process once I got this all into comic form!
I will post the next strip of the series every Friday. The entire series can be found at When I Grow Up I Want to be a Vet.
I've always thought baby rodents were beautiful!
This is one strip of a series I created called, "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Vet" from 2011 - 2012. You've asked if I am going to draw the comic again, and I loved doing it, so maybe. I started the comic to process difficult things in my career, and thankfully, I have not had so much to process once I got this all into comic form!
I will post the next strip of the series every Friday. The entire series can be found at When I Grow Up I Want to be a Vet.
This is one strip of a series I created called, "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Vet" from 2011 - 2012. You've asked if I am going to draw the comic again, and I loved doing it, so maybe. I started the comic to process difficult things in my career, and thankfully, I have not had so much to process once I got this all into comic form!
I will post the next strip of the series every Friday. The entire series can be found at When I Grow Up I Want to be a Vet.
