She’s Young and With It

I am not going to make any resolutions, but I am going to have faith that in 2009, things will start to get better. Not just for us, but for everyone. We have Obama coming in to get us off to the right start.

Last night, Clint and I met Sue and Brian downtown for First Night festivities. Then we went bowling. I think we ended the year/started the new year right by bowling with friends.

2009 will be great! If for some reason 2009 does not treat us right, I am just going to give it the same look Basil is giving Chim Chim in this photo. That should make 2009 shape up its act.

(The truth is… the look did not make Chim Chim move, which is what Basil wanted. Still, it is a good look.)

Basil.

Yesterday Basil went for his three month check up post-radioactive iodine treatment. He gained an additional 1.4 pounds. This is fabulous news! Over the period of a year he went from 16 pounds down to 10 pounds and now post-treatment he is back up to 13 pounds.

The internal medicine vet was so pleased with his progress that she wants us to cut back on his food and she is OK with the fact that we discontinued the prednisolone (steroids) for his inflammatory bowel disease. Our primary vet recently switched him from prescription diet, which I was never pleased about feeding because the ingredients are so yucky, to Wellness Chicken canned food.

To sum it up: Basil gained weight, does not need meds currently and he is now eating a higher quality food.

Also, these guys:

We took Basil in for his first check up post radioactive iodine treatment. Everything looked good! He has gained 1 3/4 pounds in the six weeks following treatment and his fur looks much better. The vet was pleased with his appearance and his bloodwork all came back where it should be except for one pesky little kidney value, which was slightly elevated. The vet said it was nothing to be alarmed about. He will need another check up in two months. Whew! That was a relief.

We took Callie and Sherman to the dog park last Friday. We broke the no dog park rule! I was suffering major anger and depression over the tree situation so I needed to get out of the house. The park helped my mental stability and I think that the dogs had a good time. Callie was very well behaved, but Sherman kicked dirt and mulch all over people, which was not very nice of him.

About two hours ago, I sat down on the edge of the bed to watch part of the DNC (despite my disgust with Denver right now) and the bed broke. Yep, a board cracked in half and down I went to the floor. I think the bed was trying to tell me something.

We moved the sofa bed from the guest room to our room. We shall see how that goes for a while. Depending on how we sleep, we might have to buy a new bed by week’s end.

What else is new? Most importantly, Basil is home! His treatment went well and he was very happy to come home. We wait for a month or so and then we do some bloodwork to see how everything looks.

Sue sent me an email on Saturday to let me know about the bamboo festival. We stopped in to see if they had good prices on bamboo and we left with six plants. We bought the same two varieties of Bambusa multiplex that we planted originally, Golden Goddess and Alphonse Karr. Four will be planted against the naked half of the fence that backs to the alley, while the remaining two will probably be planted on one side of the fence towards the house. The plants are much smaller than the ones we have purchased in the past, but that is fine with me as long as they live. We spent a lot less on the small plants!

New plants mean we had to start doing the dreaded task of digging up sod. No fun.

But you know what is fun? The trick.

The main news around here lately is that Basil will be going in for radioactive iodine treatment next week. That means he will be all alone at the vet for three to four days. Thinking about the treatment makes me very anxious, but it is supposed to be the best and safest treatment for hyperthyroidism. He started eating less while on the oral medication for his thyroid so we reduced his dosage and ultimately sought out the iodine treatment. Because I am a worrywart, I worry about his kidneys and his heart and what if the vets missed something? And what if?

Since he was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease last year, I feel like his treatment has gone around in circles: blood tests, find nothing, more weight loss, blood tests, find nothing, more weight loss… He has lost about six pounds over the past year and a half so I hope seeing the specialist and getting the treatment will get him back on track.

Our dog trainer flaked on us twice last weekend. Twice! I am not sure where we stand dog training-wise at this point. I think we need a break.

Life is in flux in so many ways these days.