My Day At The Vet Clinic (I Feel Yucky Part II)

It's been a no good very bad day for me, but I'm feeling a little bit better now and I thought I'd tell all of you what happened.  As I posted previously, I've been vomiting a little the past few days and so I had some tests done. And to make things worse, my Dad decided to check the growth on my leg again to confirm what he thought it was (it was too small last time to get a diagnosis).

First, I got measured by this medal stick thingy by two nice women who put me on this table which they called the X-Ray table, whatever that is.

                                Next, I had to lay down on the table and get streeeeeetched out!

Just when I thought I couldn't hold still anymore, Deb put her gloves on and quickly took a picture of my guts.  I'm sure there's a medical term for guts, but I can't remember it. Just be thankful I remembered what X-Ray is!

Here are my guts. Everything is normal except I really have to poop!

But wait! There's more!  My Dad came in and turned all the lights out and put this little probe all over my tummy to see if there were any kid toys playing in there.  A little brag here about my Dad--he's the best Ultrasound Vet around!  Anyways, Betty held me for this and she was so nice that I just laid there for her. You can see the tumor on my leg too. It's red.

                 I'm getting a little tired now, but I have to be patient because there's more to do.

                                                         
                                                              Oh boy, what's next?!

This is what an aspirate looks like.  Sometimes dogs and cats get lumps, bumps and tumors.  My Dad can stick a fine needle into the lump, aspirate some cells and look at them under a microscope.  Some tumors like lipomas, histiocytomas and mast cell tumors can be quickly diagnosed this way.  Others have to be surgically removed and sent to a lab to find out what they are. It doesn't hurt too badly:

                                                   Looking at the cells under a microscope.

                                     
                                           OK, now what?!  He's putting alcohol on my neck!

                                                 
                                                     Why is he feeling my jugular??!!

                                      
                                           Blood! I'm not going to faint! I'm not going to faint!

Thank goodness my Mom showed up because I really needed a hug after all that!  My blood work was all normal except it showed that I was dehydrated from vomiting.  So my Mom gave me some subcutaneous fluids.  That's where you drip fluids through an I.V. line under the skin.  I looked like I had a humpback for a while, but it slowly absorbed and helped me feel better.  She also gave me 3 shots to help my tummy calm down and got some special food for me to eat for the next couple days too.

Nothing showed up on the X-Rays and Ultrasound so Dad thinks I may have gotten too many tastes of table scraps (he had a talk with the kids about that!).  My tumor is just a Histiocytoma. If you look at that link, you'll see what the cells look like under the microscope.  It's just benign and will hopefully go away on its own.

I'm home and resting now. Maggie and BC2 (Boy Child #2) are helping me feel better.

I Feel Yucky

I've been throwing up a couple times a day for the past couple days.  It makes me really sad when I do it. I put my ears back like I'm in trouble, but my Mom always tells me it's OK.

I just wanted everyone to know that I'm going to work with my Dad today.  He says he needs to look me over because I've been known to eat the kids' toys before (I know, that's so bad!) and he wants to take an X-ray of me that supposedly will show him if I have a marble in my stomach or something.  And I think I heard my mom talk about drawing some blood too. ~Shiver~

I'm not very happy about this, even though I love to go for car rides!  I'll let all of you know what my dad finds when I get home.

Best Ice Cream In Grand Rapids

The Grand Rapids Press just released their Top 10 Best Ice Cream Parlors In Michigan and I was so sad to see that my favorite ice cream parlor, Crystal Cone in Caledonia was not mentioned!  In fact, I had to go there last night just to show my support!

For all of you dogs out there wondering just how I go about talking my family into sharing a few licks, here are some tips.

1.  Know, practice and perfect The Look.  I'm wearing her down, can't you tell?

2. Don't forget to include all family members in The Look, just in case one person won't oblige. It's a lot of work, but trust me, your efforts will pay off!

3. Don't hesitate lest they change their minds! Dive right in!

4.  This is a last resort, but if all else fails, be bold!  Here I am using the Paw Take-Down Method.  The move is exactly as described in the title.  When the person is least suspecting (and smiling for the camera), jump up, use your paw to pull the hand with the cone in it down to you and take a lick fast!

I love Crystal Cone! If you're in the area, you should stop by and try them out!  The Triple Peanut Butter ice cream is my favorite!  This is how I ended my night out with my family:

My Kids

I have lots of kids to keep track of in this family!  I love them all, especially if they hold still for awhile so I can curl up with them and take a nap. Sometimes they take over my napping places with all of their toys, so I just try to blend in and hope maybe I'll catch a few zzz's before I get booted out of their play area. Can you see me?

Let me introduce you! This is the youngest of the family--Boy Child #2. He's 5.

BC2, as I like to call him, is a snuggler like me, though he is also always good for a game of tag.  My favorite thing to do with him though is to attack him in his bed in the morning and try to bite his toes through the blankets!

Girl Child #2 is 10 and is a tap dancer. She has these clunky shoes that she puts on and dances all around in and according to my mom, it's times like those that I should be thankful that I'm deaf!

Girl Child #1's birthday is in just 3 days. She's going to be 12! She likes to carry me around like a stuffed animal. I don't care, really! I just like the attention! Plus, she says she wants to be a vet like her daddy , so I guess she needs practice lifting dogs and stuff.

 

 

BC1 is almost 14 and the thing I like best about him is that he likes Cheese-Its. Mmmm....Cheeeeeese-Iiiiits. Sorry. I got distracted! So here's the thing. When he gets them out, I act all casual like I don't care. And when he's least expecting it, I POUNCE on his ribs and grab the Cheese-It right out of his hand while he falls over laughing!

We go to lots of places together, my kids and I. I'll have to share some of my travels on my blog in the future!

My Life Part 2: The Happy Part

I was officially adopted by my forever-family on March 3, 2012.  By that time, I had gotten to know my family very well.  They all helped take care of me while I was recovering from my surgery.  I definitely needed extra love and sympathy!

I know I mentioned how thankful I am to my foster mom, Kirstin, that she picked this family for me, but I want to make sure she knows what a great choice she made because I just LOVE all of these kids (there're 4 of them!) and my mom and dad!  Plus, I have the great pleasure of becoming a best friend to my family's other dog, Maggie!

We are sunbeam snuggle buddies, can you tell?!  My family fondly remembers their first dog, Annie, that was a part of their life for 15 years.

Ever since they had to say good-bye to Annie in May 2010, Maggie has been really lonely. She also slowly went blind and was getting really clingy.  I'm so glad that I came along when I did!  We have both helped each other!  Because she can hear, she alerts me when really important things are happening like Treat Time or Feeding Time or Someone's At The Door!  And I help her by cuddling with her in every sunbeam we can find and being the companion she needs.  Sometimes she likes to play tug-o-war with her rope, but most of the time she likes to just sleep, which is just fine with me!

My mom worked really hard to get the yellow stains out of my fur from my past life.  She didn't like the reminder of what I had been through, but honestly, I was so happy in my new home, I quickly forgot! I did have some bad dreams at night at first but because I get to sleep with my mom and dad, they would just wake me up and give me some extra hugs.  Now I just dream about chewing on a new rawhide bone or playing tag with one of the kids.  Did I mention how much I love it here?!!

My Life Part 1: The Sad Part

Well, here I am!  It took me awhile to slog through all the blog set-up stuff just so I could get to the important part--talking about myself! I was so baffled by all of those questions on my profile page!  "Are you male or female?"  I'm neutered for Pete's Sake! Why isn't that a choice?!  It is at my Dad's vet clinic.  I guess he just has a better understanding of what makes up the world. It's not so black and white, you know!

So let me tell you a little about myself.  My life started out pretty rough.  As far as they tell me (I've blocked it all out), I was bought from a puppy mill and grew up mostly in a cage at an Animal Hoarder's house in Ohio.  Thankfully, when I was 18 months old, I was removed from those horrible conditions and fell into the hands of a wonderful foster group called French Bulldog Rescue Network, since I am a French Bulldog after all!

I don't remember much because I was so dirty, depressed and starving, but I was driven up to Jackson, MI, where a rescue worker from Kentwood, MI came and picked me up and brought me to her home.  Kirstin was the kindest, sweetest lady and I will forever be grateful to her for her gentle care and especially because she took me to the best veterinarian in the world who eventually became my daddy!

Because I'm deaf, Kirstin started teaching me to learn sign language.  She was the first person to show me love and kindness.  I was so depressed at first, I just hung my head. I was skin and bones and so hungry and I had no energy.  All I remember is just wanting to eat and eat and eat all the time. Here's what I looked like at first:

At my first veterinarian appointment, I met my doctor, but I also met this woman and all of these kids that seemed thrilled to see me. I wasn't sure what was going on and didn't even realize they were my future forever-family!  At my appointment, my (future) dad affirmed that I was indeed deaf and that I had one testicle that didn't descend so I had to have major surgery.  There was good news, though. I didn't have heartworm disease.  It took me a long time to recover from my major surgery, partly because as I was feeling better, I started running around with Kirstin's other dogs and I was also being naughty and licking at my incision behind her back. 

But all of that sad stuff is in the past now.  So let's get on to the happy part of the story! The beginning of my new life with my new family!