Aack

Happy New Year!

I hope that you and your respective families have a great evening and a Happy New Year!!

Happy Birthday To Me

My birthday was 3 days ago, but given the current events in our home, didn't feel much like posting. I still miss Bodie. I even thought I heard him barking last night after getting out of the truck when we got home from the gym. Right, that's not what I was going to write.

I stumbled across this not to long ago and it took me back to the single most worst birthday I ever had. I just turned 8, it was a Sunday and I had received an Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle from my parents. All I remember that day is playing with it in my room by myself. My parents had our pastor over for lunch after church that day and they spent the whole afternoon talking in the kitchen. I remember being really angry and taking it out on Knievel. He never then nor thereafter broke (as far as I remember). The dude was indestructible.

I never told my parents this particular memory. This year's was way better!

Good-Bye, Bodie, Good-Bye

Today, we said our final good-byes to a beloved and loyal pet. Bodie has been a part of our family since we adopted him in February 1998.

It seems so strange to know he's not here anymore. No more belly rubs while watching a movie. No more squirrel hunting. No more bird watching from the stairs (so he could see out of the big picture window). No more playing fetch with stick, Frisbee, ball, sock wad, etc. No more ATV rides/dog runs to the river. No more ATV rides/dog rides on ATV back from river. No more goofy looking sleeping positions.

On the 23rd we went to the vet's office and was able to find out a bit more info. We had to sedate the dog in order to catheterize him since he couldn't pee on his own. The doctor drained off 500 cc's of bloody urine. At the same time, she was able to aspirate some of the tumor cells and determine that Bodie did indeed have a malignant tumor, but it was not TCC. It was a different, more rare, form of bladder cancer.

While we were there, we talked about the options that we had. Obviously, if he can't urinate, something would have to be done. Since it was Thing 2's birthday, we didn't want to put him to sleep then, nor anywhere near Christmas. There were several surgery options open to us, but it inevitably led to having urine drain directly outside via a bag, a diaper, or a spigot (my words). Given Bodie's penchant for cleanliness (usually), we didn't think he would handle external doo-dads to well, plus he'd have to where a Queen Victoria collar. I'm sorry, but any long term ailment that causes a dog to have to wear one of those needs to be put to sleep; mostly, because he'd die of embarrassment anyways.

The Dr. showed us how to cath Bodie, gave us some supplies, and gave us a clinic to contact if something should happen over the weekend. We went home Thursday pretty much knowing that we were just trying to get through the weekend.

We were able to make it through the weekend, and Bodie was such a trooper. He never required any sedation for us to catheterize him. He calmly lay there trusting us to do the right thing for/to him. We repeated that process 2 to 3 times a day everyday this weekend. Somewhere around Saturday afternoon, we noticed that he had decreased his fluid and food intake. I think he realized that he would urinate less if he drank less and decided to minimize the stress on his bladder. Basically, I feel that he was starting to shutdown. Don't get me wrong; Bodie still had plenty of spirit and vibrancy. A little more than an hour before the Dr. came to the house to this afternoon, Bodie and I were playing with his sock and he was acting almost like he was a puppy.

I think that was why it was so hard to put him down. It's not like he was 15, arthritic, 30 pounds underweight, blind, and incontinent. Just the opposite is true. He was 7, full of energy, coherent, bright, responsive, and totally aware of his environment. And we needed to put him to sleep.

I think a few more days probably would have started to show around his edges, but I'm glad we were able to gear up and take care of him now and in this manner. We have reason to believe that more was happening in his bladder that indicated more potential harmful problems. One possibility was thinning organ walls and deteriorated tubes that connected the bladder to the kidneys.

That was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Watching Bodie go to sleep knowing that I will never see the excitement in his eyes when I say, "where's the squirrel?" I will never see his questioning look when he wants to go with me into town. The doctor gave Bodie a heavy sedative and then he fell asleep. After that, the Dr. gave him the euthanasia drug, and a few minutes later, his heart just stopped beating.

I have never cried so hard in my whole adult life. I miss him already and I hated that it had to be done.

Bodie - thank you for being my friend and companion. Thank you for being the best dog I could ever have wished for. Thank you for your gentle spirit as well as your loyalty to my family. You are truly were this man's best friend.

When Is It Time?

Bodie has been up since about 3:30 this morning. I've been up most of that time. He has been trying (unsuccessfully) to urinate. He gets drops out that are fairly bloody. It may be time to start thinking about euthanasia.

The vet said he has a ping pong ball size mass in his bladder. When asked how big his bladder is empty, she said, "ping pong ball size".

I've done some reading on euthanasia trying to get a feel for when is the right time. If you ask my father, it's when the animal no longer is productive, you ask my mother, it's not until the last ounce of life can be eked out of the animal. I found a Dummies article on how to proceed as well as a fairly good article on making the decision. However, in the end, there are no hard and fast rules to help you determine if now is the right time. Obviously, some now's are more apparent the others, but with Bodie, I'm not sure.

If he is going to spend several hours trying to urinate every time he needs to go, then I think it is time. Now I have to convince the family. Oh, to make things worse, it's Thing 2's birthday (not that that in and of itself is bad), but it is also two days till Christmas. Do I make an animal suffer so as not to mar an otherwise joyous time of the year?

Hazardous Laptop

It has been determined that laptops can affect male fertility. Just one more thing to worry about in life...

Depending on the position people (I'm assuming men people here-but I could be wrong.) use to balance the laptop and how close their thighs are, the scrotum temperature can still go up. I wonder how the MSDS for this would read.

So, if I design the "Scrotum Saver®" ice bag, I could make a fortune. I'll be rich. Then again...maybe not.

Van Helsing

The Wife & Things went to a bridal shower last night. (Who in the world gets married at Christmas!!) Anyway, I had an oportunity to watch a movie that I wanted to see...all by myself. That's right, no G-rated cartoon AND no bathroom breaks! I chose Van Helsing. Why, I'm not sure - I was just in that kind of mood.

Take 1 part James Bond and 2 parts each of Indiana Jones & League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and you have a fun movie to watch, albeit a bit predictable.

I'm still a bit confused about just exactly who Dr. Gabriel Van Helsing is and how he plays into the pre-history of the story. I guess I need to watch it again - darn. I thought maybe there would be more back story in a comic book. Not being a main interest of mine, how was I to know that the movie inspired the comic book? Go figure.

Out of 5, I rate it:

Practice Safe Hex

In view of all the deadly computer viruses that have been spreading lately, Weekend Update would like to remind you: when you link up to another computer, you're linking up to every computer that that computer has ever linked up to.

— Dennis Miller, SNL Weekend Update

Okay, it's dated, but it's still funny.

Kiss-met

17 years ago today, I kissed my wife for the first time. I still remember the kiss almost like it was yesterday. We went on our first official date and when I took her home, I went inside (for some reason, I can't remember why). I remember the kiss, the electric charge, the sense of oneness. I think at that point I knew she would one day be my wife. It was kismet.

Doggone It...

I was going to write earlier in the week about Bodie and how he was having problems "doing his duty". I was also going to write about how the vet wanted a urine sample, and the succeeding efforts of my wife to obtain said sample from a very modest canine. Picture a woman following a dog around the yard with a pie tie in her hand. It was quite humorous...at the time.

Now, I dunno. You see, he's been diagnosed with bladder cancer. Although we've not been told specifically what it is yet (he's still at the clinic), with a little Googling I think discovered what I believe to be the most likely candidate. Something called TCC or Transitional Cell Carcinoma. We're still in the early stages of feeling this out, but we are going to have to make some decision. From reading the Purdue article, it says In order to surgically excise the tumor, however, it needs to be located away from the neck of the bladder which is exactly where the vet located his. Not good. It seems that max life expectancy from this point on is about 6 months with a few cases surviving over a year.

Needless to say, this weekend is gonna suck, we're gonna do a lot of reading, and try to decide how to proceed. Bodie is a great dog and I will miss him, but when his time comes, it comes. I gotta go, I can't see the screen anymore and I don't want to think about it anymore either.

Recital from H-E-Double Toothpicks

Saturday night, Thing One had her first (and last) piano recital with her current piano teacher. It was an extremely painful and never-ending affair. I suppose that I should preface this gripe with the fact that her teacher is a reformed hippie - she has to be - especially with that tye-die dress she had on. I bet she thought she was at the height of fashion. I wouldn't be all that surpised if I heard her mutter the phrase "Peace - Love - Happiness". The Wife says that one of her daughters did exit a room at least on one occasion uttering "Peace" on her way out. The whole affair reeked with an air of unprofessionalism and lacked any sort of polish.

Our complaints started almost from the beginning of the semester. My wife can better explain the environment, but needless to say, we were in some sort of self-denial thinking that it wasn't really all that bad and that we just needed to give her time. We were trying not to hold her up to the example that we had with our previous teacher, but to give her time to show us what she's got. However, you can not ignore the fact that her piano was so out of tune that The Wife noticed or that it was missing 2 out of 3 pedals.

Mrs. Hippie just didn't seem to understand that we had certain expectations. After my wife approached her on some of the issues, things didn't change. Small things maybe, but they seemed significant to us. Part (or maybe most) of the problem is that we had an excellent teacher before (who also happens to be a good friend). He had style, polish, expectations, skill, shall I continue?

I don't know that she ever taught any theory whatsoever. I know that she never cracked Thing One's theory book that her previous instructor used. The only theory we can figure she adhered to was the "If you can sing a song, then you can play it with the correct rhythm" theory. She didn't encourage counting (you know, 1-2-3-and-4), but to sing the song so that you got the rhythm correct. I wonder how that works with clasical music - you know the stuff that ain't got no words! Her sole purpose was to teach kids who could play accompaniment to singers because "that's what they will spend the majority of their time doing anyway".

Besides that, she accepted less than stellar performances on songs from Thing One as acceptable before moving on. Even after The Wife spoke to her about some of our concerns, no changes were made...that is until we basically gave her two weeks notice.

After that she somehow decided that what we wanted for the kid were harder songs. Not better instruction mind you, just stuff more difficult. I'm proud that Thing One stepped up to the plate and pulled it off, but she shouldn't of had to do that.

Anyway, back to the recital. Probably the cherry on top was when she announced that the men were going to sing to their wives, girlfriends, and or significant other the song Heart and Soul. Oh, and she requested (demanded) that her husband come sing it to her. The creepy part is that she was really serious and that she thought it was a great idea.

Overall, there were no students that had what I would consider outstanding performances (well maybe one...). I know for a fact that she had my kid working on her recital song only two weeks prior.

Out of every experience there is good and bad. Take the good and learn from the bad. We learned a lot!

Bunny Heaven

It came to pass, the rabbit died...

No, not that rabbit, my daughter's rabbit, Daphne. I hurt for Thing One because a beloved pet had to be put to sleep and anytime a child has to deal with death, it's hard to bear. She dealt with it in a very mature manner. She made all the decisions while at the vet's office without my wife having to prompt or discuss. All the decisions were her's and her's alone. I unfortunately couldn't be there, but was glad to hear that she carried herself so well.

I pray that she will find comfort as she goes through the grieving process and that I can help her in every way possible.

Rat Finks

I just spent the last friggin' hour cleaning out all the spam in the ol' blog. I feel so liberated - or maybe violated. Then again, I think just frustrated.

Dang them! Dang them all!

Uncensored Comments

I am loosely invloved in a National project at work. When I say loosely, I'm implying that I have no say in it's direction, yet fully at it's mercy at wherever it takes me.

The problem is, the project is unneeded and the only viable reason they they can float to undertake this project is in essence "because everybody is doing it"!

Case in point. Yesterday, they finally (after a one year delay) updated the project website. I decided that I should expose myself to as much diatribe as I could stomach when I discovered a PowerPoint presentation that was shown at a higher up level detailing the project. I downloaded it and started looking at it when lo and behold, there are post-meeting comments in the presentation detailing some of the more slimier aspects.

My favorite is essence says, "we should have listed more than one benefit, but the project is mandatory, and as far as the Number 2 Guy is concerned, the only reason it's being done is because it's being required, otherwise we would be staying with the old system."

My second favorite quote was when the Number 1 Guy wanted not just the planning phase to be completed by March 2005, but the entire implementation phase as well!

I work for some people who have a great class act. Oh by the way, posting this confirms that I am culturally biased (but then so is the Number 2 Guy!)

Dodecahedron Time

Print and build a 12 sided calendar