Willa’s Big Day

Today Willa received the “Chief’s Coin” and a Certificate of Appreciation for her service to Austin. Our commander read a short biography highlighting Willa’s service career and then the Chief of Police, Art Acevedo, presented me with Willa’s certificate. The award reads:

On behalf of the Austin Police Department, thank you Willa McDermott for your sacrifice and service on the many hazardous and demanding missions you undertook to unite families with their loved ones. We wish you the best in your retirement.

Willa likes the Chief, you can tell by how she’s looking at him here:

The award was part of a ceremony honoring Police Officers and employees of APD that have earned recognition from the Chief. He went on to recognize the members of the SAR team that attended and gave Matthew Olguin special recognition for leading the team. Willa made the local news too, we hope to get a link to the video posted for you to see.

P.S. While we were inside for the awards ceremony some guy crashed into our new SAR truck! Right in front of Police Headquarters! He also hit two other police cars and stopped just before hitting my car.

New SAR Truck for APD

In the record breaking 112 degree Austin heat and with everything going on with Willa it has been hard to even think about conducting a search. We have to be prepared and part of that has been all the work Matthew Olguin has put in on getting a new truck for the team. Anyone who has see the old APD SAR command truck knows it’s a sad truck, long past it’s prime.

This week Matthew Olguin and I took delivery from the APD Fleet Services of a NEW (to us) old truck that used to be the Dive Team’s and has been relabeled as our SAR Truck.

When we took delivery the great folks that did all the lettering told us that they had not put the dogs names on the door because they wanted to be sure they got it right. So after a little pow-wow we decided to pay respects to a great dog that worked with Willa. We put Kobe first because he passed first. He was Willa’s “boyfriend” and search partner for 10 years.

It did not take them long to fix the door. I think it’s perfect. Look for the addition of Ruby and Oso after they get their SAR Dog certifications.

In loving memory of Kobe Wilson!

Spa Day

This morning was a spa day of sorts for the girls. Willa has an appearance coming up and is looking a bit shaggy. I try to keep both dogs well groomed particularly in the heat of the summer. In Willa’s case she still has the reverse Mohawk from her time at LSU. I worked on the margins of the clip to ease the edges a bit, blending it in. I also take care of nails and that oh-so long between the toes hair that makes their feet slip on the wood floors.

It was while I was trimming Willa’s back feet and clipping her nails that I noticed something. Willa does NOT like me to mess with her paws, particularly her nails. Now, I am pretty good when it comes to nail trimming, but Willa is a squirmy bag of trembling dog flesh when nail trimming time rolls around. So I sit on the floor with the stinkiest of stinky treats and prop Willa on her back so I can control her and her foot. She resists but the treats keep her in place for the 18 snips it takes to finish the job. Then, when I finish the front ten, I pivot her 180 degrees so I can do the back 8. At this point she’s panting but not struggling anymore.

So, she’s laying on her back, mouth open, and I grab my camera and snap this…

OK, so there is a bit of Salmon jammed in there too, but what I see is fresh pink palate and a very small grey spot. Compare this to the first shot and you can see that it looks like it is healing. Add to this the fact that she is choosing to chew her hard chews on that side and I think her mouth is healing. She still has the chapped lips from the radiation treatment, but that looks better every day too.

I still have a bit more clipping to do before they are ready for “show” (and I’ll post pictures when I finish) but I wanted you all to see for yourselves. This has been a good, although very hot, day. I think we’ll be playing in the sprinklers later today…

Silver Lining

Today was Willa’s Graduation of sorts from Heart of Texas Veterinary Specialty Center (http://heartoftexasvets.com/). I passed a quivering, trembling Willa off to Deanna for her last Melanoma vaccination. She has had 4 in the past 2 months, wow, how the time has flown.

Following her physical exam Dr. Brown confirmed what I had already seen. The tumor is “different”, depending on how you describe it, it is changing in appearance and looks like Willa’s immune system is fighting it. You can see the pink of her pallet next to the usual black of the roof of her mouth. The part that used to scare me, the white of the tumor, has turned greyish, pinkish and is not as well defined. Her mouth definitely suffered from the radiation. Two days ago she looked like she had a chapped lip in the corner of her mouth (see her lower lip below). That inflammation is going down, but we’re extending the antibiotics just in case.

We made our next appointment for a check-up in November. Willa was happy to leave, which is sad, because they really love her there.

Once we got home Willa was back to herself. Chasing squirrels and rolling in the freshly mowed grass. Physically she is doing great. She eats well and shows no sign of growing older.

We have learned from many friends and family that Willa was included in the prayers of individuals as well as whole congregations and a prayer chain that spread around the world. We are so grateful for everyone who contributed to Willa surviving and thriving through this ordeal. We are touched by the thoughtfulness and generosity of those who do not know what an amazing girl she is, but pray for her health and recovery.

Thanks to everyone who cares about Willa, you are our support system.

The Only Constant is Change

Chicago was great, but the best welcome home gift was Willa, Ruby and no green slime. It looks like the antibiotics are working. During the morning agility training Willa started barking, well…trying to bark. The folks at LSU warned us that the radiation may cause changes to her eye, mouth and throat. It appears that is the case. Her eye is watering a bit, her mouth, now free of the slime, is a bit pink and her bark is…well…tiny. We’ll continue to consult and monitor, but aside from a tiny dog bark, Willa had a great time and ran her butt off this morning.

While visiting Shedd Aquarium we picked up a few gifts for the girls. If you know Ruby, you know she LOVES whales. Shamu has been her favorite for years (in fact she is actually on her second Shamu, the first was loved to death). Ruby wraps her paws around her whale and nurses on its head, falling into a trancelike state we call “The Shamu Zone”. We name all the toys and Ruby’s new Beluga is “Bella” after one of the Shedd whales. Here are Willa and Ruby with their Octopus and Bella.

As you can see, Ruby loves her Bella. Note: She’s not chewing on Bella, she’s in a nursing trance, waking  only if she needs to adjust her paws, needs to nurse a bit more or begins to fall over.

It’s good to be home.

How Health Care Should Be

Mary Jane and I are heading to Chicago for a couple days for the SharePoint Connections Coast to Coast technical conference for me, speaking about SharePoint, and Mary Jane ‘cause she’s never been. We have been feeling good lately because on our last visit it Dr. Brown said “it appears that the tumor is smaller”. I had snuck a peek at it during one of Willa’s yawns and thought the same thing, now I had independent confirmation. In mind, “small tumor” is better than “big tumor”, but not as good as “no tumor”.

Running through our preflight checklist went something like this:

• Cloths for 3 days – CHECK
• Computer and Presentation Notes  - CHECK
• Boarding Passes – CHECK
• Take care of the green stuff coming out of Willa’s mouth…

Over the weekend we took Willa and Ruby swimming on Lake Austin. My buddy Bren met us at a favorite location with Oso and Happy to get the dogs some water time and ease our guilt over leaving them behind. Willa would rather swim than anything else, so it works well to keep her fit and limber in the heat of the summer. For Ruby it’s all about seeing Oso and swimming, running and swimming, chasing dragon flies and swimming.

I noticed that Willa was snoring a bit more than usual on Friday night by Sunday she was snoring a bit more than me. When I was bathing her after swimming Sunday she has green slime on the corner of her mouth. Careful application of the shampoo removed the slime and the blood from a week of sleeping with the tumor in her mouth. (Accentuating her beautiful white muzzle even more.) We became most concerned when Willa began having trouble eating wet food. By this morning we actually switched her to dry food to help her eat.

With our 9:30 departure looming we called LSU and HOT Vets to get a consultation on the situation. Both vets postulated that Willa’s tumor and the tissues around it are beginning to slough off and we need to switch antibiotics to keep the bugs away. We were able to arrange for the Amazing Bren to pick up the drugs and Willa’s Aunt Judy (our loving neighbor of 13 years) to administer the antibiotics while we’re gone. Again, LSU and HOT Vets jumped to our aid when they realized the time crunch, Westlake Animal Hospital made the arrangements for us to get the meds after a call from HOT Vets. Everyone was amazing in their desire to help us and Willa in under 90 minutes. (Try getting that kind of health care as a human!)

So with a little less guilt we’re off to Chicago with thoughts of our great weekend together. We’re also thinking about less slime, healthy dogs, temperatures less than the “surface-o-the-sun” temps we’ve been having in Austin. Mostly we’re thinking about Willa as she fights the cancer and the side effects and the wonderful care givers that we have to look after Willa, rain or shine.

Here’s a quick video of the dogs at the lake. You can see that, aside from Willa’s hair cut, she is still energetic and playful. (Check out Ruby’s two jumps!)

Crazy Dog on the grass and playing with Ruby and Oso

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

We left LSU right after Willa’s final radiation treatment for the week. The folks that took part in Willa’s treatment at the LSU Vet Clinic Cancer Treatment Unit signed her bandana with kind words and prayers for Willa. It is a touching reminder of how much they all care about my girl.  Willa was happy to be headed home and slept most of the way…at least until I pulled out the chicken sandwich I had made for lunch.

Willa and I arrived home safely Friday evening. Tropical storm Don had nothing for Austin, but still managed to dump a lot of rain on us East of Houston. Once home, Willa promptly hopped out of the car and ran to Mary Jane for “welcome home” kisses. She then ran into the middle of the yard, flopped down and began “Crazy Dog”.

Aside from the blue, green and black marks (and an odd hair cut) Willa is no worse for the ordeal. She has a follow-up visit at HOT Vets Wednesday and her 3rd Melanoma Vaccine injection. I’ll continue to update the blog as we hear more news.

Mary Jane and I cannot thank you all enough for your kind words, prayers and thoughts as Willa has gone through treatment. The Twitter #GeauxWilla hash tag has shown MJ and I the reach Willa has had. I appreciate the memories folks have shared with me about Willa. She has touched many folks and I am proud to hear how others talk about her.

The plan now is exercise in the form of swimming, great food, and lots of love. (Sounds like a plan I’ll be following too!)