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