Simply Sunday and the Circle of Life

 Ozzie went to see Dr. D on Friday. She was very concerned about the size of his lymp nodes under his neck and appartently there are some in his shoulder area too that have her worried. They are quite large.  Other than that he seems to be in good health. His weight is steady at 79 pounds and he eats like a horse and poops like one! She was going to talk with the oncologists and see if going forward with further chemo was worth it or not. My fear is she is thinking that this is the end cycle of his disease. The pill we give him is Lomustine 75 mg and we do not give it until we hear from the vet that his blood work is normal, which it was. It has very toxic propeties so we must wear rubber gloves when admineristing it to him. Of course slipping it into a piece of turkey bologna works like a charm!

Where do we go from here? I have been feeding Ozzie things like broccoli and organic chicken and giving him vitamin e supplements and eating bananas and oranges together. I was hoping that supporting his immune system with all this good food would help in his battle against the cancer. He was diagnosed last June and he is still with us and that is more time than many dogs who have lymphoma last. Most don't survive the first round of chemo!

I know that we all have our time to live and die but I am really mad that Ozzie is being cheated out of some of his best years to come with us! On the other hand we gave him the best home and the most love we could and I try to find comfort in that. Most of all he is still here and well and it's just life day by day that we can expect to enjoy him, each moment more special than the one before it!

Here is wishing everyone a wonderfu week ahead!

"Just waiting for dinner. So what it's only 2:00 PM!"

Rotten Clementines,Burnt Rice and Life

We just returned from a fabulous week long trip to Kitzbuhel Austria with our ski club. The Austrian Alps couldn't be any more stunning and the apple strudel any more delicious! Though the whole time I worried about Ozzie and how he would miss us so, but Grandpa took good care of him and he greeted us home with his usual stubby tail wag and deep growl of "where the heck have you been!"

Vacations are always wonderful and a true break from it all but back to reality my friends! It seems that Ozzie's lymph nodes have gotten larger since we were away and he seems a little more lethargic than usual. He goes for his next round of oral chemo therapy on Friday so we will see where we medically stand then.

Yesterday I bought a box of Clementines,  you know that sunny citrus small orange like fruit. They looked good from what I could see on the top of the box. When I got home and opened them I was in for a surprise. There were 5 rotten pieces of the fruit on the bottom of the box. One more mushy with green mold than the next. What a rip off I thought! Later that evening I was making some rice for dinner and I accidentally turned up the flame under the pot. Yup you guessed it burnt rice!
Life's little annoyances are sometimes an analogy to the bigger picture. Life may look good from the top but you have to beware, you will run into something that is rotten from time to time and watching your pot more carefully can result in less burnt rice.

Anyways it's good to be back home and I will let you all know how Ozzie does at the vet on Friday!

The Austrian Alps in all their glory!

Simply Sunday and Picky Pooch

Here we are another weekend about to go by! This week was an abbreviated one with the New Year holiday and all but the 3 work days were very concentrated if you know what I mean! 

Ozzie had his first chemo pill with an injection of that Elspar drug. He was fine afterwards even thought the vet warned he may feel a little "punky" afterwards. His biggest side effect is from the steroids since we increased his dosage. It makes him huff and puff and pant more. For a dog with compromised breathing apparatus this is tough at times. Ozzie's new bothersome behavior though is his finicky appetite. I have perhaps hopelessly spoiled him by making special food for him and he expects it every time! This morning I refused to make scrambled eggs for his breakfast and I just served him up his kibble. He immediately turned his nose up at it and walked away. I guess if he gets hungry enough he will eat it?! 

We are gong away soon for a ski vacation and Grandpa and brother will be taking care of our boy and I am worried about his eating. I guess I am going to have make a big batch of the chicken meatballs and freeze them, so he will have something special to mangia on!

"Really? You expect me to eat dog food!?"

I am adding in Ozzie's meatball recipe in case you have missed it, or interested in making them for your own picky pooch!

Have a good week ahead all!

Ozzie's Chicken Meatballs

• Two 16 oz packages of ground chicken
• flat leaf parsley
• turmeric  ( healthy spice that dogs can consume safely)

Chop up parsley and add to meat along with a generous sprinkle of turmeric. 

Make small size balls, little bit smaller than a golf ball.

Get a big pot of water boiling on the stove and drop in meatballs. Should take no longer than 20 minutes to cook through. Remove meatballs to cool. Break up and mix with their favorite kibble.

Store batches in freezer bags for future meals!