a99kitten's Musings

Storm has been on his Cushing’s medication (Trilostane) since September 20th. He started on 1 dose of 10mg and then 1 week later moved up to 2 doses per day of 10mg. This is pretty low for his body weight but his doctor said body weight isn’t the only measurement for Cushings’ dogs (so yes husband, we ARE listening to his doctor and not you…)

All this week he has wanted to go on the walks in the mornings. This is a *great* improvement in his energy level! He has been choosing to not go on walks in the mornings for a few months now. This was one of the reasons I originally knew something was wrong and, sure enough, lack of energy is a symptom of Cushing’s. Now, AM walks for us are 1.5 – 2 hours every morning. For the past few months, I would take him out for 20 mins or so but he is a husky…they should have energy – even the lazy, couch-loving ones :) So he is now doing 1.5 hours or so. Not uphill hikes yet but I am hoping we get back there! When he wants to stay home – I take Angelus on those (who just wants to go and go and go….)

He even tried to be alpha with another dog this past week! The fact that he showed any real interest in the other dog’s existence is good. He just hasn’t cared about meeting other dogs lately. Storm has known he is “2nd boss” or the “underboss” since he was about 16-18 months old. He used to try to challenge Angelus but Angelus had none of that. For a couple month period of time we would have to pull them apart on occasion (usually a treat was involved) but this never happens now. They are great pals. Storm knows Angelus is the alpha (under me of course.) However, he views this as a 2nd in command kind of job. Like Chewie :) All other dogs must bow to him. And he has Angelus there to back him up (who has protected his little brother on numerous occasions.) Angelus has beaten up (blood drawn after they attacked Storm) 3 other dogs in defense of his little brother. He is a good big brother…

This cartoon ALWAYS pops up in my head when thinking about their relationship. Angelus is nicer to Storm than Spike is to Chester….but same idea :)

p.s. these old Looney Tunes/WB cartoons rule over anything they produce now IMHO…

Now, Storm has always been the lazier of the huskies but he would go (and go and go) if he was out there. And this week he has wanted to! So I am very happy with this improvement!

He also is drinking a bit less water. Still more than his normal levels, but a bit less than it has been for the last few months. He is still acting like he is starving to death. I hate to think that he feels so, so hungry all the time. Like he is actually starving. But again, a symptom of his disease and he is not starving. But someone at work actually said, in all seriousness, (as she gave the buddies chicken and cheese), that the buds didn’t get fed enough! OMG! They have formulated their plan and put it work for them. It’s called the sad, pathetic, brown-eyed puppy plan. Boogers…

So, all in all, a week or so of improvement for Storm on his medication. He gets his next test on 10/22. This will show us how the medication is doing in his blood, do we up the dosage, etc. They said “oh Storm….he is sooooo sweet….can you pick him up as soon as he is ready?” Ummm….ok :) I guess he makes a bit of a howling fuss…what a buddy :)

Last night I woke up at around 1:30am to a banging noise. It was obvious to me it was one of my dogs banging on a door to be let in/let out of someplace. Since they were both asleep when I went to bed last night, this seemed odd.

I got up and out of bed immediately and checked for the dogs.  They both always sleep in the same spots – Angelus on his bed and Storm under our bed (it’s a tall bed.) Storm wasn’t there. So I checked the spare bedroom and office as their doors were closed. They aren’t usually closed but until Storm’s Cushing’s Disease medication kicks in, I have been making sure to give him less open areas in the house to have an “accident”.

But no Storm in those rooms. Checked the garage and then back downstairs to the master bedroom to check the closet. Now this was in a span of a minute or 2. I was flying around the house looking for him. Where could he be? Then I decide to look out the window of the front door. And I see his little head.

I let him in and he ran right downstairs to the bedroom and drank almost a whole bowl of water. And then scooted under the bed and just sat there, panting very hard. He was clearly very stressed out. I hung out with him, petting him for about 15 minutes and he fell asleep. This means he was off-leash, no collar or tags and free to roam the neighborhood and get lost. Or worse – get hit by a car. We have only a few streetlights on our street and some of the streets around us have none. Rural area.

Luckily Storm is a Momma’s boy and would not venture away unless his brother led his away (who was likely annoyed that he was stuck inside!)  Or if he saw a cat, raccoon, skunk, etc., then he would have taken off after it for sure.  Not entirely sure how he got OUT of the yard. Must investigate that. Thinking that he squeezed himself between the posts on the gate. But thankfully, his desire to always be by his people, kept him safely at the front door wanting to be let in. He is quite the creature of routine and he knew it was sleepy time (you tell them “sleepy time” and they go right to their beds.) It was very dark out (fog, no moonlight, no outside lights on) and he was stuck outside – which never happens. This stressed him out. Since he has Cushing’s Disease and just got over a too-many-doctor-visit-stress-induced tummy/GI issue, I really don’t want him stressed further.

Plus I had a weird accident the day before (car peeling out of parking lot and not seeing me crossing Highway 1 so had to run fast out of his way, tripped myself up, causing me to take a digger on the asphalt so that I could pull the dogs forward in front of me and out of the street.) This freaked me out a bit as I had been having these weird thoughts about something happening to the dogs. So…thinking about him being stressed and sad, wondering why he was alone and stuck outside in the dark, made *me* very sad and stressed out. All of this likely contributing to my bad dreams for the rest of the night.

Then as I was petting Storm and he was panting hard, my husband woke up and asked what all the commotion was. I told him Storm was stuck outside and I just let him in (knowing it was he who let him out into the front yard and then apparently forget to bring him inside before he went to bed.) Oh, he says. And goes back to sleep. Grrrr.

I went back to bed and had nightmares for the rest of the night about bad things happening to the dogs. I would fall asleep for a few minutes and then the same nightmare would wake me up.  All night long. I finally gave up trying to get any sleep around 5:30am. I don’t recall what the details of the nightmares were anymore, just the bad feeling of them.

This morning, husband told me he must have forgotten that he let Storm out to pee last night and then just went to bed.  Oops. Kind of funny really, right? No, notsomuch. He then asked if Storm scratched the front door when he wanted to be let in. I don’t know. And actually don’t care.

Nothing bad happened to Storm other than some unneeded stress on his little system.  But thinking of what could have happened stresses me out. I normally don’t think that way actually but when it comes to the safety of my doggies, I am very careful and probably a bit neurotic.  So a little more concern displayed this AM would have been nice but whatever. Storm is contently catching up on his sleep…

Sleepy puppy...

But today, I am very exhausted. And grumpy. Instead of eating lunch I am typing this in the hopes my venting will alleviate my stress/upset.  But I better eat something today at some point or someone could get stabbed…

Woke up around 1:00am to a Stormy face staring at me “need to go out Mom!” Took him out and he went potty and back in we came and thankfully I feel back asleep pretty easily (not usual for me lately.)

Around 5am, still pitch dark out, Stormy face staring at me again. Ok, buddy….he seems to be having some tummy issues (will spare any details) but he got that out and back to bed. Of course, now falling back asleep is not that easy. If it had been a little light out, I would have gotten up and taken the buds out for a walk. Very cold last night/early morning so they would have liked that. However, walking in the foresty area in the dark is not such a good plan in coyote and bear country :) ALTHOUGH, maybe I would have seen the bear I’ve been trying to see all year!! But I heard the coyotes earlier and didn’t want to deal with that. I know they will generally stay away from people and big dogs but walking myself into a pack of them is a Darwin Award for sure…

So I tossed and turned and tried to get back to sleep. And my mind was racing with thoughts of what chores I wanted to get done today, what fun stuff I wanted to do, where should I hike, why is Stormy having tummy issues, he didn’t eat anything weird – or did he? When will his medicine arrive? What if he still has tummy issues – I should wait to start his medicine as that’s a sign to take him off if it. Ooooh – don’t forget to sign up for the Survivor Football pool, and check my Fantasy teams, oh yeah, excited to finish my book today, what should I read next? Can’t wait to get my Kindle! Race…race…race. This is what happens when I wake up anytime after 4am-ish.

I did manage to fall asleep though. And around 6:30am, again woken up by a Stormy face staring at me. And this time it was urgent. Ok, out we go. It’s also amazing to me that my husband magically sleeps through all of this but if I move the covers wrong or turn on a light, his sleep has been ruined. ?????

But now, because I did manage to fall back asleep, I was actually very tired when I woke up this time. So after taking Storm out, I got back into bed and wanted to go back to sleep. No dice. Angelus came in and thought hey – it’s light out, you just took Storm out and not me, GET UP! RRRUUUUUF! He only ever does one. Huskies aren’t barkers. Angelus uses his 1 bark as communication. It is used at different times but basically has the same meaning: get up, move it, take me out, give me a treat, play with me. His one “ruff” will mean any of these things and you will have no doubt which one it is when it happens. Very good communicators these huskies are!

By now it was about 7am. Ok, Mom just get up. Fed the buds and then got dressed. It was 45 degrees out so I knew they would be happy. Gave them their vitamins and then asked husband, who had said he wanted to go on our walk this morning (umm…yeah..), if he was coming. He was still lying in bed with the covers pulled up. I already knew the answer but gave him the chance. “No” he says. “I would have if I got enough sleep but the dogs kept waking me up” (really? you seemed to be in a coma to me?)

I closed the bedroom door and off we went. Very quiet and peaceful out. I am worried why Storm is having these tummy issues. I’ll get him ground turkey and white rice today and make that for his dinner. It’s the easiest thing on their digestion. Hopefully this fixes it in a day or 2. Or I’ll be up 3 or 4 times again during the night and calling the vet.

I brought Storm back after a short walk and took Angelus on a longer one. Then did the dishes, made some coffee, checked my email, got annoyed by my email, and wrote down my To Do list for today. Stormy is sound asleep at my feet and Angelus is relaxing on the desk. Husband is still sleeping. He was feeling sick yesterday so he better sleep that off and not give me his germs!

So happy Labor Day to the Moms of fluffy and human kids everywhere. You labor way more than some organized union worker collecting his/her “entitled” wages, pension and benefits until the day they retire and finally die….

Storm had 2 more tests last week. 1 for his thyroid and then a 2nd, more focused, ultrasound for his liver. Both came back negative/OK. Kind of would have been easier/better if his thyroid was the issue. Quick medicinal fix. But I guess I kind of already knew this wasn’t the case. And very happy no liver issues. Before the vet diagnoses Cushing’s (which doesn’t have a positive/negative test), they want to check any other potential issues. Since both his thyroid and liver enzymes came back abnormal in other tests, we ran these tests.

Storm is now completely over going to the vet. He used to like it. Go in, see other dogs in the waiting room, show everyone how awesome he was, howl a little, get a shot, get a treat, out the door. But now…he looks at me with sad eyes. Which kills me. But he is a tough, stoic little guy who has been tested, shaved, poked and prodded. But he still sings when he walks in there and everyone there loves him. He is greeted with a “Hi Storm” just like at our office. He is a character.

After the thyroid and liver tests came back OK, I had Storm’s file sent to his regular doctor (who has been out of the country for a month.) She has been Storm and Angelus’ doctor since they were puppies and she is a senior partner at the vet hospital. Plus, well, frankly, she is really nice and cool. Angelus likes her a lot which speaks volumes. Angelus is very picky about his friends. He’s like his Momma :)

She also treats the majority of Cushing’s patients there. And she agreed with us. She approved of the diligent nature of the additional tests to rule out any other issues. Especially since treatment for Cushing’s is no easy matter. But she said his symptoms do point to it.

So we worked out his meds and the pharmacy is sending them this week. He will start on a low dose and we will monitor his progress. I am very stressed about this. I am not a big believer in drugs. I understand they are created to fix something but I believe the chemicals introduced can generally do more harm than good. But she assures me the low dosage and monitoring will be OK. And I recognize he will not live 100 more years, but I want his life to be happy and for him to feel good. It’s obvious to me that he doesn’t feel good right now. In the end – the most important thing is he is happy and loving every day like he used to.

So fingers are crossed. And I will be a giant stress ball once he is on the medication looking for any signs that he is having a bad reaction to it. And he will have to go for tests every 4-6 weeks to make sure his body is handling it. So I will stress then too. But if he walks around ah-rooing like he used to, waking me up in the mornings and chewing on Angelus again – it will be worth it.

Storm smile

Storm updated his Dogster diary tonight…he wanted to pupdate his friends on his paw boo-boo :)

http://www.dogster.com/dogs/114778

The buds had a good weekend I think. Storm seems much happier. Angelus has been pretty happy but wishes I would let him catch critters. He definitely gets that annoyed look on his face when he chases a chipmunk and I stop him from catching one!!

But they are having a good time this weekend :)

Hi Mom!

Ummm...Mom.....dinner?

Mmm...dingo bones are delicious...

Are you going to finish that?

He hasn’t done this in awhile so he felt it was time. He recognizes that he needs to be better about that since his Dogster pals don’t know about his twittering (@StormDevil)…he is quite the popular guy :)

Just yesterday the team from our SEO marketing firm came for a meeting and asked about the buds (they do work at my company almost daily too!) before they got in the door.They really can’t help being so dang cute and awesome :)

If you are interested you can always click on the Dogster buttons on the right (done the column a bit) to see what they are up to.

Here is his page – the diary is down at the bottom. :)

http://www.dogster.com/diary/diary_entry.php

I went to bed last night in a bad mood. And sure seemed to have woken up in an even worse one.  I woke up at 5:00am due to Storm needing to go out. Apparently he got a hold of something yesterday that did not agree with his tummy :( After that I was awake. But I just did not want to go out for a doggie walk yet so I climbed back into bed. This is actually very strange for me. Normally, once I’m awake – I’m up. But I just wanted to be under the covers. Plus it was still basically dark out and all wet and misty and cold – typical NorCal coast summer. Blech.

When I finally dragged myself out of bed, I took the buds on a beach walk. This always puts me in a better mood. Any walk with the buds usually does. But notsomuch today. Was pretty darn cute when Angelus waded out into the harbor and a seal popped up about 3 feet away from him and jumped up and out of the water. He was totally playing with Angelus! Very cute. Angelus wanted to go in after him! Luckily he was on leash. I would have loved to get a picture of this but it was so misty and wet out, no way I was taking my iPhone out of my pocket.

Getting ready for work I was determined to try and improve my mood so I piled on the pink. Just call me Andie today…And I just got my bracelet back yesterday from being repaired. So I have my pink bracelet back too!

But the day is still sucking. Not entirely sure why my mood is horrible. Lots of stuff racing through my head but that’s normal. Really is unlike me to stay down.  Even when I am in a bad mood – I can box it up and away to be happy about other things going on around me. But today seems immune to that.

As I type this, I am eating  my lunch so hopefully that will help my mood? But since it’s not macaroni and cheese or a cheeseburger with fries – seems unlikely.  But the reduced fat Filet of Sole frozen entree from Trader Joe’s is pretty tasty – I’ll give it that (for what it is…it’s no City Hall mac&cheese…)  I’ll be hungry in an hour or so (190 calories? Yeah, starving in an hour!) but that’s pretty much the case no matter what I eat. One of the girls that works here saw my lunch and said “that’s a small-sized lunch” and giggled as she made her big bowl of noodles and Chinese food. Yeah…thanks….

I didn’t even want to window e-shop while I ate. I should probably be checked for a fever or a tumor…:)  I did see these beauties thanks to @shoesmitten on twitter – HOT! I SO need these:

Christian Louboutin Candy Lace & Patent Spike Pump - HOT!

…well, “need” might be the wrong word…but DESIRE, COVET and the ever popular DROOLING OVER all seem to work ;)

Ok, done eating. Sometimes think just writing out (like in a diary when you were a kid!) can help. We’ll see! Back to work…

This is a very pretty bag…and since it comes in this beautiful blue-ish color (of which I have NONE so I should!) called Storm! And since my little husky is Storm…

Storm singing that Mom should own this bag :)

– shouldn’t my next bag be too ;-)

Balenciaga "City" in the color "Storm"

Feel free to peruse (or even better have one shipped to me anonymously ;) )

http://www.balenciaga.com/us/en/balenciaga/Women/Handbags/TopHandles/P-City-Lambskin.aspx?VariantPropertyName=VariantId&VariantPropertyValue=803478366(BAL-Cruise2008WomenMasterCatalog)

Have seen this e-mailed joke for several years but I always giggle…and know it’s true!

Life really boils down to 2 questions…

1. Should I get a dog…?

Dog

OR…

2.  Should I have children?

Child

Luckily my 2 huskies are so perfect – makes this an easy question ;-)

Angelus puppy

Storm puppy

I *had* to swing by Stanford Shopping Center today so *had* to swing by Sprinkles since I had to walk right by it to get to my car…after I strategically parked in the first spot available closest to the Sprinkles door…

I purchased 2 cupcakes for me: a red velvet cupcake and a peanut butter chip cupcake. The red velvet I don’t even need to discuss as we all know they are DELICIOUS! If you have never been to a Sprinkles, but feel like going..get a red velvet. Don’t muck about with other flavors – just go straight to the heart :) Once you are hooked, you can be adventurous and add other flavors to your order.

Now, since I am a Sprinkles veteran (what? why are you looking at me like that?) I added a peanut butter chip to my order. If you don’t like peanut butter that much – just pass this one by. HOWEVER, if you are like me and love peanut butter – GET THIS! OHMYGOSH – so peanut-buttery!!! This thing was delish – highly recommended for peanut butter fans. Each bite was a like eating a spoon full of peanut butter but mixed in with cakey goodness. Nomnomnom!

Of course, no visit to Sprinkes is complete without pupcakes for my boys. If you get these for your doggies…ummm…remember to take the paper cup off first…luckily I got it back form Angelus and got the paper off :)

Pupcake for Angelus!

Pupcake for Storm!

I’m fairly certain there no cuter dogs in the entire universe :) They thoroughly enjoyed their treats…and asked where the rest of the dozen were :)