Confused and Overwhelmed-Diagnosed Anal Sac Carcinoma (Woody has passed)

The painting is done, but if I every mention it again someone please remind me that it is blardy hard work lol. I decided to do the kitchen first as it only has one full wall, doh forgot you had to paint above all the units and behind fridge and oh it was endless. Took me hours but I,m impressed as it looks really good. I will consider the living room tomorrow but need to see how my arms are feeling, and I didn,t step in the paint or fall of the ladder so I would say that was a result !

Yay, that is one productive day, good for you!! It is hot here but blowing a gale so not real nice outside, hopefully it will die down later so he can get out for his walk. Nothing planned which is nice, we need a rest day after yesterday's busyness! Well apart from vet visit!

hehehe, so glad that it turned out looking good. I know, kitchens are trickier than they look. Sneaky little spots all over.
At least you have a good result for all your hard work and painting is definitely hard work!

Sausage sandwich sounds pretty good to me. I'd take that too. :)
Believe me, the stuff I make is all very simple fare, no grand gourmet lurking here. :)

Although molly thinks I am a wonderful hunter who produces breakfast and dinner every night, which I go out kill, drag home just for her and process for her meals. (that is how dogs think right???) :)

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Trish you must have my weather for a change, I really can,t remember the last time it didn,t rain here, it does go off for a little while but then comes back with a vengeance.

Molly is right this is how you get her breakfast and dinner every day you are the hunter lol

Haha cute, little hunter and gatherers :D Well it is not raining here, but looks like it might be threatening. Greg and Fi are driving back to Wellington today and they have severe gales down there but they had to go back to collect Timmy from the vets where he stays when they go away. Hope they get back OK.

Trish I have an old friend who lives in Wellington in NZ she immigrated many years ago, we still keep in touch and I always see her when she comes home to visit family. She lives in a farm I think with loads of horses. A lot of people from my home town have moved to either Australia or NZ over the years and they love it. I lived in Australia with my bro for a year and I was only sorry I never stayed for good :confused:

Australia is great, I lived in Sydney for 6 years back in the 90's, but it got to the stage where I wanted to buy a house and they were too expensive there for me... and tin the end there is no place like home so I am pleased I came back!! I am pleased I came back but love visiting over there and usually get over once a year to catch up with my friends! I am envious of you, I wish I had stayed longer in London than the year I was there. So close to all those beautiful places in Europe!

Flynn is funny, there are a couple of flies buzzing about. He gets quite OCD with flies... he gets this manic look on his face and snaps at them if they get within snapping distance or stalks them like prey!! It is like he considers it his job to rid the house of flies and he keeps a firm lookout if any are about... so I let him!! If I do not get them with the spray first! :D

Woody was the same he was the resident fly catcher, although I don't think he ever actually caught one, if the fly was on the wall he would stare at it and it would fly off and Woody would still be staring at the same bit of the wall with no fly there I used to have to say its away.

My brother is in Melbourne, I,ve been over several times, but not for a few years. You are far travelled London, Australia, NZ you jet setter. I was never a fan of London, my last full time job I had to go to London 3/4 days a month for Business and always thought it was too busy for me, I did however do the site seeing bit when I was there but mostly just saw the inside of meeting rooms and hotels :)

:D Woody the Resident Fly Catcher :D I like that, they do like to have their own *jobs* don't they, Flynn keeps the fly population under control, chases away the birds, when we get home he jumps out the car and runs around the house checking everything out, if he goes outside at night he has to run out and bark at any potential burglars ohhh and most important he is always on cat patrol and he is really on top of that right now, have not seen a cat in ages here! I think it is important they feel useful and participate in things, I think they like to feel useful... doggies are workers after all!!

Melbourne is great, I was there last April for a conference. I think as NZ is so far away from the rest of the world we do travel a lot. It is almost a rite of passage to have your OE in your twenties, hence my year in London! I loved it there. I am hoping to go back in 2015 for the Rugby World Cup, I have a very close cousin there and he lives in Putney and keeps nagging me to come stay with him so least I have free accommodation!! He is going to get us tickets for the All Black games, can't wait... ohhhhh it's next year now!! Maybe if I do get there you, me and Mel will have to meet in the middle somewhere for a catchup, wouldn't that be awesome! x

Oh that would be awesome, we must do that :D Have you heard from Mel is she home from her holidays yet, not seen her around

No, haven't heard from her yet so hopefully she will be back soon all refreshed and ready for another year of work!! :D

Oh I hope she,s not in one of the badly flooded areas down south, there is a few places that are really bad.

Well good luck at the vets and let me know how Flynny gets on, time for bed for me since its 1.20 am oops :eek:

Yikes, I hope she is high and dry and back home soon!!

Have a good sleep, I need to get organised too.... lazy sloth I am today xxxx

Hey Tracy

Thanks to you both for thinking of me. I am back and ok. Weather was outrageous but we didn't get flooded, so many poor people have been affected.

How is its in Bonnie Scotland? probably not that Bonnie right now! It's blowing up a gale and pouring again here, there is just nowhere for the water to go.

How are you doing? It was frustrating not having any internet as I expected it to work from my phone, I think they don't have proper 4g in Dorset and that's why it wouldn't work. I did think of you and wanted to post as much but couldn't get on!

Hopefully you are resting still and I will see you later.

Bug hug
Mel
Xxxxx

Tracy:
Great you got your kitchen painted. How is the weather over there? WE have very frigid temperatures today and for most of the coming week it is to be worse than this. I tried the lead attached to Tipper's cage. She wrapped it around her leg which was really bad so that is not good for her either. I will just do the best I can with this and suffer thru it with her. Sometimes I find myself getting frustrated, then I remind myself how she must feel. Blessings
Patti

Hi Mel, glad you got back safely and didn,t get flooded out :D Its been pretty horrible up here, the river burst its banks last week and took half the main road with it :eek:

6 months old baby oh I,m scared of babies I don,t know what to do with them, I,m scared incase I drop them. I do like toddlers though mostly because I like to play with there toys at that age ;)

I,m hanging in there, you know how it goes one day good, 2 days bad and repeat. I just kept busy over the holidays, but he was never off my mind:mad:

Hey Tracy

Just checking in to see how you are?

It's blowing a gale here again the wind is actually whistling through the window. I heard You are due some snow did it turn up?

The baby was ok if you didn't put him down!

It was my first xmas without Tia too so I know exactly what you mean

Mel
Xxxx

Hi Tracy

Just checking in before bed, we seem to keep missing each other lately. Hope the flood has receded and your village has dried out! Are your days going ok? When is the job hunting starting? What type of work are you looking for? Good luck with that! We can practice interview questions on you!! Although I did that for a friend recently, put her through a mock interview and afterwards she said they did not ask ONE question I had come up with :D:D xxx

Trish - Operation get a job started today ;) Days aren,t too bad as I can keep busy, but nights are the worse, but it will get better it has too:confused:

I,ve had a bit up and down day today, my friend makes bespoke jewellery from metals and makes some lovely stuff. So today in the post I received a necklace with "the brightest star in the sky is yours, Woody" and on the back was "I love you" it is beautiful and so personal I rang her up to thank her and we were both crying but happy tears for a change I really do love it.

Then this afternoon the hospital rang and told me Woody,s ashes are ready to be picked up cue the sad tears, I can,t face picking them up today so the hospital said whenever I was ready just ring them. I want him home where he belongs, but picking them up means its finally final and I,m not ready to deal with that :(

I think picking up the ashes and facing that is the hardest ordeal after the initial loss to which nothing is comparable.

That was such a lovely gift from your friend. Very special.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Awww the necklace story brought a tear to my eye, what a gorgeous gift your friend gave you, it is truly a beautiful thing to have such caring people in your life :)

I think you will feel better with Woody home again, but I can totally appreciate why you are hesitant to go back there. So you go when you are ready, they are lovely to recognise you need a bit of time. Maybe your sister can come with you to drive?

Good luck with the job search too! Finger's crossed the perfect job for you appears now you need it! xx

Would you mind posting a picture of the necklace? That was so sweet of your friend.

Tracy:
Such a wonderful and thoughtful gift from your friend. She must be a very caring person. I hope you can find some work. I think it will help keep your mind busy too. Hope you do not have to travel far if you get a job, as you are having some nasty weather too aren't you? Just know there is not a day that passes that I do not think of you and dear Woody. Blessings
Patti

Valeria - I have uploaded pics of the necklace, it is made of Ali and it is hand stamped by my friend, a friend I,ve never met in person, but have "known" her for many years via a dog rescue forum we were members of :)

Tracy:
Beautiful necklace from a beautiful friend indeed. It just made me start welling up seeing all the photos of Woody again. God Bless You and Woody.
Patti

Thanks Patti my house is covered in pictures of him and I have a large portrait one on my wall to me they are a comfort as I speak to it ;)

You know, there you are going through the photos of the necklace, very nice by the way, what a good friend and then you click next and there is Woody's bum in the next shot :)
For a moment I just looked at it and then I completely cracked up laughing. Some how it just seems so very Woody appropriate.

huggers
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

The necklace is very sweet Tracy, a treasure indeed. How has your day gone today? Hope it was a good one for you xxxx

I'm not too bad, had a really bad headache yesterday then a nose bleed think it could just be like a stress headache. Feel better today. I'm going for Woody on Saturday and mum is coming with me for company I guess it's a bit of closure when he comes home don't half miss the little guy, my niece txt me some pictures of him that she took at some of his hospital appointments and he looks so well in them hard to believe sometimes that he's gone😥

We still have rain but not as bad I'm managing to get a walk done In-between the down pours, so getting some fresh air

Nothing worse than headaches, you might be like Valerie and getting a bleeding nose from the dry air as I would imagine your heating is cranked up right now with that stink weather your having. The fresh air on the walks is good for you so glad you can get out between the rainy bits!

We will all welcome Woody home on Saturday, back where he belongs. Nice your Mum is going with you, how is she doing since her surgery?

Mums doing not too bad, she still gets a pain from the eye but the surgeon said she would. I try and be happy when I'm round her as I know she worrys about me, but I know she can tell lol. I'm enjoying getting out and about walks again helps clear my head :p

Of course she can tell, she's your Mum they have the uncanny ability to tell when their kids are fibbing about how they feel :) Hope that pain goes away for her soon.

I need bed Tracy, nearly midnight and have busy day tomorrow, Thursday and Friday are my busiest of the week usually so better get some sleep!! See you soon and have a good day xxxx

Hey you

I am lurking supposed to be doing a report which I swear I already started but can't find now. Work has been very busy the last few days which is why I haven't been about.

Pleased to read your mum is going with you on Saturday.

It has cleared up here to the sun is out right now but no doubt that blinking rain will be back later!!

Have the agency come up with anything yet? Can you get temp jobs so you can try a few things out? Used to be a recruitment agent in my first life!

Big hug

Mel
Xxxxx

Hey Mel skiving I like that, have you got the can,t be bothered head on today :)

Yes the agency I registered with is for full time/part time and temp work as I really don,t know what I want to do. I was in management for 26 yrs and the last 8 of them were senior management in the security industry (a very male industry) but was made redundant in Jan, so took a part time job locally whilst woody was ill. Now I think its maybe time for a complete change of careers so I think I need to just take any job at the moment to make ends met until I can decide what I want to do long term. :confused:

How are you and boyce doing, I bet the holiday is a distant memory now your back at work, I just have too much time on my hands at the moment which makes the mind wander. It is sunny here today as well and I had a lovely dry and at times when the sun was out was quite warm at last could the weather be turning.

I have had it all week to be honest but deadlines are deadlines so I have done them regardless.

I now work in IT which is equally male dominated so I get that. I often joke about going to make stuff out of shells by the seaside but that may not work now after this extreme weather!!

I got this job now from a temp to perm so you never know what could crop up, like you say taking something completely different may open up new doors. I understand that mind wandering thing and the need to keep busy! Maybe you should take up a wee hobby, start cooking or baking might be in your genes as your sisters a chef :D

Ha ha I can,t cook worth a jot, if I can,t put it in the microwave or in the oven I don,t eat lol. My sister made up a cook book for easy meals all healthy made in 20 mins and its now been implemented throughout the health board anyway she gave me a copy of the book and it is so basic its funny it lists everything you need with pictures of what they are etc, and guess who tried it and failed miserably yip ME ! Its been a running joke amongst my family for years, now I buy ingredients and take them to my sister and ask her to cook them for me simples :cool:

I may need to find a hobby, maybe I could start a pet walking service as there is none in this area

Tracy:
Thinking of you and hoping you get work soon. I know you must have a lot of time on your hands now. Tipper and I will pray you get something soon. Too funny about you cooking. That is great about your sisters cook book. Blessings
Patti

So cooking is clearly out of the question :eek:

Dog walking sounds like a good idea, you could probably charge for that I think, maybe see if you could make some money that way. If you have worked in security am guessing you already have some type of clearance you can reference...

I got dragged into a call which is why I disappeared on you, things crop up unexpectantly which keeps it interesting but some days you just need a break and it rarely happens.

We haven't had any rain all day first day in forever! I think it's due back later!

Yeah Mel I have a high level of security clearance as did a lot of work for the government.

I had the lovely Ian on the phone earlier, he was asking how I was doing without Woody which I thought was very sweet of him. He offered to get his ashes transferred to my own vet save me driving so far but I declined as picking him up from where I dropped him off is another closure thing for me (silly I know). He told me he had got all the results back from the tests they did on the 18th and although they told me it was cancer the results of the FNA have confirmed that indeed it was, so I made the best decision. Woody,s official diagnosis is Gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumour, with malignant spread to the liver. He said this is very rare in animals and humans. Ian said the primary tumour was in the large intestine and so difficult to show up on a US. I asked if this kind of cancer could have caused his "cushings" symptoms and he said yes as its all part of the endocrine system in a dog, so finally I can put all this to bed now that I have my answers :eek: I have also had his last report emailed to me, as I forgot to pick it up that day and it says on it "we would recommend you consider letting Woody go" so although I knew I made the right decision it is good to have it backed up with the specialists I can stop doubting myself now. A bit of a bittersweet day but I feel calmer now if that makes sense ;)

It is good to know exactly what happened. Woody's case was such a medical mystery and now it has been resolved. In the intestine. :(

That is awful nice of Ian to check on you. He's a decent guy, that cared for Woody a lot, you can just tell.

Sending you huge hugs!