Sucky Summer So Far
Somewhere near the end of April, we were at the campground in our new camper when I noticed my dog's nose running with some red tint in it. Once home, a quick look online showed that it wasn't nothing or a semi-usual occurrence. It was something one should see his vet about.
A course of antibiotics showed it wasn't an infection. So there was an X-ray and a check for a dental problem. Once the x-ray was done, there was no reason to do the dental check. The x-ray showed a mass in my dog's right nostril/sinus area. The inexpensive options exhausted, it was time for a rhinoscopy and biopsy at a different center (CARES - Center for Animal Referral and Emergency Services). Yes, a camera up my dog's nose, and also up through the back of the throat followed by a grabbing of tissue. At the same time, my daughter was finishing up first grade, and my son finishing up kindergarten. And not on the same scale, but our new soccer team, which I bought season tickets to, was finally playing at home.
The first biopsy didn't take because disturbing the mass just made it angry and it bled. Rather a lot, I am led to believe. The doctor was still fairly sure the mass was malignant, because it is exceedingly rare for these things to be benign. A second biopsy showed a tentative diagnosis of chondrosarcoma. Having already been fairly sure something like that was the case, Matthew Ryan Vet Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania had already been consulted. Lucky for us, they had recently put in the radiation treatment center, else we'd have had to worry about how to get to Red Branch, New Jersey and everything about getting dog and kids and all back and forth. Not to mention Jay and Silent Bob.
In the meantime, the kids get out of school and we get a new pool for the backyard. Also, at about the time we bought our trailer in April, we got new landscaping across the front of our house because it was pure crap before. And then it was summer. And by that I mean we hit 90 degrees and haven't come down much below that since the middle of June. But I can handle some heat. Unfortunately, the humidity came with it. That, I don't handle too well. I think my exact words are, "Hate it." Also, somewhere around here, I find that the inside edges of both front tires on my Blazer are nearly bald. Weeds growing in new landscaping.
So, consultation and examination at Ryan with Oncologist with talks about a study being done that would pay for the treatment (whether palliative or full course) and a show of the worst case scenarios for treatment side effects. Oy. While we are still trying to process that information, Philadelphia has the hottest most humid three day stretch in 20 years on July 4-5-6, and the 7th wasn't any great shakes either. We come home from the campground on the 5th (Monday) and it feels ... strange sleeping for me. Don't know why at the time. Tuesday the 6th, late afternoon, we drop my Blazer off at the mechanics for them to work on Wednesday, also the day for Sam to get her CT scan for setting up the plan for her treatment. Weeds filling in blank spots in new landscaping.
When I get home, I notice out of the corner of my eye at one point, that the thermostat reads 78, which I realize is strange because I have the AC set to 74, on the hottest day of the friggin' year. That's right, folks. Our compressor died on the three hottest days in 20 years in this area. Not only that, but somehow, the condensation the air handler takes out of the air seems to have landed all over my basement floor, including running into the carpet tiles I put in the finished area. Great. Just great. Did I mention that the handler and the compressor are only three years old?
Call the place that put it in, guy comes out and says capacitor is shot, and it does, in fact, look like a full soda can that has been left in the freezer. But that doesn't fix the problem. Fan motor also shot. Will call in the morning to come fix it. After a shitty night sleeping, I take Sam to Ryan for CT scan and find out when I get home that fan motor not available until next day. Before I can get too depressed, wife has beautiful idea -- new camper has AC. Luckily, she is on vacation. All we have to do is wait for my car to be fixed and Sam's CT to be done. Mechanic calls, Blazer not only needs new tires and alignment (which we knew), it also needs left upper and lower ball joints. Goody. Somehow, everything gets done and we get to the campground.
That night may have been one of my best night's sleep EVAH.
I drive back down Thursday so they can repair the compressor fan motor. Yay, it works, and I drive back up. Sam wakes up at 3 am Friday morning panting to go out, and we realize that on top of everything else, she picked up a UTI. Luckily, there are some antibiotics at our house from the nosebleed situation. Wife runs home, yes at 3 am, and back with pills to help Sam. This is probably where I start to realize this summer is starting to suck.
The Union has a home game late Saturday, so we come home then to find there is still water in the basement, more water to be exact. Guy comes back Monday to check out condensate pump, blows out drain pipe which seems to work. Note the use of the word "seems" in that sentence. Also, wife and I have a few difficult short discussions about whether we should do palliative or full course radiation for our 13.5 year old dog, because these discussions are just fucking tough. Finally we decide on full course, probably because though I didn't mean to be, I was a dick thinking that my dog was going to die of cancer rather than old age. We get a start date for treatment of Aug 2.
Weeds had gotten so bad in new landscaping that when the guy who put in said landscaping drove by and saw them, he sent guys out to pull all the weeds. Meanwhile, despite watering, the heat, humidity, and lack of rainfall may have killed the trees in the new landscaping.
Also, my wife's car starts acting up, which isn't too surprising since it is 13 years old, and as I think of adding this, I just now realize that we got the dog(s) and the car the same year. 1997. Also also, the water isn't leaving the basement like it should if no more is being added to it. Yet another call to the heating/cooling place who on this trip says to make sure it isn't just the standing water moving to the lowest point as water is wont to do. Launder the towels, use the wet vac, use a mop, get most of the water up. AC runs, more water leaks to the floor. Yay, there'a still a problem with my AC during the hottest summer in twenty years.
Last week (Monday), we buy a new car for my wife. It's a great car. Very peppy in the engine, great sound system. But it takes a few hours to buy a car, and the kids don't really handle a few hours of nothing well. So there is antsy-ness. And a little crankiness. But we finally get to bring the car home.
Tuesday, I get a call that they can start Sam's treatment on Wednesday if we are able. I jump on that because Monday night, Sam has an episode of sneezing, snorting and snuffling that made it look like she and Sarah had a knife fight in our front hall. Wednesday is a long day. She is in by 8 am and I don't get to pick her up until 7:30 pm. Thursday, after dropping off Sam, I call heating/cooling again because I have now dried the basement, but new water leaks out when the unit (I said unit) runs. Set up appointment for Friday morning.
I admit that I didn't expect Sam to be as groggy as she was. She did have two longer days to get everything set up (the SVAP, the dental check-up, the treatments themselves, etc), and she was better Friday night after her shortest session. We are feeding her boiled chicken and rice since her food is probably not that interesting while she is groggy. Also, our pool water turned green when those who mow our lawn unplugged the filter pump. Mixed blessing -- at least they didn't just mow over the cord.
A cookout was planned for this past Saturday (7/31) a couple weeks ago. My sister, brother-in-law and kids, my parents, other family friends all at the campground to have a good time. Friday, the heating/cooling guy says I must have a cracked coil in the unit (I said unit again), it needs to be replaced. (Can anyone see what's coming?) He'll send guys out Saturday. Family thing, says I, maybe Monday? New install of air handler, compressor and ductwork says he -- Saturday or long wait. Guys will be at house between 8 and 10, should be done by 1. 'Not too bad,' thinks I. I is a fool.
Family to campground Friday night. Me home by 7:30 Saturday morn. Guys show up at 9:57. Finish up at 2:45. I get back to campground at 4. See my dad for 20 minutes. See my sister and Renee and Dave for an hour and a half. Home today to a dry basement.
August contains 15 more treatments over three weeks for my dog. And just as that starts wrapping up, it's time get the kids ready for school again.
A course of antibiotics showed it wasn't an infection. So there was an X-ray and a check for a dental problem. Once the x-ray was done, there was no reason to do the dental check. The x-ray showed a mass in my dog's right nostril/sinus area. The inexpensive options exhausted, it was time for a rhinoscopy and biopsy at a different center (CARES - Center for Animal Referral and Emergency Services). Yes, a camera up my dog's nose, and also up through the back of the throat followed by a grabbing of tissue. At the same time, my daughter was finishing up first grade, and my son finishing up kindergarten. And not on the same scale, but our new soccer team, which I bought season tickets to, was finally playing at home.
The first biopsy didn't take because disturbing the mass just made it angry and it bled. Rather a lot, I am led to believe. The doctor was still fairly sure the mass was malignant, because it is exceedingly rare for these things to be benign. A second biopsy showed a tentative diagnosis of chondrosarcoma. Having already been fairly sure something like that was the case, Matthew Ryan Vet Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania had already been consulted. Lucky for us, they had recently put in the radiation treatment center, else we'd have had to worry about how to get to Red Branch, New Jersey and everything about getting dog and kids and all back and forth. Not to mention Jay and Silent Bob.
In the meantime, the kids get out of school and we get a new pool for the backyard. Also, at about the time we bought our trailer in April, we got new landscaping across the front of our house because it was pure crap before. And then it was summer. And by that I mean we hit 90 degrees and haven't come down much below that since the middle of June. But I can handle some heat. Unfortunately, the humidity came with it. That, I don't handle too well. I think my exact words are, "Hate it." Also, somewhere around here, I find that the inside edges of both front tires on my Blazer are nearly bald. Weeds growing in new landscaping.
So, consultation and examination at Ryan with Oncologist with talks about a study being done that would pay for the treatment (whether palliative or full course) and a show of the worst case scenarios for treatment side effects. Oy. While we are still trying to process that information, Philadelphia has the hottest most humid three day stretch in 20 years on July 4-5-6, and the 7th wasn't any great shakes either. We come home from the campground on the 5th (Monday) and it feels ... strange sleeping for me. Don't know why at the time. Tuesday the 6th, late afternoon, we drop my Blazer off at the mechanics for them to work on Wednesday, also the day for Sam to get her CT scan for setting up the plan for her treatment. Weeds filling in blank spots in new landscaping.
When I get home, I notice out of the corner of my eye at one point, that the thermostat reads 78, which I realize is strange because I have the AC set to 74, on the hottest day of the friggin' year. That's right, folks. Our compressor died on the three hottest days in 20 years in this area. Not only that, but somehow, the condensation the air handler takes out of the air seems to have landed all over my basement floor, including running into the carpet tiles I put in the finished area. Great. Just great. Did I mention that the handler and the compressor are only three years old?
Call the place that put it in, guy comes out and says capacitor is shot, and it does, in fact, look like a full soda can that has been left in the freezer. But that doesn't fix the problem. Fan motor also shot. Will call in the morning to come fix it. After a shitty night sleeping, I take Sam to Ryan for CT scan and find out when I get home that fan motor not available until next day. Before I can get too depressed, wife has beautiful idea -- new camper has AC. Luckily, she is on vacation. All we have to do is wait for my car to be fixed and Sam's CT to be done. Mechanic calls, Blazer not only needs new tires and alignment (which we knew), it also needs left upper and lower ball joints. Goody. Somehow, everything gets done and we get to the campground.
That night may have been one of my best night's sleep EVAH.
I drive back down Thursday so they can repair the compressor fan motor. Yay, it works, and I drive back up. Sam wakes up at 3 am Friday morning panting to go out, and we realize that on top of everything else, she picked up a UTI. Luckily, there are some antibiotics at our house from the nosebleed situation. Wife runs home, yes at 3 am, and back with pills to help Sam. This is probably where I start to realize this summer is starting to suck.
The Union has a home game late Saturday, so we come home then to find there is still water in the basement, more water to be exact. Guy comes back Monday to check out condensate pump, blows out drain pipe which seems to work. Note the use of the word "seems" in that sentence. Also, wife and I have a few difficult short discussions about whether we should do palliative or full course radiation for our 13.5 year old dog, because these discussions are just fucking tough. Finally we decide on full course, probably because though I didn't mean to be, I was a dick thinking that my dog was going to die of cancer rather than old age. We get a start date for treatment of Aug 2.
Weeds had gotten so bad in new landscaping that when the guy who put in said landscaping drove by and saw them, he sent guys out to pull all the weeds. Meanwhile, despite watering, the heat, humidity, and lack of rainfall may have killed the trees in the new landscaping.
Also, my wife's car starts acting up, which isn't too surprising since it is 13 years old, and as I think of adding this, I just now realize that we got the dog(s) and the car the same year. 1997. Also also, the water isn't leaving the basement like it should if no more is being added to it. Yet another call to the heating/cooling place who on this trip says to make sure it isn't just the standing water moving to the lowest point as water is wont to do. Launder the towels, use the wet vac, use a mop, get most of the water up. AC runs, more water leaks to the floor. Yay, there'a still a problem with my AC during the hottest summer in twenty years.
Last week (Monday), we buy a new car for my wife. It's a great car. Very peppy in the engine, great sound system. But it takes a few hours to buy a car, and the kids don't really handle a few hours of nothing well. So there is antsy-ness. And a little crankiness. But we finally get to bring the car home.
Tuesday, I get a call that they can start Sam's treatment on Wednesday if we are able. I jump on that because Monday night, Sam has an episode of sneezing, snorting and snuffling that made it look like she and Sarah had a knife fight in our front hall. Wednesday is a long day. She is in by 8 am and I don't get to pick her up until 7:30 pm. Thursday, after dropping off Sam, I call heating/cooling again because I have now dried the basement, but new water leaks out when the unit (I said unit) runs. Set up appointment for Friday morning.
I admit that I didn't expect Sam to be as groggy as she was. She did have two longer days to get everything set up (the SVAP, the dental check-up, the treatments themselves, etc), and she was better Friday night after her shortest session. We are feeding her boiled chicken and rice since her food is probably not that interesting while she is groggy. Also, our pool water turned green when those who mow our lawn unplugged the filter pump. Mixed blessing -- at least they didn't just mow over the cord.
A cookout was planned for this past Saturday (7/31) a couple weeks ago. My sister, brother-in-law and kids, my parents, other family friends all at the campground to have a good time. Friday, the heating/cooling guy says I must have a cracked coil in the unit (I said unit again), it needs to be replaced. (Can anyone see what's coming?) He'll send guys out Saturday. Family thing, says I, maybe Monday? New install of air handler, compressor and ductwork says he -- Saturday or long wait. Guys will be at house between 8 and 10, should be done by 1. 'Not too bad,' thinks I. I is a fool.
Family to campground Friday night. Me home by 7:30 Saturday morn. Guys show up at 9:57. Finish up at 2:45. I get back to campground at 4. See my dad for 20 minutes. See my sister and Renee and Dave for an hour and a half. Home today to a dry basement.
August contains 15 more treatments over three weeks for my dog. And just as that starts wrapping up, it's time get the kids ready for school again.