and today i have mostly been...

[Doggy]

Great idea to take pictures of all the chases etc. for future reference.

Sorry to hear about Betty, even if she has had a good innings it's still painful to face the inevitable decision.

[LucyAnderson2016]

ouch, hope your back improves. I had an MRI once -scary sstuff!

[steve_earwig]

reat idea to take pictures of all the chases etc. for future reference.

They don't really show a lot, I think it'll be better once the tubes are in, much more obvious. One thing I did notice is, due to the hight of some of the walls, the chases are going in right where you'd want to bang a nail in to hang a picture...

Sorry to hear about Betty, even if she has had a good innings it's still painful to face the inevitable decision.

Thanks, I thought maybe things were looking up when she started peeing but she's still not looking too good, eaten almost nothing and threw up a couple of times. T'wife will be at work tomorrow morning, when I next need to take Betty to the vet's, and I hope I don't have to make any big decisions without her. Partly because Betty is her dog but mostly because I'm a big, fat coward.

[Welly]

Sorry I missed this about Betty, really sorry to hear this. Is Betty the one retriever you have left now? sorry I can't recall if you had 2 or 3 there?

It is a sad time and another indication, if you don't mind me saying, of how quick the years pass us by

[steve_earwig]

We still have the other daughter, Mary. WE'RE just back from the vet's, apparently she's doing better so another infusion and more injections and she's back home. She's still not eating much, Mirela says give her something she loves, she usually loves cat food but I tried and she turned her nose up, however I was cutting up pig's liver for their supper and she had some of that (wish I'd left more for her but I'm not sure if it's too rich or something).

I had to sit with her on a table for almost 2 hours, after a while it occurred to me that if I'd brought a bush with me I could have brushed her, she loves that. And then it occurred to me our vet also does grooming An hour or so being brushed, she calmed right down let me tell you.

[Doggy]

Well done. I guess some extra grooming won't do any harm, you'll be glad you did it.

[Welly]

Some positive news there I hope.

And for balance:

Citroen Specialist rings me: We've got everything stripped down to do your Cambelt and the tech says your Water Pump is befookered, would you like it replacing "while he's down there"?

Me: err, I would have normally told you to change the pump but its only done 33K miles so thought it wouldn't need one I guess you'd better replace it then.

CS: That's be a further £92.00 then.

Wife (who is using the Volvo of doom): "your car wont lovk, I'm pressing the button but the drivers door wont lock"

Me: sh*t I forgot to show you. It's ok take the little metal key out of the key fob and lock it manually.

Wife: eh? what key? it's raining and I'm late for my appointment, what do you mean?

Me: you slide the little tab over and it releases the......err....look just leave it.

Wife: what?

Me: shut the door, press the button and walk away.

Wife: it's not locked.

Me: I don't care just walk away from it.


later..........

Wife: the lights are flashing I just got back in the car.

Me: did you 'unlock' the car when you approached?

Wife: it wasn't locked you said leave it.

Me: Urggghh...

[steve_earwig]

Some positive news there I hope.

We are prolonging the inevitable but, so long as she's not in any pain, we can keep her going. Food seems to be the biggest issue right now, unfortunately the pig's liver reappeared after an hour so t'wife boiled some chicken, I'm not sure how much she ate but I can't see it anywhere.

Does the Volvo lock itself after a few minutes whichever button you press, like wot the yoyos does? That can be rather annoying when you're carrying a load of stuff - unlock car, grab stuff, reach for handle >clunk!< drop everything

[Welly]

It will lock itself if you 'unlock' it but don't actually open a door it will just lock again by itself.

My problem is the drivers mechanism is sticky so that door doesn't actually lock sometimes.

[steve_earwig]

Spray her, sorry, it with WD?

Bad news on Betty, I took her in again at 9 this morning for another infusion. Towards the end Mirela had some spare time so she wheeled in the unltrasound machine again to have a good look at Betty's internals. Mirela just couldn't find her right kidney, she kept coming across something that looks curiously like a button - is that her kidney? Further along and her liver is much bigger than it should be (it should stop where the ribs end so it's hard to see). She could see an odd shape on it so she turned on the machine's Doppler, whereupon it stared going red-blue, red-blue. Tumours need a lot of blood.

So Betty got another infusion, this time of glucose, and now she's home and probably won't need to go back for now unless she starts vomiting. It's hard to know if this is the right thing to do, she doesn't seem to be in any pain, just very tired. And she still won't eat, so she'll go downhill fast once she's used up the glucose.

We didn't get back until 1:20pm, which, with everything else I had to do, was my lunch out the window. That's just unfortunate but I can eat any time, whereas I don't have much time left to brush Betty.

[Welly]

I think all you can do is spend all of your time with Betty and continue caring as you are doing, she couldn't be in better hands from where I'm sitting.

[steve_earwig]

As much time as I can anyway, between helping the electrician, carting off wheelbarrows full of rubble... She was shivering out on the terrace fist thing, wouldn't come in so I got a couple of blankets, put her on one and covered her with the other and she was under that for an hour or so. Then, unfortunately, the electrician needed to cut the channel for the main power cables, she's pretty deaf these days but the house was shaking, so in she rushed still wearing a blanket. So I brushed her until he was done.

I've been giving her raw pig's liver this morning, it's the only thing she wants to eat. I tried with it yesterday but I probably gave her too much as she threw it up, so I'm giving it to her a few small pieces at a time and, touch wood, it's staying put. It's only been enough to maybe fill a small cat's bowl but that's the most she's eaten and managed to keep down since Monday.

[Doggy]

Milk sometimes works, but I guess you've tried that?
Feel for you, I know how difficult it is.

[lozz]

Hi Steve.
Sorry to hear Betty is poorly ..ihope she gets better soon..
As for the building work..perhaps switching on the radio for her might
Help. Dogs seem to like classical music.

[steve_earwig]

I'm afraid Betty won't get better, her kidneys are failing and she has a tumour on her liver. She's not eating very much but seems ok otherwise, quite happy to lie on the terrace and watch the world go by or fall asleep being brushed. I really hope we're not being selfish, she really doesn't seem to be in any pain, but when the time comes our vet is only 10 minutes away.

I'd have to turn the music up to 11 to drown this racket out, it only went on for half an hour or so and she was ok while I was brushing her.