Daja has had an adventure this week. On Tuesday mom took Daja and Tiger to the vet for their annual shots. (Taking not one, but two animals to the vet while being 8 months pregnant is not easy! Daja was bonkers as usual and Tiger would rather have been anywhere but there.) During the visit, the vet looked at a spot on Daja's back upper thigh that has been there for awhile and occasionally gets irritated. She decided to take a sample from it and determined that the spot was a Mast cell tumor.
A mast cell tumor is a tumor that is very common in dogs and are supposedly weimaraners are one of several breeds that are predisposed to them. According to the vet, the tumor was full of histamine so it likely could have been the result of allergies. The vet feels that the tumor is probably a grade one which is the lowest level and has the best results and wanted to do surgery to remove the spot.
So back we went on Wednesday for surgery. Mom dropped Daja off on her way to work. The office called after the procedure was done and said Daja was doing fine. Daja is now sporting a lovely 3.5 inch incision on her back leg. The tumor was mostly flat and only about the size of a fingertip, but they have to remove 2-3 centimeters all the way around to test and make sure the tumor cells haven't spread. The vet feels that the prognosis is very good but we have to wait a week on the results of the pathology test.
We've been trying to make Daja take it easy for the recommended five days (haha). She seems to feel fine, though, and doesn't understand why we won't let her run around! Luckily the stitches are all dissolving stitches under the skin, so we don't have to go back to have them removed. Thankfully, Daja has been excellent about leaving the incision alone, so she hasn't had to wear a lovely elizabethan collar.
One advantage of the surgery was that we had Daja's teeth cleaned. They have been telling us that she has the beginnings of some bad teeth and needed to have them cleaned. Since they were already putting her under for the surgery, it was inexpensive to add on the cleaning. She now has really pearlly whites!! It is amazing how much cleaner her teeth are! I wish my dentist could get my teeth that white!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
10 cm is HOW big??!!?
We've now started our childbirth/Lamaze class. It meets two hours every week for six weeks. Our favorite part of class is the relaxation and massage exercises at the end of class. Each week have lecture time for the first hour and a half and then we spend the last half hour learning different relaxation and massage techniques to help with labor with the lights low and soft music on. It is very relaxing!! Our teacher ends the class by reading us a children's book.
This week's class was spent touring the hospital. We toured the triage area, labor and delivery unit and then the mother and baby unit. At our hospital, you have one room for labor, delivery and recovery and then you move up to the mother and baby unit for the remainder of your stay. The hospital is a level three NICU hospital and serves Sarasota and three surrounding counties, so if a baby needs additional help once it arrives, they can take care of almost any issue right at the hospital.
During class and the tour, our teacher had an empathy belly available for the dads to try. Some of the guys had to wear it while walking around the hospital. :-) Nathan ended up wearing it back in the classroom.
Doesn't he make a lovely pregnant woman??
The belly is a thirty-five pound belly. The dark spot you see is where the belly sprung a leak during class. There were many jokes about the guys and their water breaking! I think it helped some of the dads gain a new appreciation for what the moms are going through. :-)
This week's class was spent touring the hospital. We toured the triage area, labor and delivery unit and then the mother and baby unit. At our hospital, you have one room for labor, delivery and recovery and then you move up to the mother and baby unit for the remainder of your stay. The hospital is a level three NICU hospital and serves Sarasota and three surrounding counties, so if a baby needs additional help once it arrives, they can take care of almost any issue right at the hospital.
During class and the tour, our teacher had an empathy belly available for the dads to try. Some of the guys had to wear it while walking around the hospital. :-) Nathan ended up wearing it back in the classroom.
Doesn't he make a lovely pregnant woman??
The belly is a thirty-five pound belly. The dark spot you see is where the belly sprung a leak during class. There were many jokes about the guys and their water breaking! I think it helped some of the dads gain a new appreciation for what the moms are going through. :-)
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Are You Doing Somersaults in There?
Thought for the day:
"Life is tough enough without having someone kick you from the inside" -- Rita Rudner
Yesterday evening we took Daja to the paw park.
Next to the paw park is a paved path that goes around sports fields for the middle school. Instead of going in the paw park, we decided to walk the path. It was really nice outside - nice and cool without a lot of humidity - a rare day in Sarasota, for sure.
At one point along the path we let Daja off the leash and she ran back and forth smelling all the new smells. She had a great time.
(and she slept really well last night as a result!!)
This morning we went outside and there was a giant hot air balloon right over the houses across the lake from us. The balloon came down within 10-15 feet of the water and then took off again. We're not sure why they came that low - our neighbor suggested that this was the newest way for realtors to show off a neighborhood!
They were low enough that the people in the basket could talk to people on their porches without even raising their voice. Daja didn't think too much of the hot air balloon though. She ran back and forth barking at the balloon and then when the fire went up in the balloon she took off out of the backyard and ran to the front porch where she would be "safe". What a wimp.....
"Life is tough enough without having someone kick you from the inside" -- Rita Rudner
Yesterday evening we took Daja to the paw park.
Next to the paw park is a paved path that goes around sports fields for the middle school. Instead of going in the paw park, we decided to walk the path. It was really nice outside - nice and cool without a lot of humidity - a rare day in Sarasota, for sure. 
At one point along the path we let Daja off the leash and she ran back and forth smelling all the new smells. She had a great time.
(and she slept really well last night as a result!!)
This morning we went outside and there was a giant hot air balloon right over the houses across the lake from us. The balloon came down within 10-15 feet of the water and then took off again. We're not sure why they came that low - our neighbor suggested that this was the newest way for realtors to show off a neighborhood!
They were low enough that the people in the basket could talk to people on their porches without even raising their voice. Daja didn't think too much of the hot air balloon though. She ran back and forth barking at the balloon and then when the fire went up in the balloon she took off out of the backyard and ran to the front porch where she would be "safe". What a wimp.....
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
70 days left
This past week has been a bit of a downer. Mom came down with a nasty case of the flu last Tuesday, including a fever that lasted three and a half days. Due to baby Carr, there were no medicines that could be taken other than Tylenol and Robitussin cough syrup. So after going through a couple of trashcans full of tissues, we are on the road to recovery and Dad is doing his best not to catch the crud, although he doesn't feel 100% either.
Today we had the 30 week doctor's appointment. Our OB was out of town, so we saw another doctor in the practice. Nathan was quite amused by his name - Dr. Hoertz (pronounced HURTS)!! Probably isn't the best last name for a doctor, but I guess you live with what you get. Dr. Hoertz said everything looks good - we measured right at 30 weeks, blood pressure and weight were good. I actually weighed 2 pounds less at this visit than the last, but the last appointment was an afternoon appointment, and with the bird flu this past week, I haven't had much of an appetite. Nothing to be concerned about though. The doctor said the baby is head down, so that is good news.
In order to get an epidural during labor, you have to preregister and watch a video. After the doctor's appointment today, I went and preregistered, so BRING ON THE DRUGS!! We are in countdown mode and getting excited!
Today we had the 30 week doctor's appointment. Our OB was out of town, so we saw another doctor in the practice. Nathan was quite amused by his name - Dr. Hoertz (pronounced HURTS)!! Probably isn't the best last name for a doctor, but I guess you live with what you get. Dr. Hoertz said everything looks good - we measured right at 30 weeks, blood pressure and weight were good. I actually weighed 2 pounds less at this visit than the last, but the last appointment was an afternoon appointment, and with the bird flu this past week, I haven't had much of an appetite. Nothing to be concerned about though. The doctor said the baby is head down, so that is good news.
In order to get an epidural during labor, you have to preregister and watch a video. After the doctor's appointment today, I went and preregistered, so BRING ON THE DRUGS!! We are in countdown mode and getting excited!
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