Best Weekend Ever

Last weekend was the best weekend of my whole life. I thought I would be staying with my girl's parents. We drove there and I watched as they loaded everything into my girl's dad's BIG TRUCK and expected them to drive off without me. But they didn't!!! I got to ride in the BIG TRUCK. I LOVE THE BIG TRUCK! After being in it for a long time, we drove back into some trees and my boy started setting up all this stuff.


Are you wondering what I'm looking at? No, it's not my girl taking pictures of me. It's the BIG TRUCK!!! I just couldn't wait to get back in it to go somewhere else.


And this is where somewhere else turned out to be. The beach! Wow, look at all that water.
We took a very long walk out to the end of this pier and then another long walk back to the town. I was so worn out.Do you see the sand on my nose? I wasn't expecting it to stick.

There was a nice river that fed off the lake and went along the town. Everyone liked to sit in the grassy area to watch the boats coming and going. I was so happy for the break. My tumor makes it hard to breathe sometimes when I'm panting a lot. This was a wonderful spot to rest. My girl likes this photo because she says I am making a classic Border Collie face.
Back to the campsite. This was my favorite place to hang out while while we were there. I could keep an eye on the BIG TRUCK and my people at the same time.

I'm glad I got to go on the trip. It was wonderful. This weekend should be another fun one too. Saturday is Library Day and then we are doing a special thing on Sunday with Big Brother/Big Sister at a big park. We will have a blanket and some books for little kids to sit outside and read to me. The weather is supposed to be perfect too.

Here I am!

I'm still around. Just been chilling out lately. My girl found a new lump on me. This time on my side. We've been debating whether or not to bother going to the vet about it. Either it's another cancer lump, which in that case there isn't much to be done about it since my girl said she won't make me suffer through another surgery or it's not anything to worry about. If it isn't anything then there is no point in paying the vet to tell us that.

On the bright side, my girl signed me up for another volunteer opportunity. We don't know all the details yet but it will be us and maybe some other dog/person teams going to a park with some blankets and books. Big Brothers/Big Sisters will then bring kids around to visit with us and read stories. It's August 2nd so that will be a busy weekend as I will be doing my normal reading routine at the library the day before.

Oh, one other thing. My boy and girl will be going out of town for the rest of the week so it will be quiet around here until next week. Stella is staying at my boy's parents house and I am going to stay with my girl's parents. I'm really looking forward to the vacation from Stupid Stella. I always get good food and lots of CAR RIDES while I'm there too.

CAR RIDES!

The great thing about my puffy face is that my girl has been taking me to work. I don't like her worrying so much but I love the CAR RIDES and getting to visit with her co-workers. Even if they made me wear one of the organization's t-shirts. I'm pretty enough without it. I guess I can't complain too much when it gets me lots of attention.

My girl just told me that we will be going to the library Saturday so the kids can read me stories. I was afraid that she might cancel it. The library lady said there are lots of kids signed up this week too so it should be lots of fun. I'll try to get my girl to take some good pictures to share.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'm still working on getting around to all the blogs as we've been busy this week.

Thanks!

Thank you to all the pups and kitties who have stopped by my blog and left me good wishes. It really has cheered me up. I was feeling really down this weekend since I found out there isn't much to be done about having a puffy face. At least it goes away after I wake up.

Here's a little history on my cancer for my new friends. About a year and a half ago, the vet discovered a lump on my side and on my neck. During the surgery that I was having to remove the cancer lump on my side, they attempted to remove the one on my neck but were unable to due to the location. They did a biopsy and discovered that it was thyroid cancer. They were really surprised. I guess thyroid cancer is not very common in dogs. Not long after that, I went through chemo for 6 months which really helped slow the growth. I went back for my six month check up in May. The oncologist discovered that the tumor was not only growing again but spreading. He said that there was one other type of chemo that they could try but that it only had a 50-50 chance of working. I talked it over with my boy and girl and given that it might not work, my age and the expense, we decided not to pursue it. The tumor itself doesn't really bother me. It doesn't hurt. The only problem I have is that it has spread to my lymph nodes. I get out of breath easy now, I snore a lot and now the puffiness in my face. My family and I try not to think about it too much and enjoy the CAR RIDES we have left together. My boy and girl have promised me that they will love me for the rest of my life and do whatever they can to make me happy. Including lots of treats, CAR RIDES and pettings.

I'm going to try to get a visit in to all my new friends blogs in the next couple of days. Until then, THANK YOU for the DWB and CWB love!!!!!!!

Scared

My girl woke up this morning and discovered my face is looking really big. She called the oncologist who wasn't in today and was able to speak with someone else. That doctor suggested that the tumor may be preventing the lymph nodes from draining and causing my face and neck to fill up with fluid. I have an appointment a little later at my regular vet office to see if there is anything that can be done to help me. I'm really scared.

UPDATE:
The vet did agree that my head was probably full of fluid from the lymph node not being able to drain. More than likely from how I was sleeping. It's mostly gone away now and I look normal. I'm breathing a lot better too. Unfortunately, it could very well happen again since the tumor is rather big. The vet suggested using a heat compress on my neck next time. I'm just so happy to be back to normal. My girl and boy were so worried about me.