Goodbye Miss. Butter-Scotch of Killdeer 9/23/2005-08/22/2016

 

Our sweet sweet Butterscotch has lost her battle with TCC, aka transitional cell carcinoma, a deadly form of bladder cancer.  She died just shy of her 11th birthday. We loved her till the end and will forever love and miss her.

She started a year and a half ago with recurrent bladder infections and if I had known more about TCC then, I would have taken her straight to Purdue's chief researcher and world reknowned authority on the disease. When we left the Rio Grande Valley this spring, that is where we took her and Dr. Knapp officially confirmed what our little gal was facing. They offered us chemo, etc., and we declined, opting for a more palliative medicine, but one which has shown promise against this deadly disease. We were told May 12 we could expect about 160 days, or about 5 months. But just a short three months later, she is gone.

We were camped for the weekend in Ohio with friends Tab and Deanna. On Saturday, she quit eating and couldn't pee the first half of the day. That is the big sign. . . if they can't pee, they will be in extreme pain and their kidneys fail and the fluid fills their systems. I had so worried we had waited too long, but then later in the day, she was able to pass some fluid besides just blood. She still wouldn't eat or drink and I couldn't give her the medicines that would help. Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, so I contacted our vet tech and she said to bring her in on Monday when our regular vet was working. We were 85 miles from our vet of 30 years and I am glad for that. He and his office are the most kind, compassionate people and know us and our pets very well.

We drove over Monday
in the morning and allowed Butterscotch one last attempt to pee outside. When we took her in she seemed scared, something she never is at the vets. I held her for some time and then put her up on the table. I continued to hold her and we put Duchess up on the table with her. Nathan, the newest vet in the practice came in and talked with us at length. Such a kind man. He went through school when I taught at New Castle, but I didn't have him. He gave Butterscotch a sedation shot which really put her at ease. . . not asleep, but no more pain. She was laying on her side and Duchess put her head very close to Butterscotch's muzzle and kept it there. I truly think she was trying to understand what was happening. She had to know she wasn't well. They had not walked together for months, because Butterscotch could not walk any distance. Dr. Wisecup came in a delivered the shot in her hind leg so as not to disturb Duchess' vigil over her friend. Then she was gone.

We've had to do this with all but one of our dogs and it is never easy. Even when we know it is the right thing to do. Dr. Wisecup says that ending our pet's suffering is the final act of love we can do for them and I believe that. It would not have been long before her systems would have shut down and I didn't want to wait for that to happen. That becomes an emergency and then we would not have been able to make the two hour trip to our long-time vet. He will be cremating her and scattering her ashes around his apple trees. All my dogs are there so they are all together.

Butterscotch and Duchess lived most of their lives in West Virginia on a farm. They chased every rodent known to man and killed as many as they could. I know there was a skunk they got and a large ground hog. There were five Scotties running free and doing the job they were bred for. We got the girls just three years ago. They retired and spent their time traveling with us in our motorhome. They regularly visit Virginia, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. In the summer they spend time in Indiana and loved their special visits with my Mom and Dad.

By having Duchess there with Butterscotch at the end we are hoping to avoid the kinds of anxiety and other problems we had with Neal after Bailey died. So far Duchess seems to be doing okay. She and Butterscotch used to sleep a lot of the time, but now Duchess sits in the middle of the room and watches us, not sleeping all that much. But she doesn't seem to be anxious or nervous or anything. I know she misses her sister, they have been together since Duchess was born. We are taking good care of her and hoping she is able to get past losing her best friend.

Till next time. . .

Dale

The news is bad. . .

We drove into Purdue the next afternoon afternoon and spoke with the veterinary oncologist. Yes, they have those. He explained that while the biopsy results would not be back for a week or so, it does appear that Butterscotch's problems are multiple tumors associated with TCC. Her urethra has what he called "advanced disease" and there really is no hope that our sweet baby will escape this terrible sentence.

He talked about chemo and radiation. . . and aside from the fact that it costs a LOT of money for treatments which are about every two weeks, we do not think that is what Butterscotch would want. They cannot prolong her life and that, to us, is just dragging out her death. There is a drug, piroxicam, which has been shown to relieve a lot of the inflammation in the urethra and the bladder and make urination easier. I knew about this drug, which is an NSAID, like aspirin, and is not expensive. In fact, it has shown more promise than the chemo drugs in some cases. We opted to try this and she has been responding well to it. This is not a cure, but typically allows them to pee better which keeps them alive a bit longer.

The vet did call again when the biopsy results were in and everything was confirmed. He again talked about chemo and we again declined. The piroxicam is doing it's job. She does have good days and bad days when she seems to exhibit some pain. I give her pain pills when I think she is hurting. We will no doubt have to make a decision in the near future and help her over the Rainbow Bridge. I don't want her to suffer and if she stops peeing, we will have to move quickly. The vet said she would have about 160 days, but I think since we know she has been fighting this for a year and a half, it won't be that long. But she is dearly loved and will continue to be until then.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Butterscotch is attending Purdue!

Last Sunday we packed up from our spot at White River Campground in Cicero and drove about 68 miles to Prophetstown State Park north of Lafayette. We needed to be close to Purdue University for our sweet, sweet white Scottie who is seeing a vet researcher there.

We got settled in and watched the Nascar race and relaxed the rest of the day. Around dusk the weather reports started getting ugly and we could hear tornado sirens sounding. Tornado sirens became kind of a mainstay in Indiana after the Palm Sunday tornadoes in 1965, and I'm glad they have then. Turns out our little weather radio was on the wrong station, so we got it up and running. The forecast was nasty, but fortunately for us. . . the storm was tracking south of us. Whoo hoo. We did have some rain, but no wind, hail or tornadoes. Always glad when a plan comes together!

Yesterday we drove into Purdue for Butterscotch's 9:30 appointment. There is a veterinary researcher who is studying TCC, transitional cell carcinoma, aka bladder cancer in the Scottish Terrier. When I had inquired of a vet friend earlier in the year, she told me I needed to take Butterscotch there because there was no better authority on the condition and it appears Butterscotch may have TCC.

We were taken in very quickly and a vet tech examined Butterscotch and did a history. Then she took Butterscotch back to have the vet researcher examine her. She did an ultrasound and some time later came in to talk with us about our sweet dog.

First, she talked about how sweet she is. Butterscotch is the calmest dog I have ever met. She never gets excited or scared about anything and is just so mellow. She lets anyone manipulate her and never objects. The ultrasound revealed tissue in the urethra and lumps in the bladder. Dr. Knapp is unsure if what's in the urethra is cancer or a stone, but whatever it is, it is large enough to be causing problems with her urination. She wanted to keep her overnight and do some x-rays and bloodwork and then perform a cystoscopy today. We hate leaving our girlie, but Neisa, the vet tech, was personally responsible for her and she said she would take very good care of her.

Neisa even called later to tell us they had already done the x-rays and that everything looked good. . . there appears to be no metastasis which is great news. Dr. Knapp did say that if Butterscotch has TCC, she didn't read the book. In other words, it is not acting like cancer and with her having had this for a year and a half, she should have already succumbed to the disease. Plus the fact that it hasn't appeared to spread. . . so she's not saying for sure that it is cancer.

So what is it? Well, there is the possibility that she has more bladder stones and more infection. We do know that keeping her on antibiotics keeps her peeing pretty well, so one could hope that we are dealing with something other than TCC.

Today the procedure is at 9:30 and she will be scoping and taking biopsies of anything suspicious. She also hopes to remove the stone or tissue in the urethra that she sees if it is possible. Many times the cancers have blood supplies, so removing large amounts of tissue is just not possible. It would cause bleeding.

So we wait today. Duchess is doing well. We are taking her on more and longer walks than she has been getting. Since Butterscotch is so slow these days, Duchess doesn't get the exercise she should so we are getting her out more.

This campground north of Lafayette is called Prophetstown State Park and is Indiana's newest state park. It is quite nice. There are several loops and the one we are in is full hookup and 50 amp. We are in a pull through site which is very spacious. Most of the sites have a lot of trees and shrubbery on the sides which block the next campsites from view. Very private feeling. There are only four of us here right now including the camp host, so we are having very quiet times. It is very dark at night with no lighting, but very peaceful.

There is a pioneer farm here at Prophetstown proper and an Indian village which we will check out today. "The Prophet" was Tecumseh's brother. More information can be found on these Indian warriors and the role they played in the wars against the settlers by googling their names. Tecumseh was the leader of the Shawnee and united tribes against the expansion of the white settlers in the area. He also aligned his people with the British in the War of 1812.

We took a brief drive the other night to find where we had to go this morning. We also drove north to the Tippecanoe Battleground and snapped a picture of this monument. We also drove out to see where Wolf Park is located. It's not open now except on Saturday (howl) night.

We will stay here another night and see how Butterscotch does after her procedure today. We will probably have to return next week when the test results are all in. We will then have some decisions to make about the course of her treatment from that point on.

Wish us and Butterscotch well today!

Till next time. . .

Dale

And they call the wind. . . Mariah!

Yeah, well, Mariah is a witch, that's for sure. We have been having wind for several days now and it is stronger than ever. . . and relentless. It just blows and blows. . . yes, it really blows! LOL According to the weather report, we are having winds of 20 mph with gusts of 39. Well, I'm telling you, it is gusting ALL the time and it's probably more than 39. Motorhomes have heavy doors and when we open it, we have to struggle to get it open. The wind has been from the E, SE all day so it tries to blow the door shut when we open it. It is annoying, but we will survive!

We are getting ready to leave. It's hard to believe it's that time of year again, but it is! We are leaving Saturday or Sunday, depending on Butterscotch. She has to have a second cystoscopy on Friday and I'm not sure she would be able to travel on Saturday. The last time she had one, she was in some discomfort the day following, so we want to take care of her. We don't plan to go too far though the first night and the roads are good. We would want to stage the run through Houston on Sunday morning.

When we started planning our exit from the valley this year, we decided to leave a month earlier than we usually do so that we could stop and see many friends along the way. We always like to visit with our friends, but don't often get the chance, so we planned to do that this year. Now with these new developments with Butterscotch, we are leaving two weeks later than we had planned. So that meant we had to cut out some stops. Then we discovered that our daughter is going to need some help with her kids the end of March, so for us to leave the valley, drive to Florida to see our son and his family and make it to Virginia by March 31, we are going to have to pretty much cut out seeing anyone. It wasn't what we planned originally, but family comes first and I hope that everyone understands that. We feel fortunate that we are mobile and able to help when we can. Hopefully we can visit all our friends another time, but my kids and grandkids will always come first. We normally only get to see them twice a year and I won't skimp on that. And when they need help, we want to be there.

We have been busy for the last two weeks getting things in order for leaving. We also plan to set Mom and Dad's place up again. Since no one was in there this winter, we plan to treat the traps again, adding some water and antifreeze to keep seals from drying out.

We have one more jam to attend. . . the one at Casa Del Valle over in Alamo. Our friend Danny plays there and he is so good. He has a rock band back in Illinois, and we hope to go over this summer and listen to them play.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Valley Time!

We've had a good winter here in the Rio Grande Valley. The weather has been far better than the last two years. Those years we couldn't string together five days of decent weather. Now our "cold fronts" that come through bring mid-70's temps, so we are good to go. We have had some hot days and one that rumored to hit the 100 degree mark. I saw 95* myself.

We try to walk every day. We do it early in the morning before it gets too hot. We walk about 2.2 miles. Then we try to ride bikes every afternoon, but it has been really windy for several days rights now, so we haven't ridden much. Every day we walk past Tigger's house. Tigger is this huge cat that loves people. If he is in the back of the lot and I call him, he meows and comes running. I always pet him if he's out. Many other walkers do the same. Some feed him treats, but Tigger doesn't need anymore, so I just pet him. He is pretty cool for a cat.

We have been going to some shows down here. They have "Wintertainers." There has only been one we went to that was pretty lousy. The singer wasn't bad, but the people playing with her were out of tune and terrible, so we left during the break of that one. One we really enjoyed was Adam Pope. He is "rockabilly" and really good. His material is all original and he talks a bit about his music. We saw him twice, at our park and a neighboring park.

Our friends, Danny and Sandy, returned this winter and Danny has been playing at some of the jams in the area. Rock and  roll jams that is. He is really good and has a rock band back in Illinois. We may go see his band this summer.

There is also another couple who arrived last month across the street from us and we have enjoyed visiting with them. They are all coming back next year as well. We are going to be having quite a few new people in the park next year. After several years of properties for sale and not selling, we have enjoyed a period of increased sales. It will be good to have some new people in the park.

Butterscotch, our white Scottish Terrier, has had a rough year. She has bladder issues, but we finally found a vet down here who is interested in finding her problems and getting to the bottom of it. We believe he has found what's ailing her, but there isn't a great prognosis. She develops bladder stones, so we changed her diet. She has a malformation in her genital tract which makes it difficult and slow emptying her bladder. That by itself can cause infection to develop, so she will probably have to remain on antibiotics for the rest of her life. The good news is there wasn't any evidence of cancer, so we are thankful for that. She just doesn't have any energy though and doesn't want to walk, etc. She sleeps a lot. She goes back Friday for another cystoscopy to see if there are any visible changes. Wish us luck. We love her and her sister so much.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Some of my favorites!

As I reminisce on the last week and look back over pictures, I am enjoying the love and comfort my family gives me. Surround yourselves with your loved ones while you can.

Ronan and Grandma Dale going for a ride. His one word he used multiple times to describe the ride was "AWESOME!"

My 90 year old Mom and Aenea at 3, her great grandaughter, 87 years difference in their ages.

My Dad, also 90.

Butterscotch and Duchess, both 9 years old.

 

The love of my life, Terry.

 Till next time. . .

Dale

How do they know?

Yesterday my sweet, sweet girl, Duchess, our black Scottie, tore a toenail on her front paw on the threshold coming in the back door at the house. Poor thing. I heard commotion at the back door, but knew Terry was there. When Duchess got into the kitchen she was bleeding profusely and before long the kitchen looked like a crime scene from NCIS. I ran for the door at the far end of the room and got it shut before she could get onto the carpet in the living room. Fortunately the bleeding stopped quickly and I got her paw cleaned up. I called the vet and got an appointment for later in the day.

As the day wore on, I figured I jumped the gun on the vet, but I sure didn't want the paw to get infected, so we did take her in for the appointment. Good thing. They had thought they might have to remove the nail which did not sound like a fun process; but as it was, it didn't need it as long as it doesn't tear further or start to swell. The nail is cracked and it tore the quick underneath which was the source of the blood. The doctor put her on pain meds and antibiotics for 10 days. She did say it was hurting her, but said she is a very brave dog. She was very good for the vet and she

came in and just talked to us and petted her afterward.

She woke up crying once during the night but settled back down quickly. Now this morning, they have been out for their morning walk and it's clear her paw is bothering her. So where is Butterscotch? Laying right beside her on the same cushion. We could certainly learn a bit from our pets. Without words or any obviously communication, Butterscotch is comforting Duchess in her own way. They are the sweetest dogs. We love them so much.


Till next time. . .

Dale

Grandkids meet new Scotties!

Yesterday we went in to see the kids and ended up shopping at various places with Jocelyn and Ronan. We got MORE stuff we don't need or have room for. . . . this has GOT to end. The good news is that we are eating up a lot of leftovers and eating pretty well. Prior to getting here, we had made some dishes up with extra so we would have some decent meals that could be reheated quickly. That seems to be working out for us. Yesterday at World Market we got Terry's "almost" sodium free pizza crusts. We both love pizza, but that is what sent him to the hospital the last time (3 years ago) due to sodium overload, so we are extremely careful with any food now. We count every milligram of sodium for him. We still do pizza, but it is a different version that most people. Still, it can be very good and actually healthy!

Once we got back, we headed back to camp because we had left the girls for five hours and we are trying not to go over four. But they were very good girls and got an extra treat and a nice long walk when we arrived. Camp had filled up while we were gone and the game people are here. UVA plays Clemson this weekend for their homecoming game and the camp will be totally full. Lots of campfires, etc.

Later the kids came out because they wanted to meet the Butterscotch and Duchess. I knew they would be a hit and I wasn't disappointed. Butterscotch wants everyone to pet her and wants on everyone's lap. Once Jocelyn's lap was free of kids, Butterscotch moved in. She didn't waste any time! LOL Aenea loved Butterscotch and Butterscotch got a lick in or two. Aenea wasn't quite sure about that, but she survived! Even Ironman paid a visit!

Duchess is not the social butterfly that Butterscotch is, but she still got a lot of loving from everyone. Jocelyn had brought popcorn, so the dogs were into that. We didn't "feed" them, but there was an occasional kernal "dropped" so they got a good taste.

Today we are all going to a fall apple festival south of town. We will drive separately as it is down the road from where we are camped. It should be fun and may be able to buy a few apples or cider.

Till next time. . . 

Dale

Butterscotch and Duchess!

Just a picture of each. More to come! Butterscotch is the wheaton Scottie and Duchess is the black!

Till next time. . .

Dale

News!

We spent Sunday with the kids again as that was our last day in Charlottesville. It is sad to leave this time as the grandkids are so entertaining and fun to be around. We really enjoyed our time with them. Later in the afternoon, we went back out to the camp and took Ronan with us. He wanted to ride in the motorhome. He always likes to do that and got to ride in Phaeton Place when he was younger.

Ronan and I went to the playground, hiked the nature trail to the pond and then returned to the motorhome for supper. Afterwards Terry and I took Ronan back to the ball court and bounced balls back and forth. We eventually made it back to the motorhome and were later joined by Jocelyn, Tom and Aenea. We visited more and then we said our goodbyes and they left.

This morning we were up bright and early because we had something special in store for us. Last spring I met a man at an RV Resort. He had a Scottish Terrier. We talked and I told him about our Scotties who are now gone. It happens that he has five and was looking for good homes in which to "re-home" two of them. Long story short, we met him today and we now have two Scottish Terriers traveling with us in the motorhome. It's a wee bit crowded in MinnieMee, but we are managing.

Duchess is a black female Scottie. She is a cutie and seems more assured of herself. Butterscotch is a wheaton Scottie and a real lover. I think they are a little confused about the changeover, but they are already so loved, they will hopefully enjoy their new life. We certainly enjoy having them. We had only 100 miles to go after picking them up, so we have been taking them for walks and pampering them. Tomorrow we will be back at the house so they will have a little more room to roam.

I will get some pictures posted soon. They are sleeping right now. . . on both ends of the couch. Not sure what sleeping arrangements will look like tonight, but we will manage. I do have a picture on Facebook.

Till next time. . .

Dale