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

New and Old Projects

I am still working on taxes. Thought I would be done by now, but I switched to doing a lot of stuff on line and found that when I needed the records, I didn't have them. I am still a fan of paper, but trying to cut down a lot. I have everything organized now and planning on getting it in the spreadsheet tomorrow. So it is going to be finished shortly. I don't have any of our tax papers from employers, etc., so I will be waiting till I get all that to finish.

We wanted to put a back seat on the golf cart so we could all go for a ride. It is only a two-seater, so that means that we cannot all go out for a ride, or to see Christmas lights, etc. Terry ordered all the parts and put those on today. It wasn't a hard job, but he had to take some stuff off and put new stuff on. One of the neighbors came over and helped a bit. It looks a lot different now and the back seat folds down to make a platform for carrying stuff. That will be useful for those park sale days they have down here.

My sister had surgery today to correct her bunions. She had both feet repaired and hopefully she will be out of pain now. At least once it heals. I understand she is a bit miserable tonight. I hope mine never get bad enough to require surgery.

Prayers go out to the family of the young man killed at Purdue. We have a lot of ties to Purdue. . . our son is a graduate, many of my nieces are graduates and my one niece's husband is an alum plus he is employed there in a building next to where the shooting occurred. It was a senseless, tragic, loss of life.

Our weather continues to be a roller coaster. One day warm, next day cold. Right now we are having cool, sunny days and cold nights. Hopefully it will get warmer one of these days and then we can enjoy it.

Till next time. . .

Dale