Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, you read that right!  Seven years ago today I was born!  And to celebrate, Mom broke out the party hats and tiaras.  I have been promised a trip to the Magic Cheeseburger Window this weekend, and since Abby the Not-Yet-Glowing-Doodle seems to be doing fine after her first chemo treatment, I have every confidence that this trip to the Magic Cheeseburger Window will happen!

It had better happen, Mom!  Note our enthusiasm - we are very excited about the Magic Cheeseburger Window; don't disappoint us!

 And since you can't ever go wrong with puppy photos, here are a few photos of me as a wee one.

I had mastered puppy eyes LONG before Abby mastered them!

 

Me and my little big sister and my hero, Taichi.

And a few more photos from my puppy year!

Taichi and I looking very stylish after a trip to the beauty parlour!

The wind beneath my ears!

Anti-gravity boots!

Since it's my birthday, I think you all should tell your pawrents that they should take you to your own local Magic Cheeseburger Window in celebration of my happy day!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus (who totally owes her existence to me being such a good dog!  Heehee!)

Abby's Not Glowing in the Dark Yet

I'm so disappointed!  Yesterday, Dad took Abby to the vet's office for her first chemotherapy treatment, and I was all excited for her to come home. A glow-in-the-dark sister!  How cool could that be?!?  Alas, it has not come to pass.  I watched all night, and not once did Abby glow in the dark.  She didn't even flicker!  But maybe it will take a few treatments before she starts glowing....

Heehee!

Mom has been all stressed about the chemotherapy thing (don't ask me why; Mom gets all stressed about things), so there haven't been any non-glowing photos of Abby, so I'll share some photos from last weekend.


Of course, we celebrated the 4th of July in grand style.

Happy 4th of July!  Now hand over the treats before we lose our happy faces!

For the record, the treats were NOT forthcoming in a timely manner.

Oh, NOW you break out the treats!

While we have had rain the last couple of days, last weekend, and the last couple of weeks before that were wickedly hot.  When Mom was at the animal shelter last week she noticed all the doggies frolicking in portable doggie swimming pools and get all wet and cool, and Mom thought we might like our own wading pool in which to cool off.

Um.  I think she should have consulted us before she put this great idea of hers into action.  She went to Walmart and got us a plastic wading pool.  I have No Idea what she was thinking...

"Hey, Fi.  Why did Mom stick a ball under all this water?"  "I dunno.  Maybe if we ask nicely she'll fish it out for us."

We continued to ponder the Case of the Ball in the Tub of Water.

It doesn't even do anything.  But how am I supposed to get it with all this water in the way?

I got brave and actually put one whole foot in the water.  It was very scary!

We've been watching the news with all the shark attacks - there's no WAY we're going all the way into the water - you never know what might happen!

The big tub of water did work out well as a ginormous water dish, though.

*slurp*slurp*slurp*

Abby finally got the hang of bobbing for tennis balls...

Abby even stepped all the way into the tub to get get tennis balls, but Mom was disappointed that neither of us was interested in a soak.  Um, hello.  It looks too much like a bathtub, and that problem with that is that four-letter word 'BATH'.  Now put a pond in our yard, and we'd be all over it.  But bobbing for tennis balls is kinda fun, too!

Thanks again for all the kind words and good wishes for Abby.  While she isn't glowing in the dark, she also hasn't thrown up yet, and is still perfectly happy to eat her dinner and then check to make sure I ate all of mine, so, all is good at the moment.  We'll keep you posted!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Happy Days are Here Again!

Abby's stitches have been removed, and Abby has been given the okay to return to her regularly scheduled zoomie/bouncy activities!  Thank you all for not telling her she is K-C-I-S (she can't spell backwards yet) - she doesn't have a clue, and no one here is telling her.  Mom says Abby will likely start chemotherapy in about 10 days or so - they haven't heard back on the liver/spleen results, so that will impact the level to which Abby will (or won't) glow in the dark.  But us doggies are known to handle chemo pretty well, so with luck, the summer will be filled with tennis balls and frisbees and what not!

Enough words.   Check out our return to tennis ball action!  Mom wanted Abby to start off in her jacket, just to make sure the incision site didn't get dirty.  The jacket didn't slow her down one bit!

And Mom's hope that tennis balls would keep Abby from flying through the air was quickly dashed!

Yep, it's good to be back out with the tennis balls!

Later in the afternoon, after checking to make sure Abby's twisty-turny-leaping activity hadn't done anything to the incision site, Abby was good to go coat free!

Her leggies haven't lost any of their spring!

And the ear-flappage is all in working order, too!

Mom calls this Abby's 'Dance like no one is watching' move!  Heheh!

Abby's catching skills are as sharp as ever!  Heehee!

Sisterly tennis ball time!

Abby has gone straight back to work at the Ministry of Silly Walks!

Not to worry, it wasn't the All Abby Show - although I don't blame Mom for being happy that Abby can be amused with tennis balls, and doesn't have to be doped up any more!

Are we happy about the return to tennis ball activity?  You betcha!

And it seemed to have worn a certain Hippobottomus sister of mine out!

And it made me very thirsty!

Thank you all again for all the good wishes, thoughts and prayers.  I'll make sure to keep you updated on the new about her liver and spleen, and, of course, when Abby starts her treatments to glow in the dark!  Or maybe she'll get some other nifty super power.... She can already fly, so maybe she'll get another power, like, uh, I dunno.  The Iron Man suit would be sort of cool, if it came with the soundtrack!  Heheh!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Another Update, Complete with a Translation by Mom

Hi everybody!  Fiona here.  I just wanted to give you an update on my sister, the Hippobottomus.  On Thursday Mom took Abby down to Salt Lake to see some special vet (Dr. Liz here, it was an oncologist) and after a day of tests, a shaved belly, a bunch of needle pokes and pictures of her insides, the verdict came back: she doesn't have any odd lumps or growths in her chest or belly, which is very good.   The results from the needle pokes (spleen and liver) will come back later this week, but due to some Score With a Funny Name (the Mitotic Index, which is a measure of the likelihood the tumor will return and/or metastasize; a good score is 5 or less, Abby's is 30 - but the scale goes to 100, so it could be worse), it sounds as though Abby will be given some medication at some point that will make her glow in the dark.  (Because of the chance of regrowth/metastasis, Abby will have a course of chemotherapy that should help retard the growth/spread of the cancer cells.  It is unlikely that Abby will glow in the dark.  Although if she does, you can be sure there will be pictures!)

Yeah, blah, blah, blah.  Mom has been reading all sorts of research articles (actually, I stopped, because I didn't like their survival outcome numbers), but I can assure you that neither Abby nor I have been reading any of these articles.  In fact, I even intercepted the memo that was supposed to tell Abby she was sick, and I ate it, so she doesn't know she's sick.  I'm not going to tell her, so do me a favor, and don't you tell her, either, please?

Next Saturday, Abby will go in and have her stitches removed, and we can get back to our regularly scheduled frisbee zoomies and bitey-face action.  In the meantime, we will continue to hang around the house and look pathetic - because frisbee zoomies and bitey-face isn't much fun without my sister.

Another week?!?

Another week?!?  *sigh*

 

I suppose I must just hang out in this sunbeam.

My sister is a sunbeam hog. 

I shall stare off into space and look all dramatical.

Mom, I'm bored....

Just hanging out here....

So, one more week of snoozling and then we can get back to our usual excitement.  In the meantime....

Ho-hum.

I'll keep you posted.

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the (not yet glowing in the dark) Hippobottomus

An Update and Some Photos

Fiona here!  Thank you all for all the good wishes, thoughts and prayers for Abby.  Unfortunately the report from the pathologist wasn't great; she had a grade 3 mast cell tumor removed - which, from what Mom says, means that there is a visit to the oncologist vet in Abby's future.  Apparently a grade 3 tumor can grow quickly and can metastasize, so after a minor freakout on Mom's part, she made an appointment for Abby with the oncologist this Thursday.  I'll keep you posted.   In the meantime, Abby and I are going to continue to lobby for frisbee time (but Mom says 'no' until the stitches are out) and keep going stir crazy, because honestly, chasing tennis balls without having to protect my tennis balls from my sister isn't near as much fun.

We are, however, enjoying the couch, and the light from our skylight!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus