I apologize profusely for not writing in such a long time. This past 6 months plus has been a hectic one of sorts.

Just before Christmas, my dog had surgery. She was diagnosed with mammary carcinoma. They removed the malignant tumor. She is getting better, but I see her energy is still somewhat zapped. But she does seem in much better spirits since the surgery. Hopefully she recovers and bounces back completely. The good thing is, she still sings, err howls with me, and still barks at anytime she senses someone near the house- poor mailman.

I adopted her from the shelter oh about 4 years ago. She was a german shepherd mix, sitting in the corner of her cage. The people kept steering me toward the little dogs, and ones that were in “good condition.” They said she had been very neglected and abused. She was thin and bones, but still a big dog (as shepherds are). Something kept drawing me to her. She was laden with fleas, sunken eyes. She had been found with another dog, that was injured, but the injured dog got away. The people there had left 9 days or so before, so they had been without food and water that entire time.

I went home and thought about all the dogs… And went back the next day. Her time was almost up, as I think 30 days was the limit. Each day, she would inch more towards me, when on the third day she walked up to me (inside the cage), and I could tell she was grinning. We just bonded… They had puppies there, cutest little things, and other nice looking dogs, but something about her.

I told them she was the one I wanted. So the next day home she came I taught her to sit and shake, and not to sit on the couch I learned quickly she would refuse to go potty if it were raining. I also learned quickly to let her see my hand coming when going to pet her, otherwise she would put her tail between her legs and crouch down. Soon, very soon she completely trusted me, and was the gentlest creature.

When I had my daughter, she was my second pair of eyes. Protective, always keeping a watchful eye… And as my daughter grew, she put up with the torment, having blankets being put on her, innocent pulling of the tail, ear-piercing screams…

This dog was definitely meant for us.. and I hope with all the TLC, that she will regain her strength. She still plays, and will wrestle with toys, and walk around the house with my daughter, but I can see she is low on energy. I have never seen any dogs go through this, so I have no idea how long it will take her to get her energy back, if she will.

Here she is, with my son shortly after the Christmas:

(Yes, I blurred out my messy yarn pile in the back, lol).

She does have her appetite back, and she likes her new food. I now have her on IAMS, which seems healthier than the Purina she was on. She loves it.

When I first took her in to the vet, and they said it was a tumor and most likely malignant, I called my mom. I couldn’t even get it out over the phone, but between the silence I finally did. It was over the holiday to be peppy and happy, but I knew I had to be for the kids to have a good holiday. It wasn’t though until I got back that I found out the pathology results. The tumor was malignant, mammary carcinoma. It was not caught early, but was not caught late either. And now I need to keep a careful eye for any reoccurring, or the other mammary glands being cancerous. Needless to say, Skyler gets lots, lots lots of tummy rubs

Luckily, the vet took half down, and said I could pay off the rest little by little each month, which was a great relief on a designer’s income. My dad also gave me a supportive ear, calling each day to see how she was doing. And my dad is the strong, unemotional military man… My mom has sent a zillion doggy treats and biscuits- enough I could take out stock in them…

What was really, really special..and made my jaw literally fall.. is that a couple weeks later, I received a check in the mail. In the upper left was a note “for vet.” To help out  for Skyler’s surgery- from my dad. I was in disbelief… I called him.. and he said “You work very hard and I know how tight money is for you, and mostly, I know what that dog means to you.” I will never forget those words.. coming from my dad, – he really knows me.

So, time for me to get back to work I will write more on everything else that has been going on… and some tidbits about the upcoming release.. maybe I will even blog again tonight!