Second Treatment

Before every infusion they do a bunch of blood work.  His liver function levels were a bit high so the oncologist checked the protocol to see if he could postpone the treatment another week.  That couldn't be done so they gave him his treatment today but he has to go next Wednesday for another liver function test to see if he can remain in this clinical study or not.  Another hurdle.

 

On the good side, he, I should say I, found some golfing buddies and he's playing tomorrow.  People are starting to come in for the winter so hopefully he can do more of that.

Bruno's New Friend

 

There has been a stray beagle/hound here since we got here.  He started off being very scared of everything & everybody.  When we went for our walk after dinner (still light down here then), we would see him hiding in a gully or behind a tree.  The minute Bruno went towards him, he would run away.  But then we'd look back and there he'd be following us at a distance.  We noticed he was wearing a collar, but there was a big hole on the top of it like the metal piece that had the piece to hook a leash was pulled right off.  Almost like he had been tied and pulled so hard to get loose that the piece pulled right out of his collar.  As time went by he would follow us a little closer until he & Bruno finally started playing a bit, but at a distance.  Now he walks next to us.  Yesterday when Bruno went out to pee, guess who came running from down the street.  Bruno wasn't on his leach so we weren't up close, so the stray dog we call Buddy didn't feel threatened so they went through the sniffing introductions.

 

 

My turn, your turn.

 

They ran & played.  Bruno even came back in the coach to get his pillow to share.

 

 

There are people here who want him caught, but there's a handful of us who are concerned about having a dog catcher catch him, will he go to a shelter who kill their dogs after a week?  He's getting so he will take a treat out of our hand but runs real fast so we can't catch him with a rope that's been looped at the end.  You can tell he's a really nice dog.

  

 

So when Don went out with Bruno this morning for his morning duties (Bruno's, not Don's), guess who was waiting for him.

Looking for Swans

 

In our travels we have come across towns that have statues of a certain animal painted in many different ways.  Our first encounter was in March 2010 in Cherokee, N.C.  We went to the Chamber of Commerce to find out what they were all about.  Different organizations had been commissioned to paint a bear and they were to be placed at different places throughout the city.  Some were still being painted, but after a year they were to be auctioned off.  We found several bears.

 

 

Then in May 2012 in Saratoga, N.Y. we found horses.

 

 

 

That same week we found moose in Bennington, VT.  These had already been auctioned off so they were a little harder to find.  We have a friend we were visiting there who was able to help us.

 

 

In April of this year we found bears in New Bern, N.C., some were standing and some on all fours.  They also had their fire hydrants painted in interesting ways.  We saw other animals in different places but I couldn't easily find pictures.  I remember rams in Montana.

While exploring Lakeland, FL we saw swans, some with their wings up,



 

 

And some with their wings down.

 

 

Again we checked with the Chamber of Commerce and they said that they originally had 62 around the lake in the center of town but they had been auctioned off and were now scattered.  We found several.

 

 

 

We also found butterflies.  Many establishments had both the swan and the butterfly.  Some were painted.

 

 

This one looks more like it's sculptured with glass in it.

 

This one was a mosaic.  It was difficult to take a good picture, the glass sparked so much.  Some of the glass pieces were actually mirror pieces.

You can click on any of these pictures to enlarge it.

All Is Good

Wednesday was another full day.  I stayed home with the dog but Don went in for 7:45, had that test where they harvest some white blood cells to freeze and compare to the one they will take in 6 months.  That took 2 hours.  Then they took more blood for more tests.  He had his first infusion which takes 1 1/2 hours.  It was 3:00 before he got done.  He will be getting this medication every 3 weeks, 4 times.  In December he will be getting more MRI's and CT scans to see if the cancer is still growing, melanoma grows very fast.  Then in January he will get another medication through a 1 hour infusion every 2 weeks 6 times.  It has been 2 days now and he has not experienced any side effects.  They are having him watch for and report anything out of the ordinary, especially diarrhea, rash & extreme fatigue.

When his little IV bag emptied the nurse squeezed everything out.  When Don asked what she was doing she said "At $28,000 a bag, I want to make sure you get every bit of this."  Another reason  we're glad he's in a clinical trial.

Onother Day of Testing

Loads of blood tests, cardiogram, and a biopsy of the liver, busy day.  They got 5 samples.  Left home at 7:00 a.m. and never got home until 4:00 p.m.  Our friends, Paul & Joyce and their dog Casey, who are in Tittusville, an hour and a half away, came to let Bruno out and stay with him for a while.  Awesome friends, we have been lucky with friends.  Bill & Nancy babysat Bruno while we were in Maine and going to Boston, and Larry & Luci and their dogs Daizy and Patches babysat him several times too.  Everybody loves Bruno.

Only one test left, the one where they harvest white blood cells to see where his immune system is.  This will be a base line.  This will be done next Wednesday, it will take a couple of hours.  They take blood out of one arm, have it piped into a machine that takes the white blood cells out, then the blood goes back into the other arm.  I believe his first infusion will be the same day.

Hoping for the weather to cool down, it gets really hot in my "woman cave", can't wait to get in there and scrapbook some more.