News - No Pictures

It is with a heavy heart I am sharing that our vet phoned last evening, shortly after 7 pm. The news is what we expected, but not what we hoped for.

Hogan, our much-loved 12 year-old beagle-chow rescue dog, has soft tissue sarcoma, a type of cancer that grows as a ball-like mass and can originate in muscle, which is where his is located. Dr. Vernon explained that the cancer is deep, so she was unable to obtain clear margins. The cancer will return. She explained options that might possibly work to remove the cancer, but it would entail more extensive surgery and radiation treatment in Gainesville at the University of Florida, or at an oncology center in Orlando. We have decided to forego treatment and focus on making Hogan as comfortable and as spoiled as possible for whatever number of weeks or months remain. As Dan said to our children, "We're going to love and pamper him until discomfort dictates that we set him free.

I admit that I cried all last evening, then thought I was cried out, but have cried more today. We're both feeling heavy-hearted. It will take time to adjust to this new knowledge, but rest assured, Dan and I will make sure Hogan knows he's loved, and that he is as content as possible.

As well, I received expected, but not-what-I-wanted-to-hear information from my cardio-vascular physician. Indeed, last Monday's ultrasounds of both legs reveals that I have arterial plaque blockages again (PAD). Apparently, being on Lipitor, Plavix, and Pletal, and exercising regularly isn't enough to prevent plaque from collecting.

Sometime next month, I will have another angiogram of my left leg - the procedure in which the doc goes into my right groin, and inserts a device through the artery of my left leg to balloon out plaque. He suspects that plaque is collecting at the bottom end of the eight inch-long stent in my femoral artery, a condition he calls the "candy wrapper" effect. While he's "in," he said he will peep down my right leg too because the ultrasound indicates a 60 percent blockage below my right knee. If that's the case, at a later date I'll have another angiogram to have the right leg ballooned open.

My left leg angiogram will be the fourth time Dr. Qamar has needed to enter that leg. Though, on the positive side, it's been 15 months since the last time. Perhaps the drugs are working to make the need for this procedure less frequent. In total, this will be my seventh angiogram at his catheterization lab. It's looking like I'm slowly working my way closer to getting the toaster they promised after ten visits!

Yesterday's news finds me needing to apply to my life my 2016 word for the year, "lighten." Over the next weeks and months, I will make a concerted effort to give these concerns and burdens to God.

Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. - Psalm 68:19

If you live in the Central Florida area, I hope to see you Friday or Saturday at the Quilting Guild of The Villages' MarketPlace, the biannual event where more than 45 vendors will sell quilting, sewing, and knitting/crocheting supplies. Admission is $10, or $9 with a coupon.

You'll find Lora and me there, at La Hacienda Rec Center from 9-3, working in her Dragonfly Quiltworks booth. She's selling modern fabrics, and will have more than 100 bolts, and heaps of fat quarter bundles! Linda