The dog's alright!

Over the summer, we noticed that our "first born" had a small black lump on his muzzle that was never there before. In about six weeks it had doubled in size and T started getting really worried. She had been saying for some time that his breath was getting worse, and some late night panic fueled online research brought it to our attention that his breed (Boston Terrier) and his age (7 years old) put him in a group more likely than average to suffer from melanomas. Evidently these can often grow in the mouth and we (mostly T) became very, very concerned.

A visit to the vet lessened our cancer worries, but revealed that he had a broken canine and would need surgery to extract it before it became infected. Since he would be getting surgery anyway, we all decided it was best to remove the growth (which was steadily growing) and it was up to us if we wanted it biopsied or just have it stored for biopsy later if he started having other symptoms of concern. For us there really was no reason to wait on the biopsy, peace of mind was well worth it and on the off chance that it was something serious we would want to know so treatment could be started as early as possible.

We had to wait about a month for the surgery, which while not ideal did make us feel more secure in the capabilities of our vet that he is in such high demand. In the meantime the lump continued to grow and look ever more ominous.

The surgery was this past Wednesday (on Nana's birthday) and by all accounts it went very well. But not without some surprises. Turns out he didn't break his canine as the vet originally thought. Once Rhys was sedated and the vet could get a better look inside his mouth, he found that there was a polyp growing on his gums (apparently this is not abnormal for a middle aged dog) which was big enough to push the canine back into the two neighboring teeth. So the polyp has been removed and now those three teeth should be right as rain. The bad smell was actually coming from one of his very back teeth which had died and needed extracted.

Today we got the biopsy back on the suspicious lump that started it all. It was a benign plasmacytoma and the recommended treatment was to remove the entire tumor; which is what we already did, so he should be just fine. He is on antibiotics for the possible infection of the dead tooth and he goes back in to the vet in ten days for suture removal.

After all this, we're really very grateful for that scary lump. Because without it we would not have known about the problems in his mouth and we really could have lost him. And who knows how much pain and discomfort he has been in without us even knowing. We most certainly have taken his health for granted, but from now on we will be making him more of a priority (as he so rightly deserves), and he'll be seeing the vet at least once a year for a well dog check.

25%...isn't that failing?

Three of the four fischies are out of commission at the moment. Hopefully B and C are at the tail end of it, just have to go very slowly on what we let them eat. J was struck down in the middle of the night and is currently very zombie like. Best to just steer clear of us for the next few days!

B likes this.

She saw this on Sesame Street the other day and she clapped when it was over. Then she said "I liked that! I should make up a song like that." Now remember this clearly, it might just get you on some sort of biography show when she becomes famous.

the coffee store

It inadvertently became a habit for us to stop by Starbucks after gymnastics class, so B has developed a strong inclination to "the coffee store." Thank goodness they usually have those mini scones or mini donuts so inexpensively! We don't usually spend much time there, just grab our orders and go. But the day we went pumpkin hunting we met our friends there so we relaxed and enjoyed our coffee store time a bit. I think this has made B even more of a fan.

Mega...Mega...Megamind!

The latest awesomtastic top-quality animated feature from Dreamworks just opened over the weekend. We're sure you have all either already gone to see the movie or have made arrangements to see it sometime this week, so we won't turn this into a peer pressure post (Go See Megamind!). As usual, PDI did it up right for the employees and their families to celebrate the release of Megamind. Bounce house, blue cotton candy, segway races, a balloon lady making the movies main characters out of balloons, (temporary) tattoos, and Megamind and Metroman themselves. It was a very fun lunch.

A little something for B-cakes.

We've started a tradition. When its birthday time, we have the birthday child pick a small gift or two for the non-birthday child to open on the big day. This is for two reasons: first it gives the non-birthday child something to open and play with when the birthday boy or girl is working on a mountain of presents; and secondly it is a lesson in thinking about their sibling's feelings and being gracious and generous. This is the first year that we have done this, and it worked wonderfully. When it was B's birthday she was old enough to completely understand that she was picking a gift for C to open on her birthday and she put a lot of thought into it, helped wrap the gifts and enjoyed surprising him with them on her big day. C isn't quite old enough yet to understand so we just bought a couple small gifts for B to open on his birthday and told her they were from him. She was so excited about the doll "he" gave her and it helped smooth the tension and spread the joy that day.

Halloween

Sunday is not a very fun day for Halloween to land; by Sunday evening we're all pretty wiped from a busy weekend, but you can't not go trick or treating when you have a beautiful Tinkerbell and a ferocious (and adorable) dinosaur in your life. This was the first official t-or-t experience for B and C. Last year we were in Disneyland around this time and we went trick or treating in the park but it wasn't really the same. We spent the week explaining what would happen and the kids (B especially) were very excited. For C, the promise of candy was the only thing that got him to dress up in his costume.

We went to our friends, the Lymans, neighborhood for the main event. For those of you who do not know, they live in the San Bruno neighborhood that was so devastated by the PG&E pipeline explosion and fire in September. Our friends' home was left standing, safe and sound. But they were very lucky, because what saved them was nothing more than the direction of the wind. So we knew going in that there would not be a ton of people home, as many have not returned to their homes, many of those families remaining took their children to other communities to trick or treat and most of the Lyman's closest neighbors are older and not necessarily up for Halloween festivities. It was plenty for the kids' first time and the people who were home seemed so genuinely grateful that we were there that it touched our hearts. While we may have brought home a lot more loot if we'd gone elsewhere, we know this was the best decision. It was such a little thing for us to do and seemed to mean so much to others.

The second we were back at the Lymans' house (casa de Lyman, as we're trying to get B to say) the boys were out of their costumes! B wore hers for the rest of the night, and would have happily slept in it if we had let her.

The Friday before Halloween, as usual, PDI had a fun lunch party complete with decorations and kid and adult costume fashion shows. Originally B said she wanted to be a superhero, so she picked out a pink supergirl costume and we found a cute knight prince costume for C; only it was much too big for him. So T took them to the Disney store so he could pick out something different (thus the dinosaur) and B fell in love with (all of the costumes, but especially) the Tinkerbell costume; and T caved and let her get that one too. We were pleasantly surprised and very pleased when B got creative with her costume for the lunch at daddy's work, combining the two costumes into a brand new, never before seen Super Fairy. It inspired us to amp up C's costume as well, so he was a Dinokight that day.