The doggie hospice

It's been a rough couple of months with Thor. A time I've come to think of as "doggie hospice".

It started mid June when Thor developed a cough. My experience with a previous dog is that a cough in an older dog is never a good thing. So off we went to the vet.

On the second visit to try and knock out the cough, we looked at some lumps on Thor's skin. He had four that had suddenly emerged and looked decidedly unfriendly. Time to schedule surgery.

(It's kind of gross, but if you would like to see a photo of Thor with his chest drain, click here.)

The vet took  wide margins around the lumps, thinking they were probably mast cell tumors, which is a cancerous tumor. The tumors were sent out to biopsy. The result made me wish they were mast cell tumors.

Malignant Histiocytosis. It's a form of systemic cancer that is rare in dogs, except for Bernese Mountain Dogs, where it is all too common.

Since our regular vet had no experience with this sort of cancer, we consulted with a doggie oncologist. He offered chemotherapy, but cautioned that in a dog, with its shorter life span, chemotherapy is only meant to prolong the quality of life.

With chemotherapy, he estimated, we could extend Thor's life by about four months. Without it, we probably had one to two months left with Thor.

We opted to skip chemotherapy and make the best of our time with Thor.

I've been through cancer with two previous dogs, but never with this much advance notice. My experience is limited to a sudden weight loss and loss of appetite, which leads to rapid decline and only a few days at best to say goodbye.

How would Thor's cancer play out? I asked the oncologist.

He said we would know it was the end in one of three possible ways: Thor would have trouble breathing, or the skin lesions would get so bad we couldn't care for them, or he would lose his appetite and waste away.

I didn't anticipate having to deal with all three options.

In July his cough came back and he started coughing up blood. I decided there was no reason Thor had to suffer so I called his regular vet and asked what we could give him. Since his cough had responded to Clavamox before, we tried it again. It worked.

In August his appetite was waning and he noticeably lost weight, down 15 pounds from his normal 75. The major effect of this was to aggravate his arthritis. The vet explained that as he lost muscle mass, the effects of the arthritis were worse. So in we went to get more pain medicine. It helped.

In this time, more skin growths started to emerge. By September, one on Thor's side was the size of a golf ball. He managed to tear it open and start it bleeding. The vet advised that we couldn't stitch it up without removing the growth all-together, which would require anesthesia. We opted to keep it bandaged.

This began Thor having to wear a T-shirt all the time. A black T-shirt with a maxi-pad stuck to the inside to absorb blood and other fluids. The tumor has gotten to be the size of a tennis ball. Very gross looking and smelling. (Click here if you would like to see. Fortunately we don't have a way to share the smell.)

Through this all Thor has been so good. So patient. Working with me to let me help him.

And I've had to constantly do the reality check and ask: Is Thor still enjoying life?

The answer has been a consistent Yes. He has been big smiles for me. He has enjoyed laying and napping outside. He has continued to make it up the stairs to sleep with us.

But yesterday his cough started to come back. And today his rear end has so little strength, he is falling a lot and having trouble moving around.

I do not believe the answer is a whole-hearted Yes any more. It is time.

I am sad and will miss him.

Catching up -- Little X, Loki, and a Video Tour of Chicago 1930s

Is anyone still there? I have thought about catching up with you, dear readers, many times in the past year. I miss you and this blog.

What have I been up to, you may wonder?

Mostly chasing after Little X, who turns 3 in a few weeks. He's a curious, active little guy who keeps me on my toes. Especially since he stopped taking naps in March. I mean he stopped cold turkey. He doesn't even fall asleep in the car. He refuses to waste daylight hours on a nap. The bright spot, though, is that his bedtime has moved up.

Loki: 2002-2011

Another major thing, and this was deserving of a post all its own, is that we lost Loki in November to an undetermined cancer. She was 9 1/2 years old and a wonderful dog who is greatly missed. Little X still says sometimes, "Loki died. She's not coming back. Let's go get her."

My letters project blog is still going strong -- News From Home: A Father's Letters to His Son, 1931-1940 (Melbourne to Chicago). I have posted 22 letters so far. It's mostly family reading it, but a few academics have found it and sent me encouraging comments about it being a wonderful example of community history.

I've also gotten some old family 8mm video digitized (through ScanDigital), and have posted them to YouTube. There is one video in particular that has caught some attention, with more than 1,300 views so far. It's a video tour of Chicago that my grandfather put together in about 1936. I think he intended to use it on his return to Australia so that he could give lectures about Chicago.

I think it's fun to see the city as it was. If you click through to YouTube, I've put in a table of contents in the caption information with shortcut links to the various sites shown in the video. My favorites are the "The Ghetto on Maxwell Street" at 9:07 and a shot of my grandparents at about 6:22.

What I especially like about the video is that many of the major sites shown in the video are still must-see sites on a tour of Chicago 75 years later, such as the museums and parks.

It's also been fun to see people discover the video and repost it in various places. It's thrown me back into social media as I've had reason to discover reddit and tumblr now. For my own future reference, here are direct links to places where the video has been posted:

Calumet412 on Tumblr
Reddit
Chicago Architecture Blog
Chicago Screen Shots
Skyscraper City Forums
Thrift and Shout! on Tumblr


I have more old 8 mm videos to post with some fun footage in them. I'll share them once they are on YouTube.

I hope not to be a stranger to this site. I'm a dedicated blogger, even if I take a vacation now and then.

News from Home: A Father's Letters

Recently I was given a few boxes of my grandfather's papers. In the boxes were 10 years worth of letters written by my great-grandfather and sent to my grandfather when my grandfather came to this country in 1931.

The letters are full of history of all sorts -- world history, family history, YMCA history.

So, in my *ahem* ample spare time, I've started another web project. It's called "News from Home: A Father's Letters to his Son".

It probably has a very niche readership, but, who knows, maybe you fall into that niche. Check it out and see. I'd love any feedback.

Celebrating the big 2

It's been a busy year. Little X just turned 2. He's is curious about everything and likes to explore. He's really kept me on my toes since he learned to walk over a year ago.

Sorry I've been so neglectful of this blog. Maybe I'll post again soon.

I just wanted to say "Hi" and "I'm still here."

The price of motherhood

The price of motherhood seems to include this blog. Now that Baby X is 1 year old and walking everywhere, I seem to have little time or energy to update. Sorry about that. Know that I'm still here, lurking in the background, and someday soon I hope to catch up with you more.