Sam part 4

I wanted to write (mostly for me) about the last days of Sam's life.  I know this has been 7 months but it's still hard for me.  She truly was an amazing little dog.  In July 2015 David and I found out Sam had bladder cancer.  The vet said she could still live another year.  I was devastated but thought she's 14 and I knew wouldn't live forever so I had about 1 more year to get ready to say goodbye.  I'd like to think she had a wonderful, long, happy life filled with love and joy.  We already had a long camping trip planned for later that month.  David, Sam and I got to spend over 2 weeks together.  I could tell she was deteriorating fast.  She was mostly sleeping not eating a lot and tried to potty about every 15 minutes.  When we returned from our vacation we went back to the vet were she said Sam only had day's left.  I don't think I had ever been so sad but I knew she was ready.  We didn't want her to suffer so we picked a Saturday to take her to the vet for the final time.  That morning she came to work with me (for just a few minutes) then we went to the bank drive through so she could get a treat (she didn't eat it) which she loved doing! After that David her and I all went to the farmers market.  We pushed her in her stroller.  Then we ordered her a double meat Philly cheese steak!  We let her eat all that she wanted which wasn't to much. (these pictures were all from her last day 9-05-15, you can see how tired she looks.)

It was actually nice weather so we went back home and relaxed in the sun in the back yard.  We then drove to the vet.  We tried to be strong so she wouldn't get scared.  Once there the vet gave her an antistatic type shot for her to be unconscious but still breathing.  We just pet her while she laid on my lap.  After a few minutes they gave her another shot to stop her breathing.  It was then we both started crying!  We took her home with us and buried her in her blanket I had made.  We cried for days and at times still do.  The next morning we planted some flowers and put some lights were she was placed.

Not a day goes by I don't think about her and I'm pretty sure David thinks about her daily too.  The vet made us a cute plaster print of her paw.  We also got lots of card and some flowers too.  She will always live on our heart.   Here are some of my favorite pictures of her. 

This photo's are not in time order and some are duplicates from older post I know.   I have to many  favorites to post them all.  R.I.P. Samantha 1-15-01 - 9-05-15 (By the way her official akc name was Chocolate Covered SamSam) I know kind of a funny name but it seamed to go good with her heritage names and had to be unique)

Sammy part 3

I still wanted to write a little more about the time I got to share with Sam.  I wish she could have lived forever the was the perfect little companion for me.  When we joined David's life I figured he loved me so he would put up with her because he knew how much she meant to me.  But I was thrilled when I realized David loved her just as much as I did!  This really meant a lot to me.  The first time we went on vacation without her David had took a video of her before we went and watched it several time while we were gone.  Sam went on several trips with as well.  Mostly camping in the r.v.  We took trips around Washington and Oregon and even made it on trips to Utah and Wisconsin .  I think she's been on more trips and to more states then many people I know even!  Here's a picture from our first trip with David. 

Jeeping in Moab UT

We went to the tulip festival in Oregon because it was dog friendly unlike the Wa one.



David's family reunion in WI she's right in the middle.
 

She even went boating with us.

 

She liked opening her Christmas stocking and gifts.

 

We went on walks all the time.  Here's a picture I loved of Penelope walking her

One more post about Sam to go...Next time I will post about her last days and some of my favorite photos of her.

quarantine

I'm sitting in my room on quarantine so I thought it would be a good time to blog.  I have been preparing for my radiation treatment(I-131) to try and kill any  thyroid cells left in me that might be cancer or turn into them in the future.  By doing so I had to be on a special diet for 12 days that consist of low iodine.  Which means no dairy, seafood, or salt! Because so many prepared foods have salt or eggs or dairy in them I had to make all my own food with out iodine (or red dye #3).  I did make some different homemade breads but I could only have 4 servings of grain and 1 of meat a day.  I ate a lot of oatmeal with fruit, applesauce, and unsalted nuts and vegetable soup.  Today I could began eating normal again.  I couldn't wait and was thinking of all the things I would eat today like chocolate, cheese, ice cream, but unfortunately I don't feel well at all! I barley got out of bed today.  On a positive note (by prepping for this) I found out the thyroid cells were not in my lungs! Besides eating this way I had to get some blood test, shots, sample pills, and a body scan.  The body scan shows any hot spots where cells are.  I was so excited to find out none are in my lungs!  (I will have to get a ct scan again in a few months to try to see what is in there that showed up on the ct scan.  Dr. thinks it is nothing big maybe scar tissue or something.) Unfortunately the scan showed more tissue (suspected benign) then they expected though so I had to get the extra strong does of I-131 to kill it off.  This means I have to be quarantined longer and more possible side effects.  I took the does yesterday and was feeling fine until about 5:30 then started to feel sick.  I have felt like I have a cold and the flu at the same time! I have to stay 6 feet away from anyone until Sunday then it tapers off.  I go back on Tuesday morning for another body scan and then I see my Dr. the next Monday for the follow up plan.  I'm hoping I will be done with all this and just have routine blood test from now on! I can't go back to work until April 1st and the weather looks like it is going to be great here next week! I'm hoping to get lots of walking in the sunshine in!

health update.

I don't have a lot of news but I just thought I would fill you in on what I do know.  A few weeks ago I got a ct scan done.  The next day my nurse called me to say there was some spots they want to re check in a few months.  I got a copy of the report and was really worried the cancer was already in my lungs.  A week went by and my nurse called again, I told her I was concerned and she asked if I wanted to talk to the doctor about them.  I went in the next day and he told me he doesn't think that the spots are thyroid cancer or any other cancer. Some of them are common but one of them is not as common so they want to re-check it in June for more information.  He suspects that its residual tissue from a childhood illness.  Maybe from when I had pneumonia when I was young.  However if it is thyroid related I will know for sure next Wednesday when I get a body scan.  I have already officially started my ri-131 treatment processes.  It's about 3 weeks long. Today was the first day on my eating plan.  It's a low iodine diet for 12 days consisting of mostly fruits and veggies.  Then I will have to have 2 blood tests, 2 hormone injections, 2 body scans, and radiation.  I will also find out how much radiation they will give me based on that scan next week.  After the radiation I will be quarantined for a little while then get another body scan. The radiation shouldn't make me sick or lose my hair.  The most common side effects are a sore throat, trouble with saliva glands and food tasting different.  I have a follow up on April 4th with the doctor to go over the future plan.  Hopefully after this treatment I will be cancer free (if I'm not already) but will have to do check up's about every 6 months for a while.  My incision is healing nicely it's barely noticeable already. 

Kitchen up-date

No it's not finished yet...I seams like once the major stuff is up and running the small stuff takes forever to wrap up!  David has been doing all the work himself and he has been working a lot of weekends at work too so the kitchen is slow going.  I really love the way it is looking though!  Here are a few before, during and now pictures.

we can't find the last handle
 

 The sink side of the kitchen.  I tried to group the pictures to the same area.  Here's the stove side of the room.

No back splash yet

Here's another sink view but with the dishwasher and refrigerator. We still want a new curtain. I didn't "stage" any of these pictures so they have the way we really live in them stuff on the cupboard, fridge and all.

you can see here the top cupboards aren't done yet

I love the way the counter top turned out.  I thought it was cool how we got to pick the piece of garnet out then they came over and made the shape we wanted from wood.  After that we got to lay out how the pieces went together. 

I'm not sure if you can tell but this next picture is one of the dents from the dryer installation I blogged about before. (we didn't do it)

We did change the doors to white and the trim but I don't think we have any pictures where you can see it. Eventually we will get new doors and trim in the rest of the house too. Here's our back splash idea unless we find something we like more before we do it.

We did put the flooring in the hall and living room area to I have a picture of the living room to if I didn't already post it.

We still have to do the back splash, trim, and top cupboards.  I can't wait for it to be all finished so we can move onto the next project.

food, fun and family

We planned on having Doranda's family over for dinner and gifts when they got back from California.  We had each others names for Christmas and decided not to mail them to each other.  I wanted to make a nice dinner but couldn't think of what everyone would like.  A few days ahead of time my friend invited me to lunch at a Korean BBQ place.  I had never tried it before. You cook your own food at the table.

Korean BBQ

 I didn't really like it but it gave me the idea of cooking your own food so I thought fondue sounded fun for everyone.  I borrowed the pots from a friend and we made cheese, broth and chocolate fondues.  We had lots of dippers for each. I think it was a hit. 

the cheese dippers

Leon enjoying the chocolate

The chocolate was probably everyone's favorites.  After dinner we exchanged gifts.  I love the things the kids picked out for us and the selfie stick and Seahawk game day bag were both things we wanted but didn't have so they were perfect gifts for us.  I think the Weostman's liked their gifts too.  I didn't get many pictures though.

Just what the doctor ordered

David and my anniversary was this week so we decided to take an impromptu trip to Las Vegas, where we had got married 3 years ago.  With everything that has been going on I decided we needed a little get away.  It was perfect.  We used some airline miles then rented a mustang when we got there and stayed in a hotel off the strip.  The hotel had a movie theater, bowling alley, bingo hall, about 10 restaurant's and more so we really didn't need to go anywhere else but we did.  While there we went bowling for our first time together and David saw StarWars (again) while I took a nap.

The first night we saw a comedy show in the hotel that was great.  Louie Anderson was the headliner and he was really funny!  Since we had a fun car the next morning we drove to Red Rock.  I can't believe it's rated the best thing to do in Vegas and I have never been there before!  It is a beautiful area with lots of hiking trails.  I didn't have enough energy to go hiking yet though but should next time.  The weather would have been perfect for a hike though.  It was about 60 degrees and sunny the whole time. 

We also went shopping were I stocked up on jeans that I thought were a great deal and they even shipped them home to me for free so I didn't have to limit myself to what fit in my carry-on. :)  Another day we went to the Shelby car factory for a free tour.  It was interesting to see and learn.  I liked this one car and took a few pictures of it then during the tour I learned that one was worth over 26 million! It was the first Shelby ever made and all original still.

First Shelby

inside the factory

 Later that evening we enjoyed a great steak dinner.  On our anniversary we drove to the Hoover Dam.  I've been there before but don't think I have done the tour before so we did.  I learned a lot about how they built it.  It was impressive!  After the tour we walked across the bridge for an amazing view.

Later that day we flew home.  It was the perfect relaxing, sunny weekend that I was hoping for.