Another my kid is so talented post! Abby made this pillow of her and the dogs...
Luna in the bottom left corner, Abby (with her pink hair!) at the top and Joy in the bottom right corner
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Our little dog Luna is doing so well you guys!
She is over halfway through with her chemotherapy for lymphoma.
I JUST learned from Dr. Clemans, her internal medicine specialist doctor who is directing her care, that Luna gives them all kisses! I am so happy she is such a good sport there and is sweet to them. She IS sweet, but she is onery too, so I was not sure which Luna she was at VCA MidWest Vet. Apparently, Good Luna. Yay.
Here are some recent pictures...
Luna says "I love you" with her eyes.
She always has to be touching one of us!
Good night Luna!
Russ and Amanda and Abby and I went to the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. It was amazing! I feel silly for never having gone there in college.
I love flamingos! I had never been so close to any before.
Flamingos are just the most gorgeous birds! Look at those feathers!
This bird bit me! I said "C'mere! Will you bite my finger? Please? Bite my finger!" and he did! It was so cool! I have a way with animals.
This camel has the cutest face.
Do you think he knows how cute he is?
I got to pet this tortoise!!
These Bald Eagles are unable to return to the wild. They are scary beautiful. I did not realize how big Bald Eagles were.
Amanda and Abby <3
Ver' small monkey
Naked mole rat! Don't you just want to kiss his tiny wrinkly forehead? Me too!
Turn around...
...Bright Eyes...
EVERY NOW AND THEN I FALL APART! Okay, that's enough.
Happy goat!
Abby petting the giant bunny
"Go home!" said the llama. And so we did.
My kid is so talented! Amanda made these cupcakes for her Dungeons and Dragons group and for the family at Easter. They were delicious and beautiful!
I hope you had a wonderful Easter and Easter weekend and are having a wonderful Passover and spring season <3
Tomorrow we will return to daily pet stories and pictures here! Thank you for being patient with me as I went through a down time. All is well, and I am excited to write again : )
We had a very good Easter at Mom and Dad's! Nelsons and Finches and Rasmussens were there. We missed you Travis!
Abby made amazing pies - cherry, blueberry-lemon and pecan, and Amanda made amazing cupcakes.
They both set up an Easter egg hunt for the small cousins which they loved.
Here are some pictures from today...
Olive got a head start on the Easter egg hunt!
Arthur's first egg!
Good job Olive!
This kid will have the GOOD photos.
Robert discovering the eggs are full of candy
Robert, Olive, Mom and Oscar search for the next egg...
Arthur and his eggs...
Robert and his candy...
Hi Felix!
Mom's table always looks beautiful <3
Happy Easter!
The little kids got baskets from Grandma, and the big kids got cards. No one has to be a grown up at the holidays!
Mom got these bunnies for Bill, Dave and me when we were kids.
Dad fixing the pond
The Nelson kids each got a bubble blower.
Abby <3
Robert <3
Robert waiting for Dad to unwrap his bubble blower
Arthur gave Abby Legos to unwrap for him. He did not mention that they were Olive's.
Amanda reading a book to Olive <3
Grandpa and Arthur
Hi Oscar!
Mom and Dad's neighbors decorated their yard! The girls said, "They didn't do a very good job finding eggs." :D
Happy Easter All!!
Daily blog posts will resume Monday. Thank you for your patience, Friends.
Tomorrow is a new comic.
Have a blessed Easter weekend and Passover.
I am anxious to get back to interacting with you every day. I miss you Readers, and I miss writing.
See you Monday : )
If you get a chance, watch Love, Simon.
Love,
me
Happy birthday to my beautiful, kind, fiercely-loving, family-centered God-following awesome Mom-in-law Karen Finch! I love you so much!!
I try to start my spring garden on Karen's birthday, which makes it a doubly great day.
Chives are already coming up in the back yard.
Jonquils are coming up in the front yard. They will be bright yellow and look like small daffodils.
Today I will be planting snap peas, snow peas and regular rolling off your plate peas : ) and morning glories, all in the front yard.
We are working on readying the back yard for MORE morning glories, strawberries, onions, Bright Lights chard and garlic.
In two months, on May 15 or so, we will plant summer plants from inside outside and summer seeds outside.
It is beginning you guys!
One of our favorite garden pieces...by Sonya Gerber
We love everything Harry Potter in this house.
The cauldrons are made out of candy melts. The cake is chocolate cake and strawberry filling. Chocolate frosting and strawberry filling and candy rocks are on top.
When Amanda was in first grade, she started reading the Harry Potter series. Russ and I started reading the books to make sure they were appropriate for a first grader. We all loved them, and Abby did too when she started reading them soon after. Amanda has read the entire series EIGHTEEN times! (Last I asked) These are her imaginings of what Cauldron Cakes would be like. They are beautiful AND delicious!
I am as proud of Amanda's extensive brainstorming as I am of her hard work and final product!
Including trial and error, the final product took nine hours to create.
Abby won Honorable Mention in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her artwork of Joy!
Her art as well as all of the artwork of the winners across Nebraska is hanging at the TAC building.
Congratulations Abby!
Bill and Cara got me these beautiful plants while I was in the hospital. They are thriving in five gallon buckets!
I've been doing well since then. I visit the therapist once a month. I am on five (5!) medications to control my depression symptoms. And they do.
It is difficult sometimes for my clients to have their pets on several medications, not just because they are hard to keep track of, but also because so many medications can seem excessive. "Each one is important," I tell them. Now I get it. Each one is important. But it is all still a lot - a lot of medication and a lot to take in and understand.
I've had no more very, very dark days. Some grey days, but nothing like the heavy oppressive days I could not get out from under.
I have been able to enjoy life, but it's been tempered, even dulled. I'll take it. There is time for higher highs, probably when I can also handle the lower lows.
If one baby tomato plant and one baby pepper plant are good, ALL the plants are better!
I purposely chose gardening as my focus for this year. Luna Dog will probably die this year, and I will need something to balance the sadness. Something grounding (haha) and soothing. I chose gardening.
Luna says, "Geez! I'm not dead yet!"
I am well. I am good. I occasionally fear a tumble down the dark abyss that is overwhelming depression, but I don't dwell, I don't dread. And now I feel like I have the tools to come back if need be.
Life is good. It is good to feel more like me again.
My kalanchoe plants from Bill and Cara - doing well too!
A young couple found a man dressed in several layers of badly worn clothing wandering around Petsmart with a tiny, emaciated black puppy in his arms. He was saying to himself that he could not afford dog food.
They asked the man about his puppy. He said he needed someone to take her because he did not have any money to care for her. They asked if he would take twenty dollars for her, and he did.
They brought her to me to be examined. Other than her very thin body condition, I found no other physical problems. They did not know if they were adopting or rescuing…they just saw a puppy in need and a man in distress and swooped.
Two days later, Layla came home to live with us, and we renamed her Joy Layla Finch.
The name Joy was suggested by the daughter of Joy King, who had been our very dear friend and had recently passed away. We also named her in honor of our other dear friends’ newborn daughter whose twin sister had just passed away. Joy…what an odd thing to name our new puppy during what was such a sad season for so many friends we loved. She has more than lived up to her name.
When I first met Joy, I was so angry at the man who had almost let her starve to death. My friend Janelle said, “He did take her to where he knew she would get help.” That statement stopped me in my tracks. I feel as though I owe him an apology and a thank you, though I have never met him.
So I will write one here, and though he will almost certainly never see it, I hope it serves as a reminder to let my first reaction be one of compassion not judgment.
To the original caretaker of Joy the Puppy,
Thank you for the gift of Joy. She is warm and fed. I pray that you are too. I will keep an eye out for you and try to make sure that you are.
If you had been in a different season of life, would you have kept her? If there is room in your life for a puppy again, I will do everything I can to help make that happen.
Forgive me for being so angry initially that she was such a skinny thing. I know that when you ran out of puppy food, you shared your own food with her. I would have held on to her until the last possible moment too. I will remember that before I judge someone who is probably doing the best they can.
Be proud of your dog. She turned out great. If you hadn’t protected her from the streets of Omaha in those first bitterly cold weeks, she would not have survived. If you had not taught her love from the start, it would have taken us years. If this does not reach you directly, I will try to thank you indirectly every way I can.
Luna was rescued by the Nebraska Humane Society from a hoarding situation. She soon became very ill. She had sky-high liver values and bile acid values (a measure of liver function).
She came to the hospital where I am a veterinarian to be assessed and have an ultrasound done. When liver values are so far out of balance in a young, small breed puppy, what we suspect is a liver shunt.
A shunt was not found, and it was determined that she had a condition that could not be surgically fixed. The Nebraska Humane Society team, in an effort to spare the puppy suffering, decided to have her euthanized.
The day of the puppy’s ultrasound was my day off. I received medical updates and the final decision to have the puppy euthanized in a series of several emails, all of which came at once in the late afternoon.
I sat on the bed and bawled. My husband Russ came to check on me, and I yelled, “I take one day off, and puppies DIE!”
Suspecting this was not an accurate statement, Russ gently took my phone out of my hand and read the emails. He said, “Couldn’t we take her?” Still in complete despair mode, I said “She’s probably DEAD!” Of course she was not dead. Dr. Thomassen said she would not euthanize the puppy unless she knew it was absolutely a decision agreed upon by everyone.
So we accidentally adopted a puppy!
The other doctors thought I was crazy to adopt a broken puppy, but I think they understood. We are vets. It is what we do.
I talked with my daughters. Adopting a puppy with an unspecified liver disorder is one of the best ways that I can imagine to ensure heartbreak. I told them we were adopting a puppy we knew was sick and that her lifespan may be shorter than other dogs. There was no doubt in their minds that this puppy was meant to be a Finch.
On the way home with the puppy in my lap, I said to Russ, “She’s blond. She’s really sweet. She’s pretty spacy.” (To her credit, she was still recovering from a very severe liver issue, and has since proved much sharper.) When we got home, I said to our daughters, “Let’s name her Luna Lovegood.” They cheered, and we had our name.
Our next step was a simple liver test. AND…the blood work came back completely normal!! And now I get to ponder what in the world happened.
- Knowing Luna now, it is probable that she ingested something she should not have, causing her extreme illness and liver issues.
- Knowing the very first place she lived had so many dogs, it is probable she ingested some urine at some point in her young life.
So my top guesses are a liver toxin from which she has recovered or leptospirosis from which she has recovered. While I know of course, that she will one day break my heart, I am so glad it is not on the second day or the second month that I have known her. She has been a challenging, exhausting, strange, wonderful, goofy amazing puppy. I am so happy she is a Finch.
This is a picture from last winter of the purple ash tree Dad gave us as a tiny sapling.
We've been steeling ourselves for the dreaded ash borers that are predicted to take out every ash tree in Omaha and the surrounding areas.
So far, so good.
ONE YEAR AGO
THE KURTENBACH SERIES, PART 3 - THE FOUNTAIN CREEK GENERAL STORE
TWO YEARS AGO
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 19 - Luna is doing well!
I dunno how many of these weekly no news updates you would enjoy. Personally I would be happy with about 500! Luna had another set of IV chemotherapy and is doing great! She jumped on Russ's head when she was discharged, entertaining the whole VCA MidWest Vet team. I'm glad they get to see her as her normal, dorky self!
On the subject of Luna's normal dorky self...Jen Rios gave Joy the Puppy a cardboard roll (Thank you Jen!!) Joy has been playing with it non-stop. Luna found a torn off bit of cardboard from Joy's roll and has been playing with IT non-stop.
So things are pretty normal around here! Everyone is happy and well :)
ONE YEAR AGO
TWO YEARS AGO
"Are those pictures of your cat?" I asked.
"Yes, they are. I loved her so much. She was a wonderful cat," he said.
Abby was getting an industrial piercing, which I learned just this week means a piercing from one part of the edge of her ear to another part of the edge of her ear.
She needed parents there since she is only 15. So there we stood, Abby who fits in everywhere, and Russ and I completely out of our element in the tattoo parlor, watching the large, scary, beautifully tattooed piercer work his craft.
He continued...
"Do you know she had all her claws and never once used them on the furniture? And she never had accidents. She didn't hunt, and she wouldn't hurt anything. She caught a spider under her paw once, and let him go. She was so beautiful. She always wanted me there. I guess it's a good sign I can talk about her, huh? It's been two years."
I said it takes a long time. He said he always knew she would eventually return to the underworld, but he sure missed her.
"Did it hurt? we asked Abby.
"Yes!" she said.
Thank you for taking such good care of our kid. Thank you for sharing your kitty with us. I know it was difficult. I hope it was healing.
ONE YEAR AGO
SIRIUS VETERINARY ORTHOPEDIC CENTER GRAND OPENING
TWO YEARS AGO
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 18 - An Update in Real Time
Abby and Luna
Luna has now been through four sets of chemotherapy, each about a week apart. The first two were IV treatments at VCA MidWest Vet, the third was at oral medication at home and the fourth was IV treatment again.
Tomorrow will be Luna's next IV treatment, pending good news from her complete blood count and urinalysis today. (Thank you Kelly! For everything.)
Luna at Gentle Doctor after her weekly blood work
Luna does not mind her half day stays with me on Mondays, and she loves her visits with Dr. Clemans and Brandy and the team on Tuesdays. We have gotten into a routine, and none of it seems to be scary to her.
Luna waiting her turn at VCA MidWest Vet
She had a rough couple days last week where she would not eat, but is now eating chicken and rice well. We may have been had in typical Chihuahua fashion, but she really did seem nauseous, and now is all better. We will either wean her back onto dog food or transform her chicken and rice into a balanced diet using the website my friend Dr. Kanne showed me, Balanceit.com.
Luna! That is my blanket from Aunt Pat!
So far, so good you guys! Luna is feeling great and acting onery, just what we hoped! It has been warm enough for evening walks again, so Russ and I have been walking Joy and Luna, sometimes around the block, and sometimes to the elementary school to play. We have all been loving that time, and the whole family has loved our time with Luna.
I will stay on top of getting updates to you! Hopefully they will all be this normal!
Thank you all for all of your support. We love you so much!
Russ-me-Amanda-Abby-Joy-Luna
ONE YEAR AGO
TWO YEARS AGO
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 17 - Back to Normal
"Yes, I believe I own this table."
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Luna is able to jump onto furniture again. She no longer collapses in the hind end on walks.
She has her normal energy level back.
And she and Joy are snuggling again.
I don’t know where we’ll be in a month or 3 months or 6. But this is totally what we wanted from cancer treatment. Luna is happy, and she is Luna.
Luna was a complete <poop> at Christmas. She barked at Mom and Dad's puppies, Oscar and Felix, and had to be held the whole time.
Good to have you back, you bossy little monkey!
Thank you so much VCA MidWest Vet team.
How do you repay an extraordinary group of people for giving time? For giving happiness and normality? I do not think it can be done.
ONE YEAR AGO
TWO YEARS AGO
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 16 - Confimation that the Bad News is Bad
Saturday, December 23, 2017
I missed Dr. Clemans’ call yesterday. She left a message. She received Luna’s flow cytometry report. She sounded very sad. I guess it was mostly bad news. She said she would still recommend the course we are on.
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 15 - I Would Spend All My Time Staring at Your Cute Face if I Could
Friday, December 22, 2017
We are leaving Joy and Luna for a few days starting today and again for a longer trip in June 2018. I am, of course, having a much harder time thinking about the June trip than this one.
That is not to say I am not looking forward to the June trip!
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 14 - In Which We Receive Even More Bad News and Fast Track Christmas
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Today Kelly called for Luna’s flow cytometry results. Flow cytometry is a way to further differentiate cells, in this case, Luna’s blood cells.
Luna has stage 5 (the worst - involving the bone marrow) cancer, B-cell (better than T-cell) lymphoma.
I do not know what to make of this. I strongly suspect this is more bad news than good. Someone much smarter than me (that is, internal medicine specialist Dr. Clemans) will be have to interpret these results.
It will not change treatment, but more information is usually better than less.
On an equally important note, I really want to give Joy and Luna the rest of their Christmas gifts early.
ONE YEAR AGO
TWO YEARS AGO