Our journey begins

June 6/09

My dear friends,

It's been a while since I posted and even longer since I visited most of your blogs and I hope you understand why I've stayed away so long. As you know, we are having some problems and lots of worries, and it seems there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done, and still have time left over for blogging.

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Morrie has been feeling really well. His last surgery found his lymph nodes clean, which was great news, but he will be undergoing Interferon treatment to prevent a recurrance of the melanoma. The treatment begins tomorrow morning, and from what we understand he will not be feeling very well at all for quite some time.

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He will begin daily infusions at the hospital for the next four or five weeks. After that, he will continue with injections of Interferon at home three times a week for the remainder of the year. That is, if he can tolerate the Interferon and continue with the treatment. Apparently, 50% of those who begin this treatment quit because of the devestating side effects.

Morrie already has about a dozen pill bottles lined up for use when the treatment begins - for nausea, pain, anxiety, digestive problems, etc. These could have side effects of their own . It will not be easy,

Interferon has also been known, in some cases, to cause permanent damage, though rarely. Sometimes we think we are spending our last days together with Morrie as we have known him. It is my inclination to worry and project on the worse-case scenario, which I never mention to him, but hopefully I am overdoing it and our situation won't be nearly as bad as I imagine it.

Please continue to pray for my dear man. And while you're at it, please pray for me to have the strength to take care of him well and see to all his needs without becoming discouraged and fatigued. We are setting out on a year-long battle not knowing what to expect from one day to the next and it is daunting.

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On a happier note, we showed Chef a couple of weeks ago at a three-day event in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, just a few miles from our home. He was kind of sluggish the first two days, with most people saying he has gained too much weight since last season. I guess in our efforts to fatten up that skinny little boy, we didn't realize that he was packing on some extra pounds. Not attractive and definitely not healthy. So he's now on a diet. We've weaned him off his Angus beef patties and now he's basically on kibble only, although we can't help but slip a couple of slivers of chicken or salmon into his bowl from time to time.

Anyway, on the third day of the show, Chef found his attitude and he won Best of Breed. He also made the cut for Group, which is quite an honour. (That's when we figured he's not that much of a fatso and adding the odd piece of chicken or salmon to his meals won't do him much harm.)

In his cooling jacket ... just warming up for the win!

Best of Breed !!

Group

This was most likely our last show until next summer. So I'm glad Chef did well and did Morrie proud. I love it when Chef wins, but Morrie takes it way more seriously so he was bustin' his buttons with pride. Thanks Chef, for making Papa so happy.

Yesterday, Chef was at the vet and she said that Boxers are especially sensitive dogs, and that Chef is going to pick up on the fact that Morrie is sick. So for all our sakes, we have vowed to try and stay upbeat and positive no matter what the year ahead brings. It's funny how the family dog can be a stablizing force during troubled times in so many great ways.

So wish us well in this journey to who-knows-where. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we will need as much support as we can get from people who we care so much about.

I will stay in touch and let you know how things are going and hopefully I'll have the time to go around visiting all your blogs soon.

Bye for now.

Linda
xo

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