Chale Update

I just realized that I never followed up on Chale's cancer diagnosis from June. A cyber friend of mine just lost her German Shepherd to Cancer earlier this week so I figured I'd provide an update on my boy's status. We went through many of the same challenges that she did with her dog but have had more positive news since the initial diagnosis.

After receiving the cancer diagnosis in June we were very sad but hopeful since Chale showed no symptoms of Cancer other than the low platelet count. We were dealing with the side of effects of the prednisone but, other than that, life was relatively normal. Two weeks after the diagnosis, his right front leg swelled up to more than twice its normal size from the armpit all the way down to his toes. We took him to the emergency vet to have it checked out. We were told that a chest x-ray was needed to determine whether or not there was a mass that was was restricting his blood flow and causing the leg to swell. While we were prepared to lose Chale after the initial diagnosis, we were not prepared to lose him that soon.

Luckily, the chest x-ray came back clear and there were no masses found. After meeting with an internist we were told that Chale had been misdiagnosed with cancer. The high dose of prednisone that he had been given to prevent tumor growth had actually masked the real problem, a blood clotting disorder likely caused by an auto-immune disease. It was a blood clot that had made his leg swell up and brought us to the emergency room. If that blood clot had not developed and we continued treatment for cancer it is possible that Chale would have bleed to death.

As if we weren't already pissed off enough at that point, the internist went on to say that he thought Chale had been misdiagnosed with Lyme disease a year ago, that his seizures (which started 5 years ago) seemed to be linked to an under active thyroid that went undetected and that the urinary tract infection that he developed earlier this year should have been recognized as a symptom of the auto immune disease. So essentially, our baby has been treated for the wrong illnesses for at least a year and a half now and these incompetent vets could have prematurely ended his life.

The only comfort that I can take in all of this is that Chale has not been suffering. We have been living our lives normally and he is his normal perky self. His quality of life has never been compromised. I think the worst part of all of this is the feeling of helplessness that we felt at the hands of so called experts. How were we to know that the vet missed something when they tested him in the past? Why would we ever question someone when what they say makes complete sense to us, the naive pet owners?

Chale has not had a seizure since March 2008. But it would have been better to add thyroid medications to his diet rather than raising the doses of the two anti-seizure drugs to the high dose that he is on now. The anti-seizure drugs are known to cause kidney and liver damage over time. While Chale's liver and kidney tests show that there has been some damage he is still in the high end of the normal range for a geriatric dog. I credit this 100% to the holistic supplements that we added to his diet to support his liver and kidneys at the same time that we started the seizure medications. Thanks to awesome support from some great alternative vets.

The high doses of antibiotics and steroids that Chale has received for Lyme disease, Cancer and the urinary tract infection essentially allowed the outward symptoms of the real problem to go dormant. If the blood test results would have been looked at more closely or additional tests performed to confirm the diagnosis, who knows what we could have avoided. But I'm not going to torture myself by thinking that way.

Chale is currently on a low dose of prednisone (an eighth of the dose that he started on) and ideally will be weaned off it completely over the next several weeks. We no longer see any of the side effects of the steroid since he is at such a low dose. The doctors have not clearly determined what has caused the blood clotting disorder but they are leaning towards ehrlichiosis, or another tick-borne illness, that should have been diagnosed and treated in 2008 instead of Lyme disease. Unlike cancer, Chale's body produces plenty of fresh white blood cells like it does in a healthy dog but the disease uses them up, resulting in the consistently low platelet count. Chale's platelet count has been in the normal range since we started him on azathioprine when we went to the emergency room. We still have the possibility of adding a blood thinner and thyroid prescription to his life but that is the least of our worries.

Chale will be 9 years old at the end of 2009. I understand that he is an old dog and even a health German shepherd doesn't live much longer than 10 years typically. But I cannot accept him dying prematurely from something preventable. So no, we won't be getting a new fence this year because of the thousands of dollars that we have spent on Chale this summer but I'd much rather have another year with my dog than a fence any day.

My only recommendation to my pet loving friends is that if your dog has a Lyme positive test, make sure it is actually Lyme disease. A Lyme positive test just means there has been exposure to an infected tick. That doesn't mean that the disease was passed from the tick to your dog. It can actually mean that the tick passed a completely different disease to your dog or that while your dog was exposed he did not contract the disease. Chale showed not symptoms of Lyme disease and had a very low positive diagnosis. According to our new vet these results should have lead to additional testing before treatment. He indicated that Lyme disease is commonly incorrectly diagnosed so before you get those antibiotics don't be afraid to ask questions! I hope no one else has to go through what we've been through this summer.

There is an episode of Mystery Diagnosis on TLC where a person went through our exact misdiagnosis. It explains all of this technical stuff much better than I have.

Breaking Up is Hard

Phil, my boyfriend from 9th grade. I'm a jerk. I'm sorry I wrote you a note and broke your heart. But you had to know that you were just the rebound boyfriend from Jared and that I was just using you to boost my self esteem. Because of you, I put up with people's crap much longer than I should because I fear that they to will accuse me of being a liar and quitting without really trying. Steve, Adam, Christian, ditto. Just insert a different ex-boyfriend's name.

Shortly after Phil, there was Lisa. My best friend in intermediate school. We definitely went in different directions in high school but she still told everyone we were best friends. It wasn't hurting me and really, I was no where near as cool as I thought I was. So why did I have to write you that note spelling it out, sending you crying from the lunch room. To this day her family hates me even though Lisa and I made up just a couple years later. Popularity is fleeting. I wish I were a better person back then. It is because of you that I will never turn down a friend request on Facebook no matter how brief my interaction was with the requester.

Sure, I told my freshman college roommate that I would room with her again sophomore year and then went to the housing office and changed my preference but that sort of passive break up is much easier on the soul. For most of my late teens and 20's I just let relationships get to the point that they were complete crap and then the other person ended them. I would always be surprised when they ended the relationship like it was some tragic loss. I was sad because I had lost something familiar, not something that was valuable in my life. A couple days later I always realized that the relationship had been gone for a long time and that I'd been wasting my time for years. Then I was angry at myself for being the victim and not taking the initiative to end it myself. Of course, I repeated this cycle over and over again. I'm sure a therapist would have a field day with this.

Lately, the people I have collected would best be described as acquaintances. These are people that you meet by chance or circumstance that you don't really consider your friends but they somehow find a way to weasel themselves into your life. The girl at the gym who always says hi to you who one day asks if you want to sit together when you bump into her at the food court. You say yes because it seems harmless and then spend the next 4 years of your life trying to unfriend her. Or better yet, the woman who you meet at a business conference who finds out that you both have dogs and like to run and is suddenly planning play dates and races. One week later you find out that you have nothing in common with this girl (seriously, how many people in the world have dogs and run, that's really not the basis for a friendship) but somehow find yourself going to parties at her house and dragging your husband to dinner with her and her miserable husband for an uncomfortable evening of bad conversation and nervous laughter.

Is there a target on my back that says "Please become excessively clingy to this woman and feed on her like a parasite"? The funny thing is I'm really not a nice person. Sure, if we're friends I am nice and compassionate but to the outside world I am bitchy, sarcastic, opinionated, obnoxious, inappropriate and loud. But that seems to be what attracts people. "Oh Denise you're so funny" or "You are crazy" are said to me on a regular basis. No really, I meant it when I told you to go away and I can't stand you. It wasn't a joke. How can I let my guard down when I meet new people without worrying that I'm going to end up with another leech? It's almost impossible not to be mean to these hangers-on because they just don't get the subtle comments. But I probably won't be mean. I'm all talk at this point. Maybe two out of every 10 leeches will get released. I'll just deal with it until one of us moves or they get the point.

Oh John, you were a horrible personal trainer. That's why I kept cancelling our appointments. You are a total meat head who spent more time looking in the mirror and flirting with the skinny girls than you ever spent on me. You never even listened to me talk. I'm glad that you no longer work at Bally's so I don't have to worry about hiding from you when I'm in the mall. Just because I'm not skinny doesn't mean that I've never worked out before. You talked down to me and made me feel like crap and I hope that someone tells you this before you ruin someone else's self esteem.

There is an "I" in Favre

I don't know about everyone else but I'm sick of Brett Favre. I was never a Green Bay Packers fan but I always respected Favre as a player and recognized him as one of the best quarter backs of my generation. He has lost that respect over the last several years.

First there was the flip-flopping every year at the end of the season when he was with the Packers. The physical beating that his body took year after year, not to mention the time away from his family had weighed on him. For the first couple of years we all gave Favre a pass. He lost close family members to long term illnesses. His wife had breast cancer. Of course he had a lot of things that were bigger than football to think about. If one of the best quarterbacks in football needed a couple extra months to determine what was best for him and his family then fine.

Well a couple years became the last 5 years of his career with the Packers. The Packers drafted Aaron Rogers to lead the Packers after Favre retired only to have him sit on the bench. Poor Rogers ended up being a very expensive back up for several years while Favre continued to play, leading all of us through the emotional roller coaster of his retirement. When he finally retired after the 2007-08 season we were all relieved (especially Rogers and the rest of the Packers). His tearful retirement press conference was difficult to watch. You could tell that he was leaving something that he really loved. Conversations immediately started about where Favre ranked on the list of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. There were debates on whether or not he would be a first ballot hall of famer or not.

So imagine our disgust when he signed with the Jets just a few short months later. Apparently Brett didn't want to retire, he just didn't want to go through off season conditioning and training camp with the rest of the football players. He had moments of brilliance last season but nothing close to his heyday. And if one thing was clear last season it was that Favre was no longer fit enough to be productive for an entire NFL season, not to mention the playoffs. And maybe Favre realized that too because he retired at the end of the 2008-09 season.

No surprise when a couple months later he announced that he had signed a two-year deal with the Vikings. The Vikings are the main rivals of his former team the Packers. Favre wanted to go to the Vikings in 2008 but Green Bay wouldn't allow this so he went to the Jets. By going to the Vikings by way of the Jets he sticks it to his former team and they can't do anything about it. None of the restrictions from Favre's Packers' contract exist any more. Favre has signed a two-year deal with the Vikings so I suppose we are spared the retirement roller coaster for at least one year.

The worst part of all of this is how he has thrown the New York Jets under the bus. He claims he was injured last year but they made him play. He says they weren't comfortable with their back up quarter back. He confesses that they didn't list him on the injured reserve list, etc. Whatever. So the young head coach of the Jets who had what 2 years of experience being in a charge of a football team bullied this 16 year veteran of the NFL? I don't think so. What kind of turncoat completely rips his former team apart in the national media for no reason? The Jets organization embraced Brett when no one else wanted to deal with him. They defended him while everyone else was putting him down and this is how he thanks them. Are we all supposed to believe that Favre is suddenly going to be back to his form of over a decade ago when he lead the Packers to a Super Bowl win? Are we supposed to blame the Jets for his lack of productivity last season? Gimme a break.

I have selected the Vikings to lose to the Ravens in the Super Bowl this season. You see the Vikings were very good last year and I think they will be even better this year with their younger players being more experienced. I don't expect Favre's body to last an entire season. In my dreams Tavarus Jackson, the Vikings young starting quarterback from last season, will lead the Vikings to the Super Bowl while Brett sits on the sidelines watching.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

I know I am ready. The off season seems to take forever. Last night was a great way to kick the season off with the game between the Steelers and the Titans. Both teams were great on both sides of the ball. It was one of those games that I just knew would come down to who had possession of the ball last. And it did. The Steelers won with a field goal in overtime.

The way overtime is managed in the NFL is a complete disaster. In an evenly matched game like last night's game you know that whoever wins the coin toss is going to win the game. It's not about skill at that point. Its about luck and it devalues both teams. The Steelers know that Tennessee would have won the game if they had possession of the ball. The victory doesn't mean anything.

I'm not suggesting that the NFL adopt the same overtime rule as the NCAA. Playing on a shortened field makes it feel like pee wee football. But at least both teams get a chance on offense which makes it more fair than the NFL rules. Realistically, college athletes in the best physical condition of their lives should be able to play on a regulation football field for a few more minutes but that rule is never going to change. With a progressive commissioner like Roger Goodell, I think the overtime rule might actually change in the next few years. The NFL needs to do one of two things: require that a team score 6 points to win or give each team a chance on offense.

People who argue that both teams have an equal chance of winning with the current format are wrong. With some kickers able to boot the ball 60 yards, getting halfway down the field puts a lot of teams in field goal range. Even if you have a great defense, it would be difficult to hold a team that is your equal to less than 40 yards between the kick off return and yards gained over three downs. Sure, sometimes the kick gets blocked but this isn't' something we should count on to even up the game. I paid $185 dollars a ticket to see my Dallas Cowboys play against the Buffalo Bills last season. If that game had gone into overtime I would have been pissed off that I had spent that much money to see a game decided on a coin toss.

In regulation, if a team scores a field goal instead of a touchdown the announcers praise the team on defense for holding the line. Then they change their tune in overtime and praise the offense for getting into scoring position when they get a field goal. Come on. If Tennessee had a possession after the Steelers' field goal in overtime I suspect they would have scored at least 3 as well but it would have been nice to see it. The possibility for multiple overtime periods exists if you let teams play for an additional 10 minutes with each team getting at least one possession. But if you had to score 6 points to win, two field goals or a touchdown, then every possession would actually mean something. The outcome of the game would be decided fairly and it would be much more enjoyable to watch.

This debate comes up every year but not usually after the first game of the season. I think Commissioner Goodell is great for football and like many of the changes that he has already made since taking over. I hope that he fixes this rule after this season so football games can be decided on skill and not luck.

Day After Labor Day Is the Best

Goodbye summer.

Goodbye to the children running and riding their bikes aimlessly at the park, getting in the way of the people trying to work out. Goodbye to their parents talking on their cell phones and not disciplining their children.

Goodbye to the tram that drives lazy people who don't want to walk the paved fitness trail around the lake loop. Goodbye to swerving into the grass to avoid getting run over. Goodbye to able-bodied people sitting on their butts, staring at people working out.

Goodbye to malls and stores full of children with nothing to do but run around in circles. Goodbye to their parents who seem to think Target is a day care center and sit at the Starbucks in the front of the store for 2 hours complaining about how difficult their lives are while their children make life for shoppers and employees miserable.

Goodbye to the county sponsored morning fitness program at the park that offers free yoga classes to local residents every summer. Goodbye to the hundred people who stand around and chat on the path and socialize while blocking the rest of us from working out. Goodbye to the elderly people who shouldn't be allowed to drive anymore who almost kill people in their quest to attend a free yoga class.

Goodbye to RVs and out of state license plates. Goodbye to state fair traffic.

Hello to school buses and children in the morning when I'm walking Chale and in the afternoon when I get home from work.

Hello to increased morning traffic from college students and teachers going back to work.

In a couple months, hello to the 200 inches of snow that we get every year. Hello to trying to work out when you have limited sunlight and it's -10 degrees and icy out.

Who am I kidding? I will wear a reflective vest and walk Chale an hour earlier. Even on the worst days, my 10 mile commute will never be that bad. I love winter and all the hot chocolate and campfires that come along with it. I have a treadmill and snowshoes, I can still work out. The day after Labor Day is the official beginning of the good life for adults and I love it!

Black Cat Rescue

I heard a horrible statistic on the radio this afternoon. Three to four million cats enter shelters every year. Of those only half will be adopted and the rest will be euthanized. White cats are the easiest to adopt out followed by tabby cats. Black cats are the least popular with only 20% being adopted.

Most rescue groups blame this disparity in adoptions on the superstition that black cats will bring bad luck. That's just crazy. When I went to my local shelter to adopt a cat 10 years ago I was looking for a black cat. Unfortunately, all the black cats that were available for adoption were very skittish and nervous. I ended up adopting a large orange tabby cat because he was very vocal and was purring and rubbing his head against the cage as I held my hand against the bars. If I had known this statistic then, I might have been more diligent in my search for a black cat and come home with two cats that day.

In some countries black cats are considered good luck. I can't believe that a developed nation like ours would be so full of stupid people that they wouldn't adopt an innocent cat just because of the color of his fur. Well I guess I'm not that surprised. There is discrimination against people of different races, sexes, social class and sexuality along with biases against certain breeds of dogs so why not cats too.

I can understand shelters holding on to black cats around Halloween because of the cruel things that some idiots do to them to "celebrate". But that month of not adopting out black cats shouldn't result in such low adoption numbers for the rest of the year. A lot of shelters are setting up special events to bring attention to the black cat population to try and encourage adoptions. I have heard of the following events taking place to try and increase black cat adoptions: Black Cat Friday (day after Thanksgiving), In the Black (tax season), Black Tie Love Affair (held in some Petsmart locations one weekend a year) and Black Christmas. I have heard of black cats being available for 50% off at some of these events. A lot of people that come to these events are looking at the black cats first because they are on sale. While a lot of these people leave these events with non-black cats these events bring people out to the shelters and increase the likelihood of more cats of all colors being adopted. Any event that brings visibility to the high volume of cats that are available for adoption, particularly black cats, is a great one in my book. Please check your local rescue organizations and pet stores if you are thinking about getting a cat and consider adopting a black cat.

If I didn't have a 12 year old angry tabby cat in my house, I would be adding a black cat to our household. I hope that Tiger lives to be a very old cat but when he passes I know the following: 1. We will adopt two cats at once next time and 2. One of those cats will be black. Happy Labor Day. Don't forget to spay and neuter your furry friends so we can try to control the animal population.

The Biggest Loser

I am totally obsessed with all forms of weight loss, make over and surgery reality shows. My perfect show would start with someone losing 100 lbs, then having plastic surgery to remove the excess skin and then have a fabulous style and life makeover to fit their new healthy body. When the Biggest Loser first came out I was obsessed with the show. But, like most things, I have found that I don't enjoy it any more and the show has definitely lost its purpose.

What I don't understand is why people have to be kicked off these shows. What would be so terrible about letting everyone stay in the house and benefit from the expert advice for as long as they can? You have a better chance of teaching these people how to lead healthy lives if you have them for 12 weeks rather than 1 weeks. Then they can take what they've learned home to their families. If I got kicked off the first week on the show and still had 100 lbs to lose I would feel like I was no better off then when I first started. What had they taught me? That I wasn't fit or popular enough as the other fat kids so I needed to go home? Well that's a great self esteem boost. These people know they are a mess. That's why they come to the show. And you just confirm that they are not good enough by kicking them off and telling them to go it on their own. Well if they could go it on their own they wouldn't have needed to sign up for the show!!

If no one got kicked off, the show would still reward the person with the most significant weight loss but it would get rid of the popularity factor. Alliances are formed every season and people are often kicked off the show because people don't like them or are threatened by them. These are people who have been ridiculed for most of their lives and feel horrible about themselves and all this show does is turn contestants into the same jerks that used to ridicule them. I find myself routing against many of the contestants by the end of the show because they have become such miserable people.

I remember in the earlier seasons that everyone was pulling for the success of all of the participants. Yes, it was still a competition but more importantly it was about not being morbidly obese and taking control of your life. Even the trainers have turned into children, forming cliques with certain contestants, talking about other contestants behind their backs. It is just sad. And the overly staged product placement is completely out of hand. Clearly you are making a ton of money off endorsements. You don't have to shove it in our faces so shamelessly.

And why isn't there a therapist on this show? No one gets to be morbidly obese and doesn't have any emotional issues that caused it. By treating the symptom (being fat) and not the cause you are just setting that person up for failure long term. I remember seeing an Oprah Show several years back about people who had developed new addictions after having gastric bypass surgery. There were sex addicts, alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, etc. The bottom line was that whatever had caused their food addiction or emotional eating in the first place had not been cured. I've heard that you're not ready to tackle any diet plan unless you can truthfully answer these three questions: Why are you overweight? Why do you want to lose weight? and Why haven't you been able to maintain weight loss in the past? Without showing the contestants and the viewers at home that losing weight is more than just starving yourself and working out they are setting everyone up for failure.

The saddest part of all of this is that many of the former winners and contestants who lost a lot of weight have gained the weight back. Because the show didn't teach them how to maintain a healthy diet and exercise program for life. It taught them how to eat much less most normal people eat and then has them work out for 4-8 hours a day. There is no job, no family, no responsibilities to schedule your eating and workouts around. No taste of any of the factors that derail us in the real world. They don't talk about these failures on the show. They just keep bringing back the successful losers to motivate the current losers with the illusion that what they are doing at the Biggest Loser ranch will translate to real life. It's not much of a reality show at this point.