WordPlay

Miracles, it turns out, are a process.

In this case, the last ditch inhaler therapy for ConneryBeagle seems to have given us the miracle we needed.

ConneryBeagle: No headsplosions for THREE WEEKS!

ConneryBeagle:  BAWH!!

But, although this therapy is supposed to be without side effects because the medicine involved isn’t supposed to go systemic…

ConneryBeagle:  I am BAWHFUL THIRSTY.

ConneryBeagle:  Wake up, mymom!  It’s time to go OUTSIDE again!

ConneryBeagle:  Why are my handsome boy dog muscles GONE?

Well, you get the picture.  He’s started on the standard protocol–the highest dose, twice a day, a moderate number of breaths per treatment.  We’ve reduced it…and reduced it…and reduced it.  He dumped all the water he’d accumulated in his little body, revealing that he’d lost all his muscle along the way, too.

Steroids.  Can’t live without ‘em, really can’t live with ‘em.  Not when they go systemic where they’re not expected and not welcome.

As of the end of last week, Connery is no longer on the inhaler.  We’ve got to see if his body can recover from the steroids; we know from his history that he doesn’t tolerate them, and no one expected them to break through the natural barriers of his nasal tissues to affect him this way.  Of course, Uncle Vet and I are in agreement that it’s probably a reflection of the intense inflammation he’s experienced these past months.

If he can shake off the side effects–in other words, if there hasn’t been systemic damage done–then we start again.  The very lowest strength, the very lowest dose.  And meanwhile, we’ve started working with a holistic vet, who is very, very carefully introducing strategies to support Connery’s messed up little bod.

In the meantime–

ConneryBeagle:  I have been able to play TRACKING.  And AGILITY with BABY JUMP HEIGHTS!

ConneryBeagle: And it has been a year since I could PLAY TENNIE BALL and it is BAWHSOMEST FUN!

For today, at least.  That’s because the next step in the Help ConneryBeagle Journey is on the schedule for today, when he’s seeing a doggy ophthalmologist.

(There are only so many times I’ll spell “ophthalmologist” in any given post, so we are now talking about the Eye Vet.)

I don’t think this is a hunt for miracle answers…it’s more that it’s so clinically bizarre for Connery’s sinus issues to be associated with eye infections that we want to check it out.

(For years, my signal that he’s incubating a sinus infection has been a subtle eye involvement; for years, as we’ve moved around, I’ve had to argue with every single new vet/substitute vet that this is the case, including one substitute vet who fought me so hard on it that she delayed things until he was a very, very sick little dog indeed.  I love my current vet because she was willing, in short order, to base his treatment on his history, no matter how inexplicable.)

Once this is done, then we move on to an AeroDawg inhaler, and I gather his records together to head for an alternative vet nearby.

Both of these things are options because we funded a rhinoscopy which didn’t happen, which is pure luck, and because we had the funds at all, which is nothing to do with luck and everything to do with those who have bought (and I hope enjoyed) the book, spread the word or otherwise helped with fundraising, provided good cheer, and made donations.  I am ever grateful for your friendship and continuing interest in Connery’s outcome.

Edit: Aside from the early signs of infection in the eye where I knew he had early signs of infection, Auntie Eye Vet sees nothing of concern with ConneryBeagle’s eyes.  Next, a chat with Uncle Internist Vet to finalize our course of action…but not until Thursday.

And now, before things get too sniffy and sentimental, have some Beagle to start your day:

Play-by-play:

Cloudcroft Jumpers runs:  The boy was just off a new round of meds and had fun! This is the first video I’ve seen of him in jumpers and it’s clear how hard he works to make this jump height, into which he just barely measures.  And I was startled to see my little hoppity stride at the end; I guess the hamstring is still a problem and I just don’t pay much attention…

The first run is all in gloom—if you can’t see the massive monsoon cloud overhead, you can imagine it!  In the second, don’t you love the body language when I realize he’s *gasp* broken his start line?  There’s a first time for everything…and how about that 180×2 dosey-doe in the middle of the course?  Those seem really popular this season around here…  On run three, I hasten to say I don’t usually fling the leash with such vigor; one takes care not to hit the leash runner.  But this particular (very nice) runner had already moved in on a dog at the start-line to grab the leash, and due to Connery’s “been attacked” history, I don’t allow that to happen, so…I wanted that leash OUT THERE!  Then there’s a dicey little moment on the rear cross to weaves, not unexpected; Connery takes a rear cross as a signal for a pretty sharp angle, and the course forced a cross where the angle wasn’t optimal for us.  What a good boy, to fix it with me!

If you were bumming around here last week, you saw it already.  If not, it’s still there…the Connery Vet Report, unfolding pretty much “live” and on air.  I’ve left it there for posterity, as it fairly well chronicles this part of our efforts to get him diagnosed and treated for his baffling headsplosions.

But first, take a moment to step aside and gaze at that progress bar on the right.  You know…how many books we have left to sell to fund this stage of the process?

That would be NONE.  Thanks to kind and compassionate friends–some long-time, some gained through Connery’s journey–the CT scan and probable follow-up rhinoscopy are now funded!

So now, we take a moment to CHEER!!!  Loudly!

Connery:  What’s all the excitement?  BAWH!

However, when we last left our intrepid canine hero, he was scheduled for a CT scan and potential rhinoscopy on Saturday the 23rd.

Except for the part where the CT scanner went down.

SO!  I’m right back where I was last Monday when I wrote that blog: even as you read, I’m calling the clinic to set up an appointment for THIS week.

Wish us luck.

And have a good time with Connery’s three standard runs from Cloudcroft, stitched together in my crude, “What do I know from video editing?” way. 

PS you can so totally hear the BAWH!

PPS my shorts aren’t asymmetrical.  That’s the hamstring brace.  heh heh heh.

The Play-by-Play…

These were all lovely, flowing courses–not a lot of running, but plenty of “better get moving” and plenty of wrong choices for the dogs.  Just watch how many times the courses segue from what seems like a simple series of jumps into a sudden spray of choices.   (Check out run #2, where our quiet run breaks into a bellowing call-off after the teeter!)  That first day has a particularly wicked section where the jumps along the back row (you can’t see them) are all offset, making it tricky to line the dogs up to take the correct tunnel entrance (and not the wrong tunnel or the weaves).

In these cases, it’s all about the set-up from those “simple” jumps.  Like in the first run–set up for the correct tunnel entrance happened way back at the dogwalk: the lateral distance from the walk combined with the way Connery stuck the contact on his own while I ran out ahead let me work the back line  to the tunnel.

Sixteen stories, award-winning authors, and help for a sick dog…

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Award-winning author Doranna Durgin has over 30 published novels and another 19 short pieces. Now her dog-themed stories are collected in THE HEART OF DOG, along with those by other award-winning authors: Jeffrey Carver, Julie Czerneda, Tanya Huff, John Mierau, Fiona Patton, Jennifer Roberson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, & John Zakour.

“If you’ve ever loved a dog, you will love this book…” 
~The Book Faerie

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Edit: Thursday, July 21, we head to the second consultation, after which it’s likely he’ll go directly to the scan and rhinoscopy…
~~~~

Early in July, after lo these many months of working on fundraising for ConneryBeagle, it’s become obvious that Connery is losing ground.

The most recent escalation started shortly after he earned his agility MACH2 in June–he was in pain, he wasn’t able to focus, he stopped playing, and although he happily joined me on any and all training excursions, his performance was off.

Connery’s Auntie Vet and I put our heads together for a mutual “gut feeling” response to the escalating complications, and thank goodness the new course of meds helped. He bounced back to enjoying his activities, being more patient with young Evil Dart Beagle, and bawhing his way through the house during play time.

And this past weekend at gorgeous Cloudcroft, NM, although the change to the 10,000′ altitude triggered headsplosions the first night, Connery grabbed his joy for all six of the weekend’s courses and ran fast, tight, and clean. He sang his Song of Self at the start and finish lines and (as he does when he’s feeling particularly happy with himself), scolded me when the course was a bit too twisty for his liking. “BAWH!” he says. “I’m doing this, but you should be aware that it is Not Right!”

But we still don’t know what’s causing it all, and we’re playing an ever-lagging game of catch-up just to keep taking the edge off his symptoms.

The CT funds are a long way from the cost of the procedure, but I’ve decided to schedule the procedure, go on faith, and plan on some really, really creative accounting while I continue selling the anthology.  I have that “time is running out” feeling. And I’m really, really fortunate, because even in the days since I made that decision, Connery received some incredibly supportive gifts.  We’re still working on it, but…with a little more hope.

In any event, I’m calling the vet to schedule even as this post goes up. The time has come to push my luck, so I’m no longer pushing Connery’s.

Because, ya know…he always deserves to run just this happy:

Clovis, May 30: the MACH2 run

The Play-By-Play: A course full of traps, more about precision handler placement than figuring out how to get there in time (ie, not much with the hard running!). Trap jump in front of the teeter, trap chute to the right going into the box, trap left tunnel entrance, trap chute coming out of the tunnel and through the box again, screeching tight post turn over jumps, trap tunnel x2 coming through the box again…you get the idea.  Shoulder, hand, and foot position…and no leeway!  PS we didn’t realize at the time that this was the MACH run–me and math–so the celebration came at the run AFTER this one…  ;>

Hey, I’m all about making things easy.

I’m also totally excited by the thought of regaining more control over my work–not to mention the potential to sell some of  my garage-stored out-of-print titles currently looking for signed dedications and new homes.  The stumbling block for that has always been the logistics/convenience factor.

Oh yeah, convenience is a good word, too.

So it turns out there’s a WordPress plug-in that will let me do just that, by hooking me up with a shopping cart system via PayPal.  For the ebooks, there’ll be an instant download opportunity.  For the hardcopy books…well, I have to learn a little more about that.  There’s the whole shipping thing, and the potential for taxes within NM, too.  (taxes = *sad*)

Since I’ve always found PayPal to be a little more than impenetrable behind the scenes (it takes approaching a question from five different  directions to find clarity, plus a phone call or two), I don’t expect to sort things out overnight.

But the first thing I can and will do is make it as easy as possibly possible to click the button on THE HEART OF DOG, because I am totally going for it–I want that CT scan for Connery in August.

YES I DO.

If I’ve done it right, the post above this one is a sticky  post, and  right up there is where it’s going to stay.

(If I haven’t done it right, I suspect this will be a very interesting day–as in, “May you be infested with the fleas of a thousand camels, and by the way, have an interesting day.”)

Last week was all about Connery’s MACH2 triumph.

ConneryBeagle: THAT IS RIGHT!  BAWH!

Well, we haven’t talked so much about the increasing headsplosions, or the way the compounded meds look like they’re interacting with his critical immunosuppressant drug, giving him nights of illness while I look for a solution.  Or the way he comes to me when headsplosions strike him out of the blue, and stands beside my writing chair so I can rest my hand on his back , or sometimes the way he just lays his head on my foot in a weary way, not even getting up to manage the latest attack.

Well, it’s always been a balancing act. And he’s still greeting every sign of agility and tracking with glee, so we’re still playing.

Beagley Focus

But I hear a clock ticking.

So it’s TOTALLY GREAT to see the Heart of Dog sales and donations climbing up toward the goal.  Nearly halfway now!

And since so many of you have helped over these past months–by giving the book a chance, by spreading the word, by offering on-line companionship and support–it’s time to take a moment and say thank you.

So far, the book has funded: An endoscopic procedure, blood tests, Valley Fever test, post-procedural meds, emergency vet visit due to post-procedural issues, immunologist consult, internist consult and new meds.  Because of those tests, we know what isn’t wrong.  And we know what’s next–the CT scan.  With that, the vet specialist can see changes within the sinuses–from disease, from injury–and pinpoint areas of possible concern: scar tissue to remove, lurking infection, or embedded foreign objects (such as a foxtail seed).

And then we’ll know for sure what to do for the headsplosions…or if anything can be done at all.

Why the tick-tick-tick of the clock? Because the longer most of these things go without treatment, the harder they are to treat at all.

ConneryBeagle: I am not LISTENING.

So YES!  That means it is TOTALLY BAWHSOME that the sales & donations are making that climb toward 1000 copies.  And it means I’m setting a goal of August to see this through with Connery.

Optimistic?  Yes. But I’m going go for it.

(Wanna help? It’s as easy as spreading the word.  There’s a Tell a Friend button down there…there’s FaceBook, where Connery has his own page, and there’s twitter, and there’s even *gasp* REAL LIFE!)

Sixteen stories, award-winning authors, and help for a sick dog…

Award-winning author Doranna Durgin has over 30 published novels and another 19 short pieces. Now her dog-themed stories are collected in THE HEART OF DOG, along with those by other award-winning authors:

Jeffrey Carver, Julie Czerneda, Tanya Huff, John Mierau, Fiona Patton, Jennifer Roberson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, & John Zakour.

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Some days, there is no bawh loud enough.

I went to the three-day Amarillo trial with Connery’s second MACH (Masters Agility Championship) looming, but too many points outstanding to have any hope of earning them out.

MACH: Twenty double-qualifying runs (QQs, or standard and jumpers on the same day) and 750 speed points (1 speed point per second under standard course time).

MACH2: SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Some dogs have a bazillion speed points and struggle for double Qs; some go the other way.  Connery has decent QQs, but as a square-built little Beagle who’s usually both the shortest and heaviest dog in his height class, he scraps for every single speed point.

SO…

I went into the three-day Amarillo trial with a dog boy who’s been head-hurting since last fall (there’s a reason I’m selling an anthology to fund his CT scan) and then, the week before the trial, started a new med which, as compounded by the specialist pharmacy, held substances that made him sick from both ends for several days.

SO, YANNO…

I just wanted to see him run happy at this trial. No expectations, no assumptions that that ConneryBeagle will be okay to run in the June trials (which is how we’ve been operating for months now: no assumptions).

BUT, YANNO…

Have I mentioned that Connery Beagle loves his agility?

After Saturday’s Double Q and times, I figured we were decently set up for a MACH2 in June if he can run.

After Sunday’s Double Q and times, I figured we were in a great position for June…except I’d just watched Connery display an odd choke-cough through the first half of each course, so the “no assumptions” volume was turned up pretty high.  (Pulling him in mid-course would have felt like a punishment to him–I let him make that decision if we seem to have a problem.)

After Sunday’s rockin’ first course, I just figured the odds were against us.  But I spent a looong time memorizing and walking the jumpers course.  Obsession beats panic, any day of the week.

AND, YANNO…

ConneryBeagle really loves his agility.

CH MACH2 Cedar Ridge DoubleOSeven CD RE XF EAC EJC CGC

CH MACH2 Cedar Ridge DoubleOSeven CD RE XF EAC EJC CGC

Did I say?  There’s a reason I put together a whole anthology for this boy’s CT scan…and why it’s called The Heart of Dog!

I’m off at an agility trial, right this moment! How cool is that?

Dart is currently too evil to run; Belle is running in jumpers only, as befits her semi-retired self, and Connery…

Connery is sooo close to his MACH2. His illness has slowed but not stopped this progress, and as long as it gives him joy…we’re gonna play!

(Here he is as the 20th Beagle to earn a MACH1.  I don’t know how many have MACH2…there are some really nice Beagles running right now!)

ConneryBeagle says, "BAWHSOME!"

Goal #1: Sell 1,000 copies of The Heart of Dog to pay for the CT scan ConneryBeagle needs so badly (with the endoscopic procedure to follow, and the meds and vet visits that come with it).

Goal #2: PUT UP A STUPID PROGRESS BAR SO WE CAN ALL WATCH IT HAPPEN.

The first goal comes on the heels of Connery’s visit with his new internist.  Thanks to the book sales (and outright donations) so far, we had the chance to visit this specialist.  In other words, thanks to the people who have helped to spread the word, hit the “like” buttons on the book’s page at Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords, or (bless you) left reviews.

If you did any of those things…thank you for helping me help Connery in a time when the floundering publishing gestalt means I haven’t been able to do it on my own!

From Auntie Internist Vet, we learned that the February biopsy of Connery’s private nasal recesses showed considerable ongoing damage to those tissues–cause unknown–and that he needs a CT scan to determine what’s happening in that little punkin head and how to target the best treatment.

Swallow, Connery, swallow!

Until then, we’re desperately trying to extinguish that high inflammation, even though it won’t be a permanent solution unless we can target/remove the actual cause.  Connery’s had his last trial, his last big tracking session, and a glorious evening of course run-throughs at our favorite training yard.  Now he’s on several frightening meds.  I’ll keep him active as is possible during this time, but the initial side effects kicked in immediately, so I’m currently in anxious mode.

(Connery’s not particularly concerned about it all at this point, though.  Except for the part where he’s starting hiding when he comes inside because he’s afraid it’s time for a pill or a nose squirt.)

Goal #2?  Because I thought it would be an easy way to let folks know where we stand, not to mention fun!

Well, WordPress wasn’t having any of that FUN stuff. WordPress made a snooty face at the very notion!

I tried a progress bar. Initially it looked good, but then I learned it was breaking lots of browsers.  Oops.  Definitely not fun.  I tried a second, and it did the same thing.  I tried a third, and the blog…broke.

Broke, broke, BROKE THREE HOURS LATER WAHHHHH BUSTED BROKE.

But I am stubborn, and now it is unbroke.  Look!  Right over there! ==> And UP.  Look UP.^

Goal #1:  Bring on the WIN!
Goal #2:  WINNING!