Gracie's been doing great. We're enjoying life and having fun. Charlie, her big brother, is such a great companion. The two of them make me laugh when they play. I have to say it's so nice to be here with the pups enjoying another day. Lately Gracie has been sounding a little more snarfly (I know it's not a real word, but it really describes it best), congested and rattly in her nose area - like I wish I could give her a tissue and she could blow her nose.  We've gone to her primary doctor at Village Vets, but everything seems fine. I may be a bit of an over worrier, but we decided to go to Gracie's oncologist at GVS for a follow up just to be sure. It's time for Gracie's recheck anyhow.
Other than that everything is great...and Charlie and Goo couldn't be better....although it would be nice if they would let me sleep past about 6:30 am sometime. Ha.  I love how Gracie has such a puppy face. She's a pet rescue girl and I never saw her as a puppy, but after losing most of her hair during her cancer treatment I feel like I've really seen her come through her puppy phase again. Lucky me!

Gracie's doing great and looking like I imagine she did as a puppy. All her hair is coming back, but in some different shades and a lot coarser than it was before.  I love seeing her feeling well and frisky. We've had a bad stretch of weather with a big dump of snow a few days ago in Atlanta, just in time for opening ceremonies at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. BUT---all that snow has been pretty entertaining where Gracie and her pals are concerned. They are hilarious to watch running around in the snow. Gracie, like me, is a big Olympics fan. We're cheering for two countries---Canada and USA.  Today Canada won their first ever home gold medal.....Gracie couldn't help but celebrate too.
 

Rock Free....yipee!  An x-ray recheck today showed no rock anywhere in Gracie's system. Amazing news. Poor thing had been eating a high fiber special food to help get rid of the last remaining rock. The vets determined that it was probably the smallest of all the rocks that she ingested so they were hoping that Gracie would be able to pass it without it getting lodged in her digestive tract. That seems to have been the case and today they declared Gracie "Rock Free" which was a huge relief. Sweet girl is definitely feeling better. Now we just need to keep her away from the rocks. Why she ate the rocks in the first place remains a mystery. I think she probably swallowed them accidentally while eating grass, but we may never know. It's not something she's ever done before. It's just good news that the rocks are gone.

Gracie continued to throw up in the middle of the night....in it there was something that looked unusual...A ROCK! Seriously, a rock?! So of course we had to go to emergency.  I took the rock in with me, it was a good size, about the size of my thumb nail.  What we had to check next was if there were anymore rocks still in her. There were 3 more. Now we had a tricky situation to deal with, how to get the remaining rocks out. After all that Gracie's already been through now this? Crap! The ER vet gave her something to throw up to see if she was able to throw up the other rocks. Surgery to remove them was something we wanted to avoid if at all possible and the rocks appeared too big for Gracie to pass through her digestive tract making it very dangerous. We tried giving her some food to help push up the rocks when she threw up, it helped. She was able to throw up 2 more rocks, but one big one wouldn't budge. We decided to monitor her for the next 48hours to see if she would eventually throw it up. That means daily trips back to the vets to get Gracie's xrays rechecked to see if the rock has moved.  Poor Gracie girl.
 

I'm not sure what's going on....Gracie's been doing good, aside from a little nasal congestion, but tonight she threw up all her food. I think maybe she just ate too fast, then drank a bunch of water and went and ate some grass to settle her stomach. Still with everything she's had to go through I hate to ever see that she's not feeling well. Charlie is so sweet and sticks close to her , he was following her around this evening even before she threw up...I guess he knew.  A couple of things we learned going through her sick days after treatment were to pick up all her food and to take the water up too to keep her from getting any sicker. Hopefully she'll be feeling better by morning.
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A very sad day for Gracie's extended family. Kona, Gracie's Chocolate Lab cousin and my sister's sweet companion, lost her fight with cancer today. Kona was diagnosed with Lymphoma in August, but unfortunately was not one of the lucky ones to conquer the disease. She fought hard and was so brave. Kona's mom, my sister Sheri, says she got to enjoy one unexpected snow day at their home in Bend, OR. Shortly after that Kona's body gave out. Kona was the best example of how amazingly loving Labs can be, really just another member of the family, far beyond just a pet. Kona will be missed and was so loved. Gracie's brother, sweet Bugsy, will surely share his treats with her up in doggy heaven. I makes me angry that cancer seems to cause so much pain in so many lives that we need to find a cure, but that discussion can wait for another day. Today is for remembering sweet Kona and the love she shared over the years.

Little Gracie is not feeling 100%. She's fussy with her eating, just eating the things she likes and leaving the rest. She's taking her two antibiotics but still sounding "snarfly" in her nose and having little shiver bouts. Charlie, as per usual, is staying close to her. Every time she moves to another space he follows to check up on her. She keeps getting herself snuggled under a blanket which is so cute. Sweet girl, hopefully these antibiotics will will have her feeling better soon.

It's another good day for Gracie I'm happy to say. She was soooo happy to eat this morning, which I always love. Who knew food could be so exciting! Charlie wasn't eating fast enough so Gracie went to check out his bowl to see if he would leave her anything....no such luck. Gracie has finished her last nd of antibiotics so right now she is just taking her supplements with her food. It's hard to believe that on Thursday she is scheduled for her 6th and final round of chemo. Since there was no milk left in the fridge I had to run to the neighborhood coffee shop for my morning latte. Charlie was busy barking at a squirrel in a tree so Gracie was thrilled to come along for the ride. I think the only thing that makes her happier than eating is going for a ride. All in all a good day.

Sweet Gracie is feeling pretty good....and her whiskers are coming in. All the hair she lost on her head left her looking a little bit funny, but now it looks like her bald muzzle (with the exception of the little dark hair that stayed on the top of her nose) is finally starting to get new growth. It's funny because the new hair coming in makes her face itchy so she likes to rub it in her bed, on the couch, on the rug, where ever.  Charlie gets all playful with her when that happens so the two of them pounce around, bark and squeak their toys. Gracie's eating good and seems happy, which of course makes me happy.

Gracie is a happy, happy girl today. She was so excited to eat this morning she was bouncing on the floor when I carried her dish over. She even went to go check if Charlie left anything in his bowl. Charlie wasn't having it. Hilarious. She's eating well, playing with Charlie and taking her fair share of naps. We are giving her a few more days without adding all the supplements back in so as not to upset her system and keep her eating well.