RIP Dear Traveler

Yesterday morning I lost my cousin, Traveler as he passed over the rainbow bridge. He was my Aunt Michelle's beloved nine-year old golden retriever.



Mommy got a call a bit after 7am saying Aunt Michelle was taking him in to the vet and that he wasn't doing well. Traveler had been having trouble for a year or so now and a battery of tests where inconclusive. In the end, seems he had an abdominal tumor and it ruptured yesterday morning. He was certainly uncomfortable and there were no options for him.

Traveler was the light of her life and quite literally her rock. She got him while she was doing travel nursing, thus his name, and he went everywhere with her. Here is a picture of Aunt Michelle giving Traveler a kiss before he goes to the bridge- actually all these pictures are of Traveler yesterday.



Traveler was the consumate golden retriever. Always friendly and happy, greeting you at the door with a ball, or two or even three in his mouth excited to see you and waiting for you to throw it. He was a gentle, kind soul.

They waited to let him go until Mommy got to the clinic to say goodbye to this dear wonderful boy.

Please say a prayer for him, and for my Aunt Michelle. She has had a difficult life, but I don't think she's ever known grief like this. Our family will certainly miss him.

May God greet him warmly.

Update

Just wanted to let you all know that Mom and Dad made it home okay from California. It's taken mom a whole week to get back on schedule, she keeps saying something about getting old...

anyway, she has spoken to Cathy and seems baby boy Cecil is doing really well. He's getting around well and the vet says his eyes look great! She takes him for rides since it is his favorite thing to do and has built a ramp along side her bed so he can easily get up there to sleep with her. Sounds spoiled, right? Yup! That's just what we wanted! heheheh!

Mom and Dad said to thank you all again for all the wonderful support you gave with Cecil. You all are the bestest!!

Now, I wanted to tell you about a dog in Austin that needs a new home. She is a young 9 year old smooth fox terrier. She is a retired champion and is a beautiful girl.



Isn't she a beauty? Here's another...



Jet is healthy, up to date on all vaccinations, is heartworm negative, is on heartworm and flea preventative, and is microchipped. She is a lovely, affectionate girl who wants nothing more than to be close to you and lay in your lap. This little girl really deserves a great home. Jet is housetrained (doggy door) and gets along well with other dogs.

If you or someone you know may be interested in Jet, please email Julie at wftmomx2@yahoo.com ...please pass the word! This girl needs a home!

Jet is in Austin, TX but transport can be arranged for the right family!

Cecil has gone to his new home

Cathy and Judy left with Cecil yesterday. What truly remarkable people. Cecil couldn't be in better hands.

They didn't end up making it Friday night---the poor ladies left NJ to head to Easton and the directions they printed were for Easton PA not Easton Maryland...their 3 hour drive was over 7...urgh...

Anyway, they ended up arriving in Easton late Friday night and stayed at a nearby hotel. They came around 10am Saturday morning and I'll tell you that it was love at first sight. I've never seen Cecil behave like that..it was like he was saying "I've been waiting for you for so long!" What a wonderful thing it was and it made it so easy for Steve and I to say goodbye because it was so clear that Cecil wanted to be with them. God found these women for him, no doubt about it. He jumped around and gave her sweet kisses and when she turned her attention momentarily to Finnegan, he got in front of her and pawed at her as if to say..."you are here for ME!"


Here is a nice video!


They brought three big bags of toys and snacks for our boys and they are rummaging through them as we speak...it's like Christmas around here!!!

When they left, Cecil was ready to go. Cathy climbed in the bacseat so she could sit with him and Steve [icked Cecil up to put him in and Cecil cried..he wanted to get to her...that was all he was focused on. He loves her already it was so clear. Just divine.

I've spoken to her today and she said he slept in bed with her last night and woke her up this morning to go outside. He has eaten well and is getting the hang of where things are at her house including his ramp up to the bed! She has an appointment for him on Monday at 6pm to see the eye specialist up there and a friend of mine whose dogs where seen by the same vet is going to meet her there kind of to be an ambassador! How nice!

We will miss that baby and his wonderful, gentle soul but I couldn't be happier for him...what a perfect family for him...what a gloriuous existance he will have...how thankful I am for this for him....and for all of you...thank you all so much for the love and support..for all the wonderul emails, and cards and for donating to make all this happen for him...we can all rest well at night knowing that we made a differnce...a BIG difference in this one boy's life and he, like myself are so very grateful to each of you.

Good News!

Cecil and I just got back from his checkup appointment and the news is good!! Yippee!!

I can hardly believe it! The pressure in his eye was 11 (anything under 15 in a glaucoma eye is good!) the pressure in the other eye was 7. I hate to even jinx it, but it looks good for him!! Oh! And the best part....he can still SEE!!! His vision isn't as good as it was immediately after his lens surgery, but it is better than going into all of this...and no telling what it will ultimately be untill all the swelling goes down.

We go back on Friday morning for his last appointment before he goes to his new home.

I can’t even begin to thank you all enough for all the prayers and support! I could never ever have done it without you all!!!!

By the way- we got 17 cards in the mail yesterday...yippee!1

Cecil is home again

Well, Cecil came home today. He had about 30 hours straight of maintaining a good eye pressure so the doctor decided to release him. He is so drugged that he is just a limp little wet rag. His eye looks, well....honestly it looks awful. Apparently the conjuctava sloughs off in the healing process and his eye just looks like its been in a train wreck. I pray the pressure holds steady now. Here is a picture of him on his way home---



And here is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge---we have to cross this 4 mile bridge each way to get Cecil to the vet which is about 100 miles round trip....but it sure is a pretty trip...just wish we didn't have to deal with beach traffic!!




He is on many more medications again...he's on 5 different drops (some right eye, some left, some both--- some twice a day, some threee times a day and some four times a day) and 6 different oral medications again some once a day, some twice, some three and some four...I bought a pill keeper to try to help me keep it all straight.




I can tell you that at this point he really can't see much but the Dr still calls it
"functional" vision. She said his optic nerve looks good, but no real idea how much damage there has been to the retina.

Here is Cecil getting carried inside by his daddy. You can see that the poor fella is really out of it.



I plan to take him to work with me tomorrow (despite the fact that it's against regulations)



Please continue to pray for him. He is certainly not out of the woods and it is clear the the poor baby just feels rotten.

His own email account?

Hi all-

A friend recommended that we create an email account just for Cecil so some of you who are a distance away can still send thoughts to Cecil and I will print them out and give them to his new owner Cathy and his Aunt Judy next week when they come to adopt him.

We would really like to have the cards, but this will work too!

Cecil's email address is....drum roll please....

cecilthewirefox@gmail.com

THANKS EVERYONE!!!

Cecil on Saturday...

Mackie's mom here again-- Mackie sure is being patient about me stealing his blog, but he understands. Here is the latest on Cecil as of Saturday morning.

I got the call from the vet this morning and it looks like the inflammation really subsided a lot last night. She said he still has a considerable amount, but less is better by far. She said he has still had several pressure spikes and that she went in at 11pm last night and drained more fluid from his eye and that he would need another TPA injection today to help with the inflammation. She is obviously really touched by this fella too since she just went in at 11-pm to check on him.

She said he is still visual (yippee) but that his vision has diminished since his lens surgery a month ago- but she called it "functional vision" I can certainly deal with functional vision!

So the goal is to keep after the inflammation and hope his pressure stabilizes more today. I agreed to allow her to keep him again tonight (which is about $250 per night) because he just isn't stable at this point. She said unless something happens today that I would get another report until tomorrow morning. All in all, I would consider that a good report!

Thanks to everyone for praying and for checking in on him! We are all really on edge around here and I think it's passed on to our boys because Finnegan is now sick...diarrhea and vomiting. Sigh..

Oh, and thank you so much to all of you for sending cards! I think that's going to be a nice surprise for Cecil's new Mom Cathy and Aunty Judy.

Cecil's overnight update is not encouraging

Overnight update:

I called the hospital this morning at 6am to check on Cecil and it didn't sound like the news was very good.

Apparently the pressure in Cecil's eye spiked to 33 again last night and when the hospital called the eye specialist in the middle of the night she had them start him on a medication, Mannitol--(the same one from Wednesday night that brought the pressure down in his eye) but this time, it increased the pressure to 44. Another call into Dr. Hyman and she had the overnight Dr put drain fluid from his eye. This can't be good.

Dr. Hyman gets in at 9am and I will try to be patient at least until 10:30am if she hasn't called me, I'll call her.

Oh that poor baby boy. I really prayed this would work. Dear God, please.

On another note- I have a favor to ask of everyone. Can you please send a card to Cecil? I want to put them all together and give them to his new mommy next week when she comes to get him. Only thing is though that I have to have them by next Friday at the latest! I want to show her how many people have been praying and supporting him. Please send to:
Cecil Spielman
608 South Street
Easton MD 21601

Thanks all!

Cecil's Glaucoma Surgery

Mackie's mom here again. I;ve asked Mackie to let me blog for a bit because I'm a faster typer heheheh! Anyway, since our last post,we had to leave Cecil at the emergency clinic last night and the vet called in the morning to say that his pressure was down to 20 but that he was going to need glaucoma surgery and right then to save his eye. The costly surgery was an additional $1800 and Cecil's new mommy (Cathy) and new Aunt Judy agreed to pay it. Can you imagine that? They haven't even met Cecil yet. This boy really has an angel on his shoulder.

Anyway, Dr. Hyman called just called us to say that Cecil is doing well after his glaucoma surgery. She said he has a lot of inflammation but it is still within range of what she'd expect to see. She said immediately after the surgery, his pressure was 11 and now it is 4 which is low, but again she said it is within the boundries of what she'd expect with all the inflammation he has.

I asked about his vision and she said that she can't tell at this point but that since he went into surgery with vision, she has no reason that he wouldn't have it now..

So, I guess the news isn't stellar, but no bad news at least. He won't come him until Saturday. Now we just need the inflammation to stay in check and for infection to stay out.


Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. You have no idea what it has meant to me...and I've been telling Cecil that he has a fan club of serious prayers!



Melissa with Mackie, Finnegan, Ollie and of course, our baby boy, Cecil.

Its been a rollercoaster...Cecil's back to the emergency clinic

I just got home from an unexpected trip to Annapolis to take Cecil to the emergency clinic. I just knew his eye didn't look right when I got home. It looked blue and cloudy and when I left the clinic on Tuesday, the vet showed me his eye with a pen light and asked if I saw how clear it was---I did...she said if it changed to call her. Well, it was obvious that it had changed. I called her and she said to come right in...that she would be gone, but would leave instructions for the people at the emergency clinic (the referral center practices and emergency clinic share a facility)

When I got there they checked the pressure in his eye and it was back up to 46. Very bad. So, once again he's staying the night at the clinic and they will have him on an intervenous medication to help stabilize him until the eye doc gets in in the morning. The trip this evening cost over $400 and $160 of that was just to walk through the door essentially. The rest is just to keep him stabilzed, but tomorrow he will have to go through the same treatment he had on Monday and yet again, I'm waiting with baited breath to find out if he'll keep his eye. I know he'll be find if he isn't able to, but we need to get him to a point where he is stable regardless of whether its with the eye or without it.

It's been a rollercoaster of emotions (and of driving)! I just want the baby to get well and healed. I so want him to have this eye and his vision, but if it isn't to be, I can accept it (like I have a choice) at this point I just want him to be pain free and healed.


Thank you all for your continued support. Please pray for him like you have never before. I suspect we are at a critical moment for him.

Cecil's HOME!!

Yippee! Cecil is home and as you can see in the pictures, he has his eye! It was touch and go and the vet says he's not completely out of hte woods, but he has his eye and the best part of it all is that he can still see!!Yup! they caught it in time! Seems that the inflammation he had last week caused protein to build in his eye and it blocked some type if duct inside his eye that kept all the medications we;ve been giving him from actually getting to where they needed to go. Go, the vet went in and cleared out the protein and we pray it doesn't come back.
So he's home and he's doing pretty well! We have a lot more medications to his already long list to give him and the vet taught us how to do certain tests to help us know if something like this happens again maybe we can catch it earlier.
he goes back to the vet on Friday.
Thank you ALL so much for your prayers. I truly believe that this is what saved his eye and his vision. You all are the bestest!

Hugs- Mackie and Finnegans' Mom, Melissa

Bad News

Mackie's Mom here- I took Cecil for his follow-up visit today and the news was not good. His inflammation is still there, but what is much worse is that the pressure in his eye has spiked to 55 (should be between 8-10 roughly) so he is having a glaucoma episode and the risk to his eye is severe. The eye vet is fearful that it may have already done irreputable damage to his retina and may take his vision if we are lucky enough that he doesn't loose his eye completely.

I feel completely devastated. Honestly I would rather he never had had his vision back at all than to loose it mere weeks after he regained it. To top it off the vet said he has to be in dire pain. It just kills me.

They have kept him overnight to do a few emergency procedures on him with hopes of getting it controlled. I hope to hear from the vet soon. Please pray for him. This completely breaks my heart.



Melissa

Cecil has had a setback

Cecil went for his 2 week follow-up today and it was a bit disappointing. He has "moderate" inflammation and has definately suffered a set-back in his recovery.
Last week the vet reduced several of his medications because he was doing so well, so she increased his prednisone back to 2x daily, increased some of his drops and changes one of them to a different prescription.

Mom said she lucked out, because this bottle (1.5ml) is normally $105 per bottle and they GAVE her two of them because someone had returned two unopened bottles and they had them on the shelf from last week and she was the lucky reciepient of two bottles!! (yippeee!)

They removed Cecil's stich in his eye and said that normally he would be able to go without the cone at this point, but the vet said to keep it on him and he has to have almost NO activity. She's precribed a sedative for him for morning and evening because Cecil has found his inner fox terrier this week and is a ball of energy!

Mom takes him back on Monday (it would have been two-weeks until the next follow-up without this set-back.)

Please keep Cecil in your prayers this week. We need his inflammation to go away so he can be released and go to his new home.

Thanks everyone!

Cecil Update

Isn't that picture neat? Its of Cecil's eye upclose...that's right, the eye he can see out of now! See the stitch in the corner of it? The vet says that will most likely come out next week? Cecil had his first follow up appointment with his eye surgeon today. It went beautifully! She said he is healing really well and that everything looks great in his eye. His pressure in both eyes is still a bit on the low side, but she said it was okay considering he's only a week out of surgery.

I can tell you that in the past two days Cecil has really come to it--his vision has really improved this week and he can see everything. The doctor siad it will refine itself over the next week too. Just Sunday, I had him outside on the leash and a bicyclist went by and he carefully and quietly studied them riding all the way down the street and when they turned the corner, he looked up at me as if to say "Wow!, Cool! What in the world was that?"



It's so amazing to watch him regain his confidence..for instance, when I put the food bowl down he just runs right up to it, whereas before he almost had to search for it. He's really enjoying things now--but he really wishes we would take that silly cone off his head!

Happy Birthday to Finnegan!

Finnegan asked me to tell all his friends thank you for the birthday wishes. He's pretty tired because one of our former foster puppies was here all weekend and he's been doing a lot of playing with him in our backyard...Eddie is bigger than Finnegan and can run faster so he really gave him a run for his money. Mom says she's glad she has at least one wire who gets along with other dogs..not sure what THAT is supposed to mean...anywaym Finnegan had a good playmate for his birthday weekend and mom and dad bought him a present and they said there is going to be an ice cream party later...which means for today (and today only) Finnegan is my best friend! heheheh! I LOVE ice cream!!
Anyway, Finnegan is three year old today which in round about terms means he entered adulthood today. Dad says he'll still act like a little fool until he's 15...mom says she doesn't care, she doesn't want him to age too quickly.
Anyway, thanks to all our friends!

Cecil is HOME!

Mackie's mom here just giving a report on Cecil. It's been a long day. Went to the eye clinic this afternoon to get Cecil and they were having emergency after emergency. (Apparently 2 emergency surgeries) so the vet wasn't ready for me, so I sat, and sat, and sat. Finally after quite some time she buzzed in to say that Cecil was doing well and that his swelling really reduced overnight and he looked great. SHe went through the procedure with me and the aftercare including all the medications..WOW does he have a lot of medications...4 different drops, some for the left eye, some for hte right and one for both--some of these are 2x a day, and some are 4x a day...he has 5 differnt oral meds and again, one is once a day, and the others are mostly 2x a day...it's going to be hard to keep track of it all! I've written out a cheat sheet!
Anyway, they brought Cecil out to meet me and guess what? HE CAN SEE!!
Isn't that amazing? You should have seen his face when I spoke to him---it was like "Oh, that's what you look like?"
It is SO cool. He is very happy, but totally beat...just look at the pics of him on the long drive home (its 100 miles round trip)






and just look at him since we've brought him home---






I guess that poor baby is tired!!

Thank you all for your support and prayers! He's doing really well!

Hugs!

Cecil's Surgery is done!

We just got a call from Cecil's doctor and we have awesome news!

The surgery went very well and the little fella has a new lens now! They weren't sure they were going to be able to cause the vet said she thought there was a tear in there, but looks like it was just inflammation that showed up on his ultrasound. So he has a new lens and will be able to see just great! WOW!! Isn't that incredible?
We are waiting to hear if he can come home tonight or if mommy has to go get him in the morning, but regardless, he is doing really well. Thank you all for your support and prayers!

Cecil's Surgery is today

Cecil's eye surgery is today. Mom is getting ready to take him over to Annapolis. Everyone, please keep little Cecil in your prayers today! We are praying the tear in his left eye isn't too big so they can put a new lens in, but mostly, just want the little guy safe and healthy!
Just say a word to the big guy upstairs, okay?

Thanks everybody! I will let you all know later how he does!!

Cecil Update--Great News!

Mackie's mom here---Just want you all to know that Cecil is scheduled for his eye surgery on Monday! Whoopie!

We went for his follow up visit on Monday and the pressure and inflammation in his eyes looked so good that the Dr suggested we go ahead with step 3 which was the retinal tests on that very day!

So, this the news from the appointment- Cecil is in fact 100% blind in his right eye as they had thought. The retina is detached and shriveled up. His left eye looks like a good candidate for surgery. He does has a moderate to high risk of glaucoma, as a matter of fact, the vet said there is a possibility he had a glaucoma incident in the right eye that was left untreated. So he will need to be monitored and will need drops in his eyes daily for the remainder of his life. (not an issue, he is SO easy!)

So we have pre-surgery drops to start him on this morning and he has an appointment at 9am on Monday to go in for surgery!! Can you imagine? This time next week, Cecil will be able to see!! It makes me cry! I just can't wait!

And just think all this because a group of people who love animals got together and decided to make a difference. Thank you so much to you all! I can't wait to give you the next update on Monday!

Oh- I almost forgot!! The other spectacular (pardon the pun) news for Cecil...he has a new home to go to once he is healed!! A wonderful woman who has had 4 wires in the past put in her application for him. Her vet check nad home visit were stellar and when I spoke to her, I found out her last two wires had health issues and she is fully prepared for a special needs dog including the costs associated with his eye monitoring and drops to prevent glaucoma. She is a youngish retiree so is home all day, she and her sister live together- no kids, no other dogs---he'll enjoy the peace and love he so deserves! She is so excited and can't wait until I give her the go ahead to come get him!

All good news!! I can't say thanks enough to you all for your support and help!

Thank you friends!

Just wanted to say thank you to all my doggy pals and your pawrents. You all have really helped us with Cecil. We still have a long way to go, but mom has already scheduled Cecil's next doctor's appointment to get a follow up and check the pressure in his eyes since it was so low before.
Many of you have even been asking about me! (so sweet of you!) I'm doing much better now...at least for about three weeks now my eyes have done a lot of clearing up and mommy is praying each and every day that they stay that way. My skin isn't perfect, but I can live with it--mommy gives me baths in medicated shampoo and I am still on my allergy med and prednisone, which I'll probably be on forever. Anyway, it's working for now so keep your paws crossed that it keeps up...three weeks is like the longest period of time in a few years now that I haven't had ear infections.
Anyway, thanks to all my friends for donating and for putting Cecils story and button on your bloggies...you all are the bestest...paws down.