Tributes to Paco and Amber-Mae

I am very sad to announce that two of my long time blogging friends have passed away recently.

My dearest amico, Paco.

PACO

May 24, 2006 - November 11, 2013

I met Paco on several occasions when I was living in Italy. We had such wonderful times together. Paco was a lovely boy who loved his mum, Simona, with all his heart. The Missus and Dad were also smitten by him. You can read more abut our adventures together here, here and here.

Sadly, he crossed the rainbow bridge on 11 November, 2013.

~~~

Booti-ful Amber-Mae

AMBER-MAE

October 28, 2005 - November 23, 2013

Amber-Mae and her mum, Melissa, began blogging around about the same time as Yours Truly. We had been blog-pals ever since I was living in South Korea and have enjoyed ‘stalking’ each other’s blog for many years.

Amber-Mae was a very booti-ful, intelligent and gifted gal who won many prizes in Dog Shows. She also excelled in, amongst many other things, acting, performing tricks and doggy-dancing.

She passed away peacefully on 23 November, 2013.

I will miss both Paco and Amber-Mae dearly.

Run free and wild, my friends. I love you.

My Surgical Wounds are Healing Nicely

A couple of months ago, I had my Mast Cell Tumours (Gosh! I dread those words) removed. One was located on my shoulder blade and the other next to my paw pad.

This was how it looked after I came out from surgery.

The scar was ten centimetres long.

My poor little foot!

I am happy to say that my wounds are recovering nicely and there are no signs of cancer cells in the affected areas.

Here are some photos taken a couple of days ago.

Look at my shoulder now. You can hardly tell that I had an operation.

…and my foot is fine...

…I am very pleased and hope that I never have to go through that again. NEVER!

Halloween 2013

Regular readers will know that every year, without fail, the crazy Missus always comes up with some silly Halloween costume for Yours Truly. Fortunately, I mean UNFORTUNATELY (phew!), I won’t be donning any silly costume this year. As most of you are aware, we have been dealing with a couple of crises lately and the Missus’ priorities have changed to suit the circumstances.

Anywoof, I still can’t resist posting a couple of photos of me trying to look scary. Oh well, for what it’s worth…

Boo! Happy Halloween.

Look at my body! All twisted and contorted! Woooooooohhh...

OK, I admit it. I wasn't trying to look scary. I was just having a 'Homer Nap'!

I Bring Good News

Here’s a quick post to let everyone know that I’m doing fine.

It’s been a month since I had my surgery. So, we went back to the vet a few days ago, he did some aspirates and told us that he couldn’t find any traces of cancer cells in the affected areas. Yay! My surgical wounds are healing booti-fully and there are no signs of the tumours growing back. My vet was very happy with his findings and we were told to go back in three weeks time for another check-up.

Again, with all of my heart, I want to thank all of you for your concern and your well-wishes. Your support was truly appreciated.

I promise I will write a more in my next post.

Till then, take care and see you around the blog!

Love,

Homer

Post Surgery Report

It’s been two weeks since I visited my vet for the latest check-up on my Mast Cell Tumours. He took a few aspirates; discussed the variable options with my humans and surgery was decided.

Two lumps – one on my right shoulder and the other on my front left paw were removed. The surgery went smoothly without any complications.

At this moment, we can only hope that there aren’t any residual traces of Mast Cells lurking around. According to my vet, and various sources from the Internet, if there are cancer cells left behind, the tumours tend to grow back with a vengeance. So far, the signs look good. I am back on my chemo drugs for a month, after which I’ll have to go back to the vet for another check-up.

To make sure that my wounds were able to heal, my movements have been restricted since the surgery. My daily walkies have been cut short and I’m not allowed to use the stairs.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone again for all of your concern and well-wishes. I have not been given the all-clear yet so I hope you will keep me in your thoughts for a little while longer.

Fingers, paws and tails crossed. I love you all.

Homer

PS: I’ve attached some photos of my ouchie parts. Please skip this if you are squeamish.

Photo taken early this year.

Mast Cell Tumour located on my left shoulder. This photo was taken early this year.

Mast Cell Tumour located next to my paw pad. This photo was taken early this year.

This is how my paw and my shoulder look like after the surgery.

Me and Sakura

Woof from Homer! I hope all is fine and well on your side!

Remember my friend Sakura who visited me recently? Well, here are some photos taken during her stay. We got on like a house on fire!

Here you go…

Meal times with Sakura were a ‘treat’. Here we are waiting patiently for our roast chicken dinner. It took us less than a minute to eat the lot!

Here’s a photo of Sakura finishing the last morsel while I jealously look on. She’s so greedy!

While she was here, Sakura mimicked my every move. Notice how she tries to copy my favourite sleeping position?

Whenever we went to (my) bed, Sakura didn’t hesitate to make herself comfortable…

…we sometimes got too comfortable!

Oh well, as they say: “Let sleeping dogs lie”.

Of course, whenever it was time for me to visit the groomer, Sakura had to tag along.

Here we both are, covered in foam and bubbles.

Check out Sakura’s pointy ears. Doesn’t she look comical?

The Missus thinks she looks like Yoda. 

And here we are, all preened, pruned, and smelling of roses!

The lovely Sakura, posing nicely for the Missus.

I’ve also attached a short video of Sakura giving me a grooming session…

On a different note, I will be making a visit to the vet this coming Tuesday with the possibility of me having surgery. The same process is going to be repeated as I described in my previous posting. First they will take aspirates from my tumours to find out if they are operable. I am keeping my paws crossed and hoping that everything turns out fine.

Love,

Homer

Fifty Shades of Pink

Woof everyone!

I have a couple of announcements to make.

First of all, I want to tell you about the weird experience I recently had at Sakura’s barkday party. For those of you who don’t remember, Sakura’s my newfound friend who stayed with me for a month while her humans were out gallivanting in China .

While she was here, Sakura celebrated her first birthday and the Missus decided to mark the occasion by throwing her a small party. Naturally, Yours Truly was invited. YEAH!

However, my initial excitement was short-lived. As Sakura is a girl-dog, the Missus decided that the theme of the party would be PINK. Everyone who wanted to attend had to be dressed in pink. And not just any pink…SHOCKING PINK!

My reaction? I was terrified, horrified and petrified! The only thing that overcame my fears was the promise that cake would be served. What’s a dog to do? I swallowed my pride and decided to play along…

Here I am, donned in a hot pink feather boa and fishnet stockings. Lady Gaga would be so proud.

You can tell from my facial expressions in the photos that I was feeling as embarrassed as hell! Meanwhile, Sakura was behind the glass door, sniggering to herself at my discomfort.

Sakura wore different shades of pink and she enjoyed every minute of it!

She even got to wear a TIARA!

Me: “DOG. Please get this over with quickly and let me have my cake.”

And voila! DOG answered my prayers as Sakura’s cake miraculously appeared!

We stared at the cake intently, hoping that our telekinetic powers would make it fall from the table. Guess what? It did!

Me and Sakura wolfed down the yummy cake, finishing every morsel.

Sakura: “shfhdsfiuewhfsdjn”
Translation – “Me loves cake!”
(Sorry for the loss in translation. Sakura is only One and she’s pretty new to using the keypad…)

…but she’s already accustomed to stealing my share of the cake!

And now for the second announcement.

In my last posting, I mentioned that I would be visiting the vet with a possibility of surgery to remove the tumours. Well, the vet did an aspirate and still discovered cancer cells in the lumps. The good news is that the number of cancer cells is decreasing, but the bad news is that I have to continue with the yucky chemo drugs.

So, no surgery was performed on that day and it has now been rescheduled for three weeks time. Once I have any more updates, I’ll let you know.

As for my Singapore Grandma, the conventional chemo treatment was not working for her and so her human-vet has decided to put her onto a clinical trial.

Thank you for all of the kind comments and emails that the Missus and I have been receiving. I’m so thankful to have such wonderful four and two legged friends who love me! I’m a happy dog. ☺

“…when it comes to food, I am immoral. I will do anything for food…”

~ Homer, the International Jet-Setting Golden Retriever