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

Sakura and My Upcoming Trip to the Vets

In my last post, I mentioned that I had a little fiend… I mean FRIEND (oops!) who has been staying with us for the past month.

Everybody, may I introduce you to my new friend, Sakura.

She is a Japanese Spitz and she just turned ONE a few days ago! (More about this later.)

Sakura is a very sweet and adorable little puppy. Her crazy antics always make us laugh. For instance…

…have you ever seen a dog sleeping like this…

…with her tongue sticking out like a cheeky monkey’s?

‘Gasp’ Doggy porn!

The ‘Odd Couple’.

On another note – I am scheduled to see my vet this coming Friday with a possibility of going into surgery to remove the tumours.

According to the humans, I will be sedated and the vet will then do an aspirate on my right paw to check for cancer cells. If no cancer cells are detected, they will proceed with the surgery to have the lump removed. Otherwise I am back to my chemo drugs again.

So, wish me luck my friends. Fingers, paws and tails crossed!

Lots of love,

Homer

Today I was Eight and I Ate, Ate, Ate!

Hello everybody! I have a great announcement to make – Today is my BARKDAY! I am EIGHT years old! Aroo… roo… ROO!

I have always celebrated my past birthdays with yummy cakes. Thankfully, this year was no exception.

Here’s a photo of me waiting patiently for my cake. Can you see it resting on the kitchen stove?

Not only was there a cake; but the Missus had also made some meatballs!

Look at the booti-ful barkday spread! I couldn’t wait to sink my canines in!

Check out my gorgeous cake. The Missus had baked it in the shape of the figure “8”. It was filled with beef, decorated with sausages and bacon bits and prepared with a special ingredient - LOVE!

Look at me. I’m eight and still a very handsome, sexy stud! Wey-hey!

By the way, I didn’t spend my barkday alone. I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet, but we have a guest staying with us at the moment. Her name is Sakura and she’s a Japanese Spitz. She was definitely invited to my barkday pawty. (More on Sakura in my next posting - I don’t want her to upstage my barkday post!).

I quickly gave Sakura some tips on how to ‘succeed’ at barkday pawties.

“Pssst… Sakura, if you want yummy food, you’ve got to wear a silly hat and pose nicely for some photos.”

Sakura was a natural. Here we are wearing our silly pawty hats...

... and how to pose nicely for the camera.

“Is it time to eat yet? I’m starving!”

By this time, my patience was beginning to wear thin and my tummy was growling. As you can see, my eyes were fixed to the cake. Man… I was literally drooling!

I couldn’t wait any longer and made a dash for the meatballs. Sakura could only stare in awe as I gobbled the lot. (They were so much better than Ikea’s!)

Soon it was time for the ‘main event’ – the ceremonial scoffing of the barkday cake!

The Missus started to cut us some small portions…

…needless to say, they didn’t last long on my plate…

…especially when Sakura started ‘helping out’. (Mental note: Don’t invite other dogs to next year’s barkday pawty!)

Within minutes, almost half of the cake was gone.

However, that didn’t stop us circling around like vultures!

Soon enough, Dad was cutting even more portions for us.

Ta-Da! Exactly half of my cake gone! I got a real shock when the Missus suggested that she might keep the ‘0’ for my 10th barkday pawty. I’m sure she was only joking, right?

Let me leave you with one final picture of the ‘Barkday Boy’.

“Happy Barkday to Meeeee, Happy Barkday to Meeeee…”

Arooo… roo…ROO…WOO!

Love,
Homer