Well I am happy to report that it has been 2 WHOLE WEEKS without any dog dramas in the house.  3 weeks since Nova's Memorial Day weekend nightmare.  So all continues to be fine and dandy in the Kingdom.  I wanted to tell you about something really special that I did this weekend, after putting it off for way too long.  Even though I have talked several times with Tesa’s mom, Jill, we had still not met in person, so I went to go meet her at a craft show that was about 30 minutes from my house.  It was inside at a church, so I couldn’t take Nova along for the R-I-D-E.  I am sure you remember Tesa.  Her mom Jill posted on Tripawds a awhile back about her amputation and upcoming chemo.  She also had osteosarcoma, but is a rear leg Tripawd (Nova is a front leg Tripawd).  I am happy to report that Tesa is recovering wonderfully from her amputation, and she just started her first round of chemo this past Friday.  I took along a bag of “appetite-stimulating” goodies for Tesa, namely canned DUCK and canned RABBIT, two things that stimulated Nova's appetite when she was queasy from her carboplatin.  

Well those of you who have done chemo, you know it costs big bucks.  Jill is doing something WAY COOL to help defray the costs of Tesa’s treatments.  She has gone way beyond simply asking others for cash donations, she has started a small business called “Treats for Tesa”.  She bakes all different kinds of wonderful dog treats, packages them up, and sells them to pawrents as a fundraiser for Tesa's care.  She travels to various craft shows on the weekends to sell the treats, along with many other wonderful handmade items like fleece bones and dog pillows, tug toys, and all sorts of other cool stuff like spinners that humans can put out in their yards.  Nova loved her delicious grain-free peanut butter treats, handmade chicken jerky (not that junk from China), fleece University of Michigan bone, and a giant pillow with pink owls all over it.  All CUSTOM MADE WITH LOVE by a TRIPAWD MOM!  It just doesn’t get any better than that!  I tell ya, some of the most cherished items I have are those that were handmade by other Tripawd Pawrents, like our ornament made by Gayle's Mom and Tripawd Mom necklace made by Jerry's Mom.  Here is a picture of Nova with her new pillow made by Jill.  It smelled just like Great Dane (Jill has two Danes) so she slobbered all over it right away and carries it around like it's her baby:

You probably remember the gorgeous photos of Nova I posted a couple weeks ago taken by my friend Kelly.  Well, Kelly is going to do some shots of Nova and Tesa together VERY, VERY soon.  It will be a great photo shoot…. 2 gorgeous Great Danes, 6 long legs…. a beautiful girl just starting her cancer journey and a regal Queen 3 1/2 years into hers.  And Kelly is going to do some special shots of Tesa and Jill together too like she did for me.  It will be so fun.  Of course I will share the photos once we can make it happen.  We need to wait a little bit to make sure Tesa is tolerating her chemo ok.

A quick update on the so-called “brain tumor”… Nova has not have any issues at all since that terrible Memorial Day weekend.  We still don’t know if the doctor was right about her diagnosis, but it sure doesn’t seem like he was.  I haven't yet had her tested for Addisons.  She is on a very small dose of Prednisone (which is the treatment for Addisons anyway) but once I can build the "dog emergency fund" back up, I plan to have her tested, just to see.  She really doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with her.  We are taking it one day at a time, loving life and having a great time together.

Well, I am no Pawpawrazzi like Kelly, but have been trying to improve my photography skills.  My kids laugh at me because I photograph the dogs more than I do them, but they know that's because the dogs are willing subjects.  Here is a nice photo I took of Nova this afternoon showing you that "ALL IS WELL" in the Kingdom of Queen Nova: