My thoughts are with you, Sue.  You wrote it cause we all care and know how you feel!

Hugs,

Tracy, maggie's Mom

Dear Sue,

we will be thinking of you and crossing paws that Nova is only a little lazyer than normal.

Cecilia & Spirit Hori

Maybe some GI meds will help her feel better?  Pepcid?  Raven was on Pepcid (antacid), metoclopramide (speeds up the motility, anti-nausea), and sucrulfate (coats the stomach).  He was doing what you describe months before he died and it was immediately fixed with these meds.  Just a thought.

And try not to get ahead of yourself, even if she has lung mets, as Raven did, they can do fine with them for a long time.  They were very advanced in Raven, yet had nothing to do with why his time came.

Queen Nova and you will be in my prayers!  Awaiting an update...

Dawn

Hi Sue.  It's hard to relax knowing our babes have a very bad disease.  Having said that, Max did not show symptoms of his lung mets until about 3 months after we discovered them.  He had x-rays on 9/9/09 and everything was clear; 10/31/09, he had one met.  We never heard a cough, hack, shortness of breath or anything else out of him until just 2 days before he passed.  If other complications had not set in, I believe Max would have been with us for another 2 - 3 months.  So, I guess my point in posting this is, try not to worry too much (easier said than done, I know!).  Take her to the vet tomorrow, see what they say.  Max went off his food a little too; we adjusted and gave him whatever he wanted; we knew he wasn't getting the healthiest food we could give him, but at least he was getting a meal.  Be with your girl tonight, that's the most important thing you can do right now.

We always think of Nova and Trouble, as they are members of a very esteemed group, The November Five!  Give her a pet for us; we're sending our good thoughts your way.

Hang in there,

Diane & John

Sue and Queen Nova,

There is no doubt about the fact, that I log on regularly to keep up todate regarding both Queen Nova and Trouble. The November Five will always be pulling for you and you both are in our prayers. This group definately beat the odd (life expectency wise) and when you realize just how bad Miss Cherry's condition was at her diagnosis (last weeks posting to you), one realizes that we destroyed the life expectency projections. That is for another post later when I attempt to encourage all starting this journey to ignore the life expectency discussion, focus on the quality of life discussion, and just go for it.

Now, at the risk of offending everyone, did we not just go through a scare last week? Admin is totally right – "Try not to fear that which you cannot control!" For Queen Nova's sake, try to keep an even keel and remain optimistic. Yes, you should post here for some of us actually have the experience that may help keep it in perspective. Examining Miss Cherry's detailed journal, I read that she had a sour tummy some time between April 24 and May 2, 2009. Just before we arose in the morning, she vomited an extremely yellow bile, would not touch any food until late in the day, but ate a great dinner and asked for more. She continued to repeat these displays on a regular basis before we lost her seven months later. Starting at about seven years old, Allie, (my Emily's Sheltie), would have nearly identical symptoms. We finally controlled Allie's by giving her a small dose of Pepsid before bed, and to feed her four times a day. With the Pepsid and some food in the tummy, she no longer had these spells. For many reasons, I would urge you to feed Queen Nova much smaller meals and very frequently. There has been discussion that this should also help torsion which was a constant fear of mine and a very large problem in Great Danes. Of course the appetite is not a great sign. However, throughout Miss Cherry's many great months, she would decide that the existing menu was just up to her taste. That is why we have six different types of canned food, three types of kibbles, five types of biscuits, and two types of jerky. What a pill she could be.

A small antidote that hopefully will put a smile on your face – in all the years that I had Miss Cherry and literally the hundreds of times that she vomited because of these sour tummy gremlins, she actully hit the carpet on only a handfull of times. Most often, she would sit erect where she was, look over at me with a look that I knew what was comming, and we would make it to some type of container. Often in the middle of the night, as she lay in her bed along side mine, she would get up and head for the master bath. I would arise, open the lid, and she would promptly vomit in the stool before going back to bed. She even did this in the RV and I am not making this kind of things up. Are you smiling yet?

Know that we are always here for support even though I will not be able to be online as often after Friday. This will be for just two weeks, so I will have Miss Cherry whisper in Queen Nova's ear that she needs to stop worrying Mom. Above all, you need to take care of yourself so that you can be there when Queen Nova again dances in the snow for you.

Bob