Kukaniloko Birthstone State Monument

Kukaniloko is where Hawaiian royalty gave birth to their children, in order to ensure their high-ranking status. The lava stones were believed to have the power to ease labor pains – although no one knows if the stones were as effective as a good epidural.


If you don’t know what you’re looking for, its very easy to overshoot this site. It’s at an intersection with only a small paved section to indicate the way. There are stones blocking the red clay path, so cars can’t go out to the site. Its only about a quarter of a mile walk, though, from the road to the main cluster of stones.



There are roughly 180 stones, scattered over half an acre. The majority of them are in a grove of eucalyptus and coconut trees, and the entire area is surrounded by pineapple fields. There are two rows of 18 stones leading to the grove, one for each of the 36 chiefs that would witness the birth. And to think, some people stress over which family members to allow at the birth...





In a way, the stones remind me of cairns I’ve seen in Scotland and Mexico (although I don’t think they were called cairns in Mexico. Angel? A little help, please?) Regardless of what they’re called, these areas are sacred for a reason. They always give me a feeling of peace and serenity, and make me feel more connected to the past.

Random Spots Around Oahu

During our various forays around the island, I saw a truly obscene amount of simply gorgeous scenery. Whenever possible, I got Matt to stop so I could get out of the car to take some photos. Other times, though, I just switched to the speed setting of my camera and rolled the car window down. Amazingly, I managed to get some good pictures, even traveling at 55 mph.

On the way to Matt’s place from the airport, we stopped at Bellows Air Force Base for my first dose of sand and water.


The next day, we visited Kualoa Bay, where I could get a view of Mokoli’i, also known as Chinaman’s Hat.


The mountains near the bay also provided an interesting sight. Look at the right side of the mountain, just above the palm trees. Its almost as though the mountain is watching over the various small islands in the bay.


The waves along the North Shore weren’t doing anything spectacular, but the beaches were beautiful. The water varied between blue and green, and was so clear that it was easy to see the bottom.





These are shots of the mountains from the car. The reddish coloration is where a fire burned through forest, damaging trees and exposing the ground.

Byodo-In Temple

On Thursday, Matt and I visited the Byodo-In Temple. It is aptly located in the Valley of the Temples. Tall mountains surround the valley, providing a beautiful backdrop for the temple. While there, I saw the temple cat, a black swan, a grumpy peacock, and slews of hungry koi.


A bit of background on the temple:

This Buddhist temple is a replica of the 900-year-old Byodo-In located in Uji, Japan on the southern outskirts of Kyoto. The temple was built in the 1960's to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant workers in Hawaii who came to work in the sugar plantation fields. Inside the Byodo-In Temple is a nine-foot Lotus Buddha. It is the largest wooden Buddha carved in over 900 years and is stained in a black lacquer and decorated in gold leaf.


Beside the temple is a 5-foot, three-ton brass Peace Bell. The bell can be heard throughout Kahalu’u when rung. The deep tone of the bell sounds a message of calm and peace. Ringing the bell will purify the mind of evil spirits and temptation. It is said that ringing this bell will bring you happiness, blessings, and a long life, and is customarily rung before entering the temple.


The temple grounds are often used for wedding ceremonies for Hawaiians or visitors from Japan. The temple has become more popular since it was used as a filming location in the first season of “Lost,” where it served as the home of the Korean woman Sun's father.

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is a must for anyone visiting Oahu. After all, imagine the horrified expressions you’d see if you told someone you didn’t bother going to Pearl Harbor... And when the guidebooks say get in line early, they aren’t kidding. Matt and I were in line at 7:00, and the line was already pretty long. They started handing out tickets at 7:30, and by the time we got to the gate, they were already on the third group. Lucky for us, there happened to be two tickets left over for the second trip – there was a tour group in front of us that wanted to stay together – so we only had about 10 minutes to wait before we saw the video. The video and trip out and back to the Arizona only lasted a little over an hour.


WWII is not one of the times in history that particularly fascinates me – I’m much more interested in the 1600s through the 1800s. Having said that, though, I did find the video they show before the boat ride out to the Arizona to be rather enlightening. It discussed some of the errors made by the US that allowed the attack to be as devastating as it was, including lining the planes wing to wing on the airfield to prevent internal sabotage, and assuming that the attack planes was a group of US planes returning from a mission.


On the actual memorial, I saw several people from the older generations in tears. Obviously, the site of the Arizona touched them deeply, and for some, I’m sure, brought back memories. I was surprised and impressed by the fact that men who survived the attack on the Arizona could request interment on the ship when they passed. I was also surprised to see that oil is still visible in the water around the memorial.

Dole Plantation

The Dole Plantation was a nice way to spend a couple of hours. Matt and I made it through the maze in just under an hour. The maze is even bigger than it was in 2001, when it was officially the World’s Largest Maze. They now have 8 secret boxes spread throughout the maze, and visitors can compete for the fastest time in finding all 8. Our hour didn’t come even close. If I remember correctly, the fastest time on record is about 7 minutes. I’m guessing that was done by someone who had been there before and studied the map you can get at the end (or if you don’t want to bother competing).

I poked around the garden a bit, but didn’t take the tour or train ride. Four neat items there are signposts that point to different locations and show the distances.


The store has loads of things to look at and buy, including pineapples. I had some pineapples shipped home to give as thank-you gifts to my neighbors and the coworker that picked me up at the airport. And I kept a couple for myself, of course. Those pineapples were wonderful – I’ve never tasted any that sweet before. They also make something called Dole Whip, which is basically a soft-serve pineapple ice cream. That stuff is seriously yummy. I actually stopped by the plantation one afternoon when I was on my own, just to get another bowl.

Riding at Turtle Bay Resort

Reading my Fodor’s Guide to Oahu, I discovered that there are a few stables on the island that rent horses and provide trail rides. The stable at Turtle Bay Resort even allow the horses to be ridden on the beach - and they are the only stable on the island that do. Naturally, I jumped all over that, and called to make a reservation my first full day on the island. Matt had no interest at all in riding, but he didn’t mind sitting in the car and reading while he waited on me. So, Monday morning, we drove out to Turtle Bay and I went riding.


While I waited for my time slot to roll around, I poked around the stables a bit and met Sweetie, the official Welcome Cat.


Normally, the rides are done in groups of 8 or fewer, but I got very lucky. No one else had signed up for my time slot, so I got to have a private ride at the group rate. Alice, the guide, even let me take a bit longer than usual, since we were chatting and stopping for photo ops every so often. Alice was on Lizzie, a foul-tempered and extremely slow mare. In some ways, she reminded me of Lulu, the horse I had when I was younger. She insisted on being in the front, and snapped at my horse, Beetle, when he got too close.


When Alice found out that I had some riding experience, she asked if I’d be willing to ride Beetle. He’d only been at the stables for a couple of months, and wasn’t very solid on his trail horse training. He didn’t like to be near the water, tended to try and head home if he thought he could get away with it, and generally didn’t want to pay me any attention at all. We actually got along beautifully, once he realized I wasn’t going to tolerate any crap. Apparently, the folks at the stables will usually ride new or untrained horses for about six months before they put a visitor on them. Guess I’m just special like that.


Alice was wonderful about stopping to take pictures of me, Beetle and the scenery. We did try and get closer to the water at one point, but much like Duncan, Beetle seemed to think he’d melt if the water actually managed to touch him. Silly boy. Course, it didn’t help that Lizzie snapped at Beetle when I got close enough to hand Alice my camera...


During our ride through the woods, Alice told me that the very large Indian banyan tree on the property is commonly seen in the show “Lost.” Having never seen the show, I can’t actually verify that. She also told me that the thin shoots hanging down from the tree eventually hit the ground and become roots for new branches, and that’s how one tree can become so spread out.


The ride was wonderful – very relaxing, beautiful scenery, and a great guide. Definitely worth the price of admission. And before I left, Beetle even walked up to me and rubbed his head on my chest. I’m sure he was just scratching an itch, but we’ll pretend it was an act of understanding and affection...

Vacation

My week in Hawaii was lovely. Low humidity, temps never above 90 degrees, sunny every day. Couldn’t have asked for better weather. Of course, having two weeks off from work certainly wasn’t a bad thing, either. I spent the entire time on Oahu, with no island hopping. And lucky me, I managed to avoid getting sunburned.

The flights weren’t too bad. About 2 and a half hours from here to Dallas, and then just under 8 hours from DFW to Honolulu. And just under 7 hours coming back. Gotta love those tailwinds.

While I was there, I did quite a bit of sight-seeing and took over 2,000 photos. Literally. I’m in the process now of culling out the bad pictures, and then I’ll go back through and remove as many duplicates as I can. Because, really, I don’t want to get 2,000 prints and then have to decide which ones to put in the scrapbook. After I pull the duplicates, I’ll get the remaining pictures up on the trusty Kodak site and start sharing them. One thing I discovered about the pictures – there’s a small spot visible on the left side of pictures with light backgrounds. I didn’t realize it was there before I left because I really don’t ever take pictures of the sky. If I really feel like taking the time and effort, I’m sure I could Photoshop the spot out, but I seriously doubt I’ll feel like doing that. After all, that’s what cropping is for, right? I’m also going to do a post on each of the interesting places I visited, with a few pictures attached. I figure that’s the best way to get my thoughts down now, so that I’m not scratching my head, wondering what I did and where I went when I’m ready to start the scrapbook.

The only bad part about the trip was that my friend, Matt, occasionally seemed to forget that this was my vacation, not his. Every now and then, he’d pop out with “I’ve been there before and don’t want to go back” or “I’ve seen that before and didn’t like it, so you won’t, either.” Um, excuse me? Who flew 10½ hours to get here? By the third day, we’d worked it out. He and I would go somewhere in the morning, and then back to his place after getting lunch. And then I’d take his car and go do what I wanted, and he would stay home and watch ESPN. It worked out well for both of us, I think. We also only ate at a non-national chain twice. That was a bit disappointing. We ate Mexican once (not exactly local cuisine), and had lunch at a small seafood place in Hale’Iwa. Other than that, we ate fast food or big chains like Outback. Not that I have anything against Outback, but I can get that here in Raleigh.

One really neat, very random sort of thing happened on my last day. We went to Hilo Hattie’s to pick up a few gifts for folks, and I stopped at a jewelry counter to look at the charms. Ever since Ed gave me a gold charm bracelet, I try and make a point to get a charm from everywhere interesting that I go. I have a few from Europe, and from the Grand Caymans, Cozumel, and Cancun. I ended up buying a small pineapple, which definitely screams “Hawaii” to me more than a palm tree or flip flop. Especially after visiting the Dole Plantation. While the lady was ringing up my purchase, she asked if I wanted an oyster. It took a few minutes and a quick translation from Matt, but the store keeps a bowl of oysters available, and for $15 a customer can choose an oyster. If there’s a pearl inside the oyster, the customer gets to keep it. Of course, there won’t always be a pearl. I wasn’t going to do it, but then the lady said it would be on the house. Well, heck, if its free, hand me an oyster. She asked which color I’d prefer, black, white, pink or one other color that I don’t remember. Not knowing a thing about pearls, I chose pink. As she mumbled something about being difficult and wanting expensive pearls, the lady selected three oysters for me to choose from. I picked the one closest to me because that was simply the easiest thing to do. She informed me that I had to follow Hawaiian tradition – tap the oyster three times, say “Aloha” and ring the lucky bell. So, I did.


Turns out my little oyster had two pink pearls in it, and they’re basically identical. They aren't huge, but they are definitely pretty. Now I just have to find a jeweler and figure out what I want to do with them.

The Homecoming Gift

When I landed at RDU on Wednesday, I had a voicemail from the PetHotel where the pups were boarding, asking me to call as soon as possible, because Reyna had had an accident. Apparently, the poor girl managed to get a toenail on her left rear foot stuck in the drain in the play room. Who knows how she managed to step just right (wrong?) to accomplish that, but she did. Before someone could get to her and get her loose, another dog ran into her. This resulted in a completely ripped out toenail.


The PetHotel people took her over to Banfield to get cleaned up and checked out. They put a bandage around her toes, which she immediately pulled off. They put a second bandage on that covered her foot to an inch or so below the ankle, and she managed to slide that off while we were standing in the waiting area. So, they did a third bandage that wrapped up and over her ankle. That stayed on fine until Friday, when we went to our regular vet.


The vet at Banfield was supposed to call our vet before giving her any meds, and I was told that they had called and confirmed the antibiotics. When I saw out vet Friday, though, he didn’t know a thing about it. We figured out that the Banfield vet had called my vet’s office, but had talked to another vet who didn’t actually know Reyna. That’s about as useful as not calling at all. Next time, I’ll make it clear that they must speak specifically to my vet and not just to anyone in the office.


Wednesday and Thursday, Reyna ran around the house and yard with a sock over her bandage, to help keep the gauze from shredding. Friday, our vet decided it would be okay unwrapped, as long as she leaves it alone. She developed a sore along that foot from the bandage, and she’s been licking, but I can’t always tell if she’s licking the toe or the sore. Or both. I’ll see how she’s done today, since I’ve been gone all day, and decide whether or not she can stay unbandaged, or if she needs a new bandage or maybe just a sock for a bit of protection.


The vet said the toenail should grow back, and most likely will grow straight. But this is Reyna we’re talking about, so who knows...

This Is Why I Love My Vet

I talked to my regular vet yesterday, and he agreed that Reyna’s increased seizures are most likely a side effect of the allergic reaction. He does not think that increasing her Pb dose is a good idea, especially since each change in her meds sparks some new and annoying reaction. He did say that if she wasn’t significantly better by Friday, I should bring her back in, and we’ll give the steroids a try. She seemed to be feeling better last night, and the hives were gone this morning. Her face is still puffy, but she looks much better. She’s still not interested in eating, so I’m basically bribing her each meal with nummies she wouldn’t normally get. With luck, she’ll be back to normal by the end of the weekend and I can go on my vacation without this one additional worry.

Poor Girl Just Can't Catch A Break

As if her other problems weren’t enough, Reyna got bit by something Monday afternoon/evening (I’m guessing a spider) and had an allergic reaction to it. Her face was swelling, and she occasionally had trouble breathing. On top of that, she also had 3 mini seizures Monday late afternoon, and another shortly after midnight. Yes, I know what her seizures sound like, and since I wasn’t sleeping well anyway, it woke me up.

Tuesday morning, her face was still swollen and she developed hives on her front and back legs in less than 15 minutes. So I called the vet to let them know we were coming in. My vet was off (who does he think he is, taking a day off??), so we had to see a different one. While I was on the phone with my boss letting him know I’d be late, Reyna had another mini seizure.

After taking 15 minutes to read Reyna’s file (this is why I don’t like new vets – that, and they don’t know what’s normal behavior, because they’ve never seen the animal before), the vet said she couldn't give Reyna a steroid to stop the inflammation, because it would react with her Rimadyl and could cause gastric bleeding. And yes, that could be bad. Instead, she told me to just give Reyna more Benadryl. She’s already on 50mgs of Benadryl twice a day, which I’m sure is why the reaction wasn’t as severe as it could have been. While we were talking to the vet, Reyna had yet another mini seizure. I figure that the allergic reaction was stressing Reyna’s body and sparking the extra seizures, and that once we got through the reaction, the seizures would stop. The vet’s response? Up her Phenobarbital and come back in 2 weeks for blood work.

Last night, Reyna was still having cycles of swelling and hives, and her face was still swollen this morning. She still doesn’t want to eat, and she still looks and acts miserable. I’m going to talk to my regular vet today and see what he says. I really don’t like the idea of increasing her Pb, because she doesn't need to go through the clumsy and stupid phase again.


She's really not having a bad hair day in these pictures....its the hives on her forehead giving her that oh-so-attractive bumpy look.

Almost There....

This time next week, I'll be on a plane to Hawaii (well, DFW first, but then on to Hawaii).

Oh, The Drama

Duncan decided this weekend that it is finally time to blow his coat. He didn’t bother doing it in the spring, like normal dogs. No, he decided to wait until its just too stinking hot to carry all that fur. I tried explaining that, if he’d blown his coat in the spring like Reyna did, he wouldn’t be so hot now. I’m pretty sure he didn’t bother paying attention to me. So now there’s enough Duncan fur in my yard (due to a bath, a thorough brushing, and random scratching) to not only re-house all of the birds currently living here, but to provide new homes for all of their extended relatives.

On a slightly sadder note, Reyna learned today that she cannot make sharp turns while running. Because her back legs? They just don’t do that anymore. Instead, they give out and make her slide around that turn. The vet gave me a new pain killer, Gabapentin, to give her on top of her Rimadyl. It seems to help the pain some, but it isn’t putting the strength back in her legs. Fall should help with that, though, since we’ll be able to get out in the woods and do more walking when the weather cools off. We’ll just have to wear our orange vests a lot, so we can go out more than once a week during deer season. Of course, when winter comes, her hips will hurt from the cold, but we'll deal with that when it gets here.

Soon, So Soon...

In just 15 days, I will be on a plane to Hawaii, taking my first vacation in almost 3 years. And only 7 of those 15 days will be spent at the office. I have 2 more papers to write, a slew of supplies to buy, and suitcases to pack, and then I have 2 weeks of glorious vacation. I'm not too bad, yet - I haven't started counting the hours...

My Birthday

I’ve had a few folks ask me about my plans for my birthday – I’m guessing because everyone knows I’d already be making plans if I’m going to do something. I won’t be having a party this year, for a few reasons. One is that I’ll be 31...and that’s just a bit anti-climactic, after turning 30 last year. Another is that if I were going to plan something, it’d be a cookout at my place, and I don’t really have the extra funds to do that. Between Reyna’s vet bills and recent and upcoming boarding costs, my money is pretty well locked up. The third reason, and really the most important, is that Reyna will be five weeks into her ten week diet. She’s doing very well right now, with no new itchy spots. A cookout would offer too many chances for someone to give her a bit of hot dog or hamburger, or for her to steal some. And lets face it, if I caught someone giving her something to eat, I’d have to slap them silly. And I hear that’s not the best way to maintain a good relationship. So, if folks really want to do something, I'm going to suggest we just meet up for lunch or dinner somewhere, instead of having a get-together at my place.

A Good Visit

The kittens went for their annual checkups yesterday. They’re all healthy, which was no surprise. Parm is just a bit too healthy, though – he weighed in at 19.8 lbs. His little sister, Per’la, weighs 14.1 lbs, and Khar’pern is the slimmest of all at 11.7 lbs. Parm also showed signs of gingivitis, but his teeth are shiny clean. The vet laughingly said he hopes Parm develops a bad tooth, as it might get him to cut back on how much he eats. I offered to let the dogs run Parm a bit, but we decided that might cause Parm heart problems. Parm still doesn’t groom himself very well, especially along his back. Most of it is just plain laziness, but the vet said that Parm responded to the physical exam in a way that indicates he may have a touch of arthritis – most likely brought on by being fat and lazy.

While I was there, the vet and I talked about Reyna a bit, too. He’s going to look into options for stronger pain killers, since she limps or drags her leg pretty much every day. We also discussed options for the dogs when I’m in Hawaii. I have a neighbor who’s agreed to watch the dogs, and I've talked to a couple of pet sitters, but I’m concerned about Reyna’s stress level with being left home alone with someone she doesn’t know really well for an entire week. Of course, I’m also concerned about the stress of boarding for a week. The vet’s opinion, and I’m inclined to agree with him, is that boarding is the better choice, because she knows those people, she likes it there, she and Duncan can do day camp each day - which will both distract her and wear her out - and I can call 24 hours a day to check on them. The cost is a problem, but I’ve gotten the last of my student loan, so I have some extra cash now. I’ll just have my neighbor pop in a few times to make sure the cats still have plenty of water. And, of course, the cats will actually be happier having the house entirely to themselves with no dogs or strangers to interfere with their fun.

Too Much Stress Is Bad

Sometimes, I really hate traveling. I flew into DC Monday for a three-day corporate meeting. The conference was good, the hotel was nice, and I should be on a plane back to Raleigh right now. Instead, the airline cancelled my flight. And somehow, in the few minutes between the cancellation and me trying to reschedule, the two later flights to Raleigh were booked beyond stand-by capacity. Still not really sure how that happened. So, my options are to 1) rent a car and drive home, which would take about 7 hours with trying to get out of DC during rush hour, 2) fly to Atlanta and then to RDU, getting home sometime around midnight, or 3) stay here tonight and take the 7:25am flight in the morning, assuming its not delayed or cancelled. And, since they cancelled because of weather, the airline isn’t covering the hotel room. Thank goodness the company is paying for it... The worst part is that I had to call the PetHotel and make sure they had space to keep the pups one more night, since none of those options would get me home in time to pick them up tonight. I also had to make sure they had enough food to give the dogs dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. Normally, when they run out of food, the hotel just uses some of the food they keep on hand, which is fine for Duncan, but that just won’t work for Reyna. She’s three weeks into her ten week diet, and I really don’t want to start over if we don’t have to. Thankfully, I added more food to their bags than was necessary, as a “just in case” precaution. I’m going to call one more time and double-check, because I didn’t think I’d added enough to cover breakfast. If I didn’t, I'll ask Tim or Peggy to go into the house and get more food, and take it to the hotel. Of course, this is just one more reason why boarding a dog with “special needs” is bad...

Lucky Number Seven

Today is Mikey's 7th birthday. Happy birthday, Mikey, and many more!

A Long Weekend

It didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, but it went a lot better than I’d expected. We NQ’d our first run so spectacularly, I’m pretty sure we couldn’t have done worse if we’d tried. Reyna was completely distracted, and, not even realizing what I was doing, I tapped her going into the first exercise to get her attention. Well, touching the dog except at specific times causes an automatic NQ. Reyna acted like she’d never heard the word “sit” and we ended up repeating 5 of the exercises, I had to repeat commands several times, and we ended up going about 30 seconds over the time limit. So, we officially NQ’d twice, and our score was so low, we couldn’t have qualified, anyway.

Our second run went much better. We requested medical consideration because of her hips and epi meds, and got an extra 30 seconds on the clock. Turned out we didn’t need it, barely. We finished in 3:58, with a score of 191, and got our first qualifying ribbon.

Sunday morning, Reyna knew the word sit, she just didn’t want to do it. The judge actually gave us an extra minute, because she saw how stiffly Reyna was moving. We had to repeat a couple of exercises - including the very first one, because I completely blanked on which way was left and went to the right, instead - and I had to repeat some commands and just wait on Reyna to decide to give in and sit. We ended up NQ’ing because of time – that round took us 5:14. I also touched her just before the bonus, so we didn’t get any points with that, but at least that didn’t NQ us. We had 170 points exactly and would have qualified, if we hadn’t gone over our time limit.

Reyna felt a bit better in the afternoon, but was totally distracted again. The poor girl was completely exhausted. We had to repeat two exercises, and she really wasn’t paying attention to me, but we got through it. Amazingly enough, we passed the “Finish” sign 4 seconds before our time limit ended. After our bonus, we had a score of 190, and actually took 5th place.


All in all, I’d say it was a good first trial. We didn’t title, but we earned two Legs and even managed to place in one of the courses. It was so obvious by the way Reyna was moving that she didn’t feel good, but she got through it, and (eventually) did everything I asked of her. Everyone there was so nice, and cheered for us when we got our ribbons. I’m pretty darn proud of that little girl.

Paws Crossed

This weekend, Reyna and I have our first Rally competition. We’re doing four trials over two days, with one course per trial. If we get 170 out of 200 points on a course, we earn a Leg. If we get three Legs, we earn a Title. We could, conceivably, title this weekend. We probably won’t. But we might. It all depends on Reyna and how she’s feeling, and if I can keep my brain together enough to keep us on the right path. A course is a maximum of 30 exercises – they usually only use about 25 – and we have 4 minutes to complete all of them. Shouldn’t be a problem, except there are several things that could cause us to NQ (not qualify), such as Reyna not following commands, me missing an exercise, or either of us doing an exercise incorrectly. There’s one exercise in particular that Reyna doesn’t do properly. I’ve asked a couple of judges about it, and they’ve said it shouldn’t NQ us, but we’ll definitely lose points. Its called a pivot, and starts with Reyna sitting in heel position. I then step directly in front of her, and she is supposed to stand up, turn, and sit back down in heel. What she actually does is flip her front paws over and scooch her butt around to end up in a half-cocked sit in mostly-heel. Apparently, if I can just get her to show a bit of air between her butt and the floor when she scooches, we should be okay. I think part of it is the pain in her hips, but I’m also pretty sure there’s a chunk of laziness tucked in there. If we’re lucky, they won’t use the pivot in all four courses... The woman who called Reyna dangerous will also be there, so I’m going to do my very best to avoid her so she doesn’t tick me off before Reyna and I run our course. On the up side, Reyna loves her some bunny meat, and she’s definitely willing to work for that treat. Wish us luck!

Dermatology Visit

Reyna visited the dermatologist last Friday, and it went pretty well. The vet is a cute little Russian woman, and she’s a hoot to listen to, especially when she doesn’t bother finding all the words for a sentence, but just gives the necessary parts. “Dog only little crazy. Not bad crazy.”

The derm thinks Reyna may have flea or food related allergies, but no autoimmune problems. She was quick to assure me that she doesn’t think Reyna has fleas, but if she’s outside playing and gets bit by a flea, it could cause itchiness and irritation for up to three weeks. She gave me a list of several things to do to help prevent/treat that. Reyna gets a dose of Frontline Plus every 3 weeks (every 4 for Duncan), all year. I’m to use Knockout Spray once a week to repel and kill fleas, ticks, mosquitoes and gnats. That spray can kill the cats, though, so I have to make sure they don’t come into contact with it when its wet, and that I’ve scrubbed down after using it so the cats can’t accidentally lick any of it off me. Reyna gets a bath once a week with a medicated shampoo that's supposed to kill any bacteria on her skin, and I have some new ointment to put on her hot spots twice a day for the next 2 weeks.

To figure out if there’s a food allergy, the derm switched Reyna to a rabbit and potato kibble. Once we start the food trial, she can’t have any other type of food or treat for 10 weeks. If she eats something else, our 10 weeks starts over again. She can have the dry and canned rabbit and potato food, actual rabbit meat, potato pieces, apple chunks, or other veggies. No store-bought treats, no bones, no Frosty Paws. I did find a couple of places that sell rabbit meat, so I’m going to get some and fix it a couple of different ways to use for training treats. Poor Duncan, the restrictions on Reyna means a lot of restrictions for him, too. He’ll continue eating the food they already eat (because I really can’t afford for him to eat the rabbit food), but he also can’t have any treats unless I have something rabbity to give Reyna while he eats his. I’ll have to watch them both during meal and treat times, to make sure she doesn’t snatch something he’s eating. And no big beef bones for either of them, even though they make great long-term snacks.

Reyna’s meds have stayed the same – Rimadyl (hips), Fluoxatine (OCD), and Phenobarbital (epi) twice a day, with the Pb on a 12-hour schedule, and only about an hour of wiggle room on that. The vet also wants me to give her Benadryl twice a day for the itchiness, and we had to switch to unflavored Rimadyl and unflavored heartworm preventative (she’s really serious about the no other type of meat thing).

After the 10 weeks are up, we’ll start changing one thing at a time, and see what happens. With any luck, we’ll be able to get at least some idea of what's making Reyna so itchy, and we can control/prevent/treat it. And the derm wants Reyna off the Prozac when this is over, because she doesn’t think Reyna’s OCD is causing the chewing, rather the itching is kicking the OCD into overdrive. So, we’ll do all of this, I’ll be broke, the dogs will have to start earning a living, and we’ll hopefully get some useful information.

One of Life's Oddities

Reyna lost her rabies tag a few months ago. I figured it was in the back yard somewhere, but her other tags were still on her collar, so I wasn't sure how she'd managed that particular feat. Of course, we all know she has skills... At any rate, yesterday morning I decided to call the vet's office and find out how much a new tag would cost me, because we're out and about enough that its a good idea for her to be wearing one. Naturally, I got swamped at work, and forgot all about it. And then, yesterday evening while we were outside playing in the rain, what do I see? Her rabies tag, of course. Lying on the ground, just a few feet from the deck. I'm sure the storms of the last two days are what brought it into view, but I think its interesting that none of the earlier storms this year did that. Only the one that hit the day I finally decided to replace it.

Happy Birthday!

Duncan is 2 years old today. Happy birthday, Little Man! There will be cake later, I promise.

Update

As promised, a picture of poor, shaved Reyna when she came home from the vet school... Her leg is also shaved under the blue wrap.

She’s slowly starting to adjust to the Pb, although she still has some trouble most days. If I can convince her to take a nap soon after getting her meds, she seems to do a bit better. Of course, that’s next to impossible, so she generally just fights the lethargy. She’s less clumsy than she was last week, but her hips bother her worse than before. She actually fell out of the truck twice today. I may have to see if she’ll start using the ramp I originally bought for Duncan.

Reyna went to the regular vet on Monday for a blood test to check her liver enzymes. The test came back fine, but shows that her Pb levels are actually lower than usual for a dog her size taking her dose. I had left a message last Friday for the neuro about lowering her dose, but after her test, that won’t happen. And to make things worse, she’s had a few mini-seizures since then. They last about 5-10 seconds, and she seems fine a soon as they end, with no disorientation. Of course, that just makes the neuro want to raise her dose, which I’m against. While she would eventually become “normal” on a higher dose, there’s definitely a difference between normal for her and normal for most other dogs. There’s also a difference between normal for dogs that actually do things (such as freestyle, SAR, and rally), and dogs that simply lie around the house all day. Duncan, for instance, would probably show no significant change in behavior if he ever had to go on Pb...

We have an appointment on the 13th with a dermatologist at the vet school, and I’m hoping they’ll be able to run down her allergy and auto-immune issues. Once they run their tests, I want to sit down with the derm, neuro, and regular vet and decide her course of treatment. I know the derm and neuro want to fix their specific problems, but we definitely have to look at the whole picture, and decide whats going to be best for Reyna. After all, I want to have her on as few long-term meds as possible.

Almost Forgot to Post These….

My baby birds flew away (I hope) a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been a bit sidetracked with Reyna and the new job, but I haven’t forgotten about them. They were in the nest on Thursday, June 21, and on Friday, the 22nd, they were gone. I really hope they flew away, but I don’t think they had enough feathers. So, I’ve decided to go with the theory that they were doing some flight training, and Mom and Dad realized they couldn’t get all the way up into the plant, and decided to take them to their second home. After all, Mom and Dad had to be staying somewhere, and it certainly wasn’t in the plant with the babies.

Their extremely cute "Feed Me, Seymour!" pose...


This one was clearly the most assertive of the bunch.

I still think they look like half-plucked chickens.

Wearing only a few feathers the night before they left.

Who knew you could get empty nest syndrome when the babies that leave aren't your own? I have to say, I do miss the cuties, and I had really looked forward to watching them grow up a bit more.

More Information

One of the tests they did at the vet school showed that one of the chambers in Reyna’s heart is enlarged and one of her valves is a bit leaky. The vet said he couldn’t hear a murmur, so he doesn’t think its going to be a problem for her for a long time, if ever. He did say its something to be checked at each yearly, and if she gets to a point where the vet can hear a murmur, it should be looked at again. Or if her activity level suddenly drops drastically, her heart would be the best place to start testing.

Oh, and the shaving wasn’t for the MRI, but for the spinal tap. Which makes more sense, really.

Reyna’s getting 90 mg of Pb, twice a day. That’s a pill and a half each time, which sucks, because the pills aren’t scored, and they’re stinking hard to cut exactly in half. When I get her refill in a month, I’m going to ask for 30 mg or 90 mg pills, so that I don’t have to stress over whether or not I’m over or under-dosing her.

The only reaction I’m seeing to the Pb is that she is extremely clumsy. I’m guessing that any normal-energy dog would be snoozing, but when has she ever been “normal” anything? She’s slipping, sliding, and tripping a lot, but it doesn’t seem to bother her nearly as much as it bothers me... I keep reminding myself that it’ll be a few more days before she gets used to the meds. Until then, I’m giving her the full dose of pain meds, because sooner or later, she’s going to realize that her hips really hurt. Mine hurt just from watching hers slide out from under her. I actually feel bad about having the wood floors. Poor girl. She can’t even catch her ball, because she keeps tripping over her own feet.

Duncan is officially the graceful dog of the house now. Not only can he run without falling (usually), he can also catch the red bouncy ball in mid-air. He’s even been jumping for it, and catching it while all four feet are off the ground. Its really cute, watching him drop the ball so that it bounces and he can catch it again. He doesn’t understand why I’m not letting him play rough with Reyna, though. Part of it is because she doesn’t have the fur on the back of her neck to protect her from his teeth, and part of it is that every time he bumps her, she falls over, and that’s just not a good thing.

Good To Have Her Back

Reyna got to come home this afternoon. Duncan spent some time looking at her like he wasn't sure who she was, but after about 20 minutes, he decided he was thrilled she was home.

I’ll get more into specifics later (if I feel like it), but the main thing is that all her tests came back negative for seizure-causing issues. The vet feels 99% confident that she has epilepsy. There’s a slim chance that it might be some type of movement disorder, but only time will tell. Basically, if she doesn’t respond to the Phenobarbital (Pb), she has a movement disorder. If she does, she has epilepsy. The vet said her liver enzymes look great, so he’s not worried about the combination of Pb and Rimadyl on her liver. He said that he wants her to stay on the Pb for at least a year, and if she hasn’t had any seizures in that year, we can consider stepping down the dose or switching to a more mild anti-convulsant.

Poor Reyna’s a bit clumsy tonight, although the vet was surprised at how non-sedated she was when I picked her up. I wasn’t...I’ve never seen a sedative actually make her sedate. Reyna has a shaved leg, where they put in the IV, and the back of her head is also shaved, for the MRI. I’ll post a picture of that in a day or so. The Pb will possibly have a sedating effect on her, but she should be completely normal within a week. If she isn’t, I’m supposed to take her back to the vet. We also go back in two weeks for blood work, just to make sure her liver is still okay. The Pb might have a few other side effects, but they’re all pretty mild, as long as I keep an eye on her. And the meds are fairly strict...they need to be as close to 12 hours apart as possible. Once they’re totally in her system, messing with the timing or amount could actually spark a seizure. I’ve got a call in to the Dermatology department at the vet school for an appointment with them, to try and narrow down the allergy/auto immune issue.

Okay...time to go. Reyna just plowed into the wall... Spinning while on drugs is clearly not a safe activity...

Reyna

Reyna is still at the vet school emergency clinic, and will be there until at least Monday afternoon. The vet said she’s being very friendly and loving with everyone, as long as they don’t try to take her temperature. He also said that her blood work came back clean, and that they were planning to run a few more tests today. The main reason he kept her there, though, is because they started her on the Phenobarbital, and he wanted to be able to monitor her response to it. Tomorrow, he’s going to have a vet from Dermatology come in and discuss the different possibilities and tests for her allergies and auto immune issues, and they’re going to run some more tests and do an MRI and possibly a spinal tap in the afternoon. Fingers crossed that those will all come back clean, and she can come on home. If none of the tests show anything, and she responds well to the Phenobarb, then they’ll call it epilepsy, and she’ll most likely be on anti-convulsants for the rest of her life.

Baby Birds

So, here's a pic of the babies taken on Saturday, the 16th. They're starting to show a bit more fluff (not to mention some actual physical features).



And here's one of Mom (or Dad, I can't tell) delivering a snack.



And this one was taken Sunday morning. The babies are definitly growing up. And apparently upset that they aren't getting fed while I'm standing there taking pictures....

Another Year

Happy birthday, Loki! Hope to have many more!

Not A Good Day

Reyna is spending the night at the vet school emergency hospital. Shortly after 2:00pm today, she had five seizures in a row, barely managing to come completely out of one before the next started. She had another seizure at 5:10, and the seventh at 5:15. The last one was different from the rest, in that she was laying completely on her side, but her head was twisted around so that her chin was on the floor. It even woke up Duncan. In fact, that’s how I knew she was having one. I was in the kitchen, and I heard Duncan move really quick. When I turned to look at him, he was staring at Reyna with a “What the crap are you doing?!?” look on his face. I called the vet school emergency clinic, told them what was happening, and they told me to bring her in. So I did.

The vet said that her seizures are definitely facial focal (partial) seizures. He also said that seven in three hours is very bad, and the fact the she was contorting somewhat on the last one is even worse. They ran a bunch of blood work tonight, and called me about 9:45 tonight to tell me that those tests came back okay, and that the neurologist has started her on Phenobarbital, and will give her another dose in the morning. I’d mentioned my regular vet’s concern about combining the Pheno and her hip meds, and the response was that most dogs do fine on both, but if she has trouble, the Pheno is more important, and they’ll find her a new pain killer. The neurologist will officially be assigned her case tomorrow morning, and is supposed to call me between 8:00 and 10:00 to tell me what’s happening. Depending on the tests they decide to run tomorrow, she may be able to come home and then go back in Monday morning, or she might have to stay there until sometime Monday. It just depends on what they find. The vet who saw her tonight said he’s pretty sure its epilepsy, but they have to rule out the other possibilities before they can say that with any real certainty. So now we wait and see.

Life

They've hatched! The baby birds are alive and (I assume) well. I'm so excited! I'm an aunt! Or a god-mother! Or something along those lines, anyway. This morning, I got to see the parent birds bringing in food for the babies. One adult would fly in with food, the other would take it and disappear into the nest. I'm really looking forward to tracking their progress, so get used to seeing updates!

Even The Best Option Isn’t A Good One

I spoke with the vet Monday, and was able to email him the clip of Reyna’s seizure (which is here, if you’re interested in seeing it). He said that it looks like a pretty classic partial seizure, which is definitely better than a grand mal seizure. The vet seems to think its most likely canine epilepsy, although he did say that the second most likely option is a brain tumor. He told me about a few other potential causes, but said that, based on her breed, history, and most recent blood work, he feels comfortable ruling out those other options. The bad part is that there is no test for epilepsy – instead, it becomes the default diagnosis after everything else has been ruled out. And all those other tests could run about $3,000. Since he’s saying there are really only two possibilities, I’m leaning towards having a test done just to rule out the brain tumor. And then I’ll feel better about calling it epilepsy.

For now, the vet wants to treat her with benign neglect. In other words, he wants me to watch her for a few more days, and let him know on Monday how many more seizures she’s had. I really wish there were some way for her to tell me if she’s having any while I’m at work. She had three on Saturday, and that makes me worry about what might be happening when I’m not home. If we get really lucky, this will turn out to be a phase that she’ll cycle through, like she did last fall. No way to know when they might start back again, of course. And that’s probably what bothers me the most...I really want to know what’s triggering these. Since I haven’t been out of town in a month, I think its pretty safe to say its not stress over me traveling.

If she doesn’t stop having the seizures fairly soon, the vet said there’s a couple of medicine options. The best is Phenobarbital, but she can’t have that. It processes through the liver, and the pain meds she’s on for her hips also process through the liver. Adding the Phenolbarb would basically destroy her liver, which really isn’t a good thing. And the pain meds are doing a good job, so we don’t want to change those out for something new unless we really have to. The second option is potassium bromide, but that takes 30 to 45 days to get in her system. So, if we start her on that now, and the seizures stop, we’ll never really know if they stopped because it was a phase or if the meds did their job. And we really don’t want to keep popping her on and off of meds, especially when they take so long to get in and out of her system.

I just keep thinking that her allergies, her auto immune issues, her OCD, and now these seizures, are all in some way connected. Because I know she just doesn’t wake up in the morning and decide to eat her tail. Something sparks it, but I don’t know what. The vet does a great job of treating the symptoms, but we haven’t found the root cause of her problems. I asked the vet about it, and he said that modern medicine would say no, these aren’t connected, but that Chinese medicine would say yes, of course they are. Anyone know a good vet trained in Chinese medicine?

My Poor Girl

I was finally able to tape one of Reyna's seizures tonight. She had three today, and the most recent one lasted long enough for me to get the camera up and running. I left a message this morning for the vet to call me on Monday, and with luck, he'll have some time early this week for me to show him the video clip. If he doesn't have any ideas, I'm going to try for an appointment at the vet school. When Reyna was having these last fall, she was having three or four a week - that I saw, anyway. But I've seen six so far this week, including the three today, and that really worries me about how many she might be having when I'm not home. Fingers crossed that the video helps the vet diagnose the problem.

Just as a side note, the idiot who called Reyna "dangerous" two weeks ago suggested today that maybe Reyna had a seizure during class and thats why she "attacked" the sheltie. And then she suggested I might want to think about putting Reyna down before her illness causes her to start attacking people. She's lucky I didn't show her how dangerous Reyna's mom can be.....

They're Baaaaaaaack

Poor Reyna. The seizures she had last fall, that went away in October? Well, they've come back. She had one Tuesday, and two last night. The frequency makes me worry about what might be going on when I'm not home. Now, if I can just catch one on video, I can take it to the vet for him to assess. Not that I want her to have any more, but if she is, I'd appreciate it if she'd have one that lasted long enough for me to film. I've started carrying my digital camera around with me, just in case...

Fireflies and Baby Birds

Last night was the first night that the fireflies were really showing off, and Duncan was completely fascinated. He wasn’t even interested in playing with Reyna or his jolly ball. Instead, he would follow a firefly around until he was distracted by another one lighting up nearby. Then he’d follow that one til he was distracted by yet another one. He also kept opening his mouth, almost like he was going to snap at one and try to eat it, but it was all in slow motion, more of a curious action than anything else. And he never got close enough to one to actually get it in his mouth, even if that had been his intention. I caught a couple and showed them to him, and he just stared at them until they flew away. It was really cute, watching him walk around with that rapt expression on his face.

In totally unrelated news, a bird has nested in my hanging geranium, and there are five eggs in the nest. Thankfully, no one has successfully nested in my dryer vent this year. The mama bird and I have come to an agreement. She leaves the nest when I need to water the plant, and I don’t try and take pictures of her while she’s in the nest. She seems to be somewhat camera shy...

A New Surprise Every Day

A couple of weeks ago, I came home to find the remnants of a stuffed dog toy scattered around the deck and yard. As the days – and the toy – passed, I found even more pieces. Enough to be surprised at how much stuffing is sown into those things. I hadn’t given the toy to the dogs, so I figured Duncan had stashed it in his hidey-hole under the deck a couple of months ago. Turns out, I was wrong.

This morning, Reyna decided she was tired of waiting on me to throw her ball, so she walked onto the deck and proceeded to open the “secure” toy chest I keep there. After rooting around for a minute, her head popped out of the chest with a toy in her mouth, and the chest closed as she pulled her head away from it. She and Duncan then had a grand time playing tug with the toy, while I stood and watched, surprised yet again at the extremely nonchalant manner in which Reyna continues to display her amazing intelligence.