And the hits just keep coming...

So, Dad was doing pretty well today. Still very weak and quiet, but in pretty good spirits. I had a laugh because when I got there this evening, my cousin was there, and looked oh so relieved when I showed up, because it was dinner time. She smiled at me and said "you are just in time for dinner..." You should have seen her jaw drop when, as she was walking toward the end of the bed, my Dad grabbed half of his sandwich and took a bite. She said "oh...you can eat yourself, huh?" My Dad could charm a blind man out of his dog...;) He lets my Mom feed him, but I tell him he has to do it himself, except for things like soup...

The machine they need to line him up on prior to radiation is still broken, so they have rescheduled his appointment to Monday at 3:00 p.m.

So, I took one of my dogs, Tucker, to the vet today for a follow-up appointment from about 6 weeks ago, when I told the vet he had a cough. She prescribed some herbal cough syrup, which hadn't made much difference, and with all that has been going on, I have not taken him back for a recheck until today.

Now, Tucker is my diva dog. I actually say that my parents were reborn in my dogs. Tucker is very proper, sweet, sensitive, and a little diva....Like my Mom (love ya Dorth!). Newman (or Macrame' as he is known these days), is sweet, tough, loving, determined and never complains...Sound like Scotch or what?

So, Tucker had a bit of a rough go of it almost 2 years ago. He had a bit of a stiff walk for a few years, but as it got to him not being able to go up and down the stairs, I took him to the vet. Well, this set off a whole chain reaction that included 3 clinics, 7 different vets, and somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000. He was sick for months, and I had to carry him everywhere. I kept asking the doctors if it was time to put him down. He was going on 9 years, which is not young for a Jack Russell Terrier, but it is certainly not old either. All of the vets told me "no, he will get better." The medication he was on was making him weaker and weaker. Out of desperation, I ended up looking to a holistic vet to see if there was anything else we could do. I found Dr. Unger. At my first consultation, (I cried most of the way through it), when I asked "is it time?" Dr. Unger told me to give him 6 more weeks, and then it might be time. In the meanwhile, she changed his dog food, gave him some herbal supplements (none that I could pronounce), and started him on acupuncture treatments....Yes, you read right...Acupuncture. Now, I am sure it was a combination of the high level of other medications he was on finally kicking in, but 10 days after his first acupuncture treatment, he got up and walked on his own for the first time in almost 6 weeks. Within about 3 months, he had made a full recovery, was completely off all medication and was better off than he had been in years.

Well, not to be outdone, Tucker decided that he wanted to be like his "Grandpa," and have cancer too. Dr. Unger found a mass in his chest that she is pretty sure is cancer. We may learn more when the blood tests come back tomorrow.

I have always treated my dogs like my kids, and my parents always have as well, and I have had Tucker all of his life. We are all just devastated. I wasn't going to tell my Dad, but Mom thought it would give him something else to think about. I took Tucker by to see my Dad on my way home from the vet. I put Tucker on the bed, and he just laid by my Dad the whole time. I think they did each other good. Just don't tell Dad you saw the picture on the Internet...Although it is a great one, he has been adamant about having his photo out there. I think he looks great!

So, another rough day for the Reed family.

Love to all.