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Monday, March 30, 2015

THE DRAMA CONTINUES...

We examine Annie for lumps on a monthly basis.  She has numerous fatty tumors which need to be monitored. Her routine check at the end of January turned up one lump on her right side just below the rib cage that wasn't free moving under the skin but anchored.

Inclement weather postponed her doctor visit by one week. We went to the Oncologist for a needle aspiration in early February. They found spindle cells. Annie had cancer. We wasted no time arranging a meeting with the surgeon for the following day. After that meeting Annie remained for surgery. The surgical site was huge and her bruising was more extensive than her previous surgery prompting the surgeon to hold her for two days instead of overnight.

Our girl was so happy to come home.  Armed with medicine and instructions on how to care for her, I began a regimen of warm compresses, meds, and making sure the surgical site remained clean along with keeping Annie from licking or scratching it.  I was instructed to have her wear a tee shirt. Trying to get Annie to keep a shirt on was an impossibility. She kept wriggling out of them.  After trying four different tees each with a different neckline I gave up.

We were very nervous as to the outcome.  In ten days her stitches would be removed but we now had to wait seven days for the biopsy results. We feared the news would not be good.

Annie's surgery.

Annie wearing my good cotton tee shirt.




Monday, March 2, 2015

CHILDREN'S CORNER (ABOUT HORSES)

Another title kids will enjoy is Crazy for Horses by Karen Briggs and Shawn Hamilton. A Scholastic title from 1999, this is a very informative book about the different breeds of horses with beautiful color photos.  You can find this paperback on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Horses-Karen-Briggs/dp/0590521365/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424891731&sr=1-5&keywords=karen+Briggs 

Sunday, March 1, 2015

A WINTER READ FOR CHILDREN'S CORNER

It's March 1st and a fresh blanket of snow is falling on Brooklyn.  Appropriately, I've just finished reading a picture book entitled The Snow Lambs by Debi Gliori.

A young boy, his father and their dog are in the process of bringing in their sheep from pasture when a snow storm starts. As father and son are finishing their task, the boy realizes the dog is missing and the boy must stay inside safe and warm as he worries about his dog out in the snow, cold and dark.

A story with a surprise ending partially hinted at in the first few sentences of the book, it is a nice tale to read to the little ones on a winter's night. Originally published during 1998 by Scholastic for ages 4 and up, it is currently available on Amazon.