Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010 - Home

After being on the road for over a week and a half, Hardee and I are home.  HH was so excited to be home, he just kind of went nuts.  It was thrilling to watch him run around like there was nothing wrong.  He even played with some stuffies which he hasn't done in almost a month.  Seems he is feeling better right now. 

Hardee finished radiation on Friday night and was entered in an agility trial Sat. and Sun.  After 3 consecutive days of anesthesia and radiation, we didn't know if Hardee would feel up to running agility or not.  He did and had a fun filled weekend.  He had a QQ (2 qualifying runs) on Sat., but tunnel sucked on his standard course on Sunday to bust his QQ possibility, though his jumpers run was nice.  I didn't attend the trial on Sat. to give me some time to regroup alone, but more for Hardee and Jim to have some guy alone bonding time.  They got to spend 13 hours together while I slept in and went to visit my Mom.

Though Hardee dearly loves his Grandma, he cannot visit her until we at least get that pocket of fluid behind the tumor to drain.  HH's Grandma lives up in the mountains and the pressure changes caused from the elevation changes hurts his sinus/tumor.  I had noticed for quite some months back that Hardee would whine/cry when we would go down the mountain.  Even though we had just pottied him before getting in the car to leave the mountain, he would whine like he had to potty.  We'd find a place to pull over, but he would not "go".  I thought maybe he didn't like leaving Grandma's house or that his ears were hurting him.  Now we know it is the tumor/infection trapped up in that sinus.  Anyone with chronic sinus problems like me will know about what I am writing.  Anyway, no Grandma's house in his near future, but he still loves you, Mom.

While at the trial today, I noticed that Hardee's nose is changing color and that his tongue is purple instead of his nice pink usual color.  I'm assuming that is from the radiation, but I don't know if it is something I should worry about.  I'll call Dr. Proulx tomorrow.  He told me to call his cell phone if I saw anything out of the ordinary with him.

Also, Hardee is doing this cough/choking thing that he doesn't seem to be able to control (almost like the reverse sneezing thing, but not), and it goes on for quite some time and worries me.  He's also having sneezing fits where he'll sneeze about 15 times in a row.  Something else to bring up to Dr Proulx tomorrow. 

Hardee paws at his face a lot with his front leg, and turns his head upside down and drills his face into the carpet, bed, chair, etc.  He's been doing this for some time, but it is happening much more often.  I'm going to start him on his pain pills tomorrow because I think the tumor is really starting to bother him.  I'm going to use Tramadol for his pain control.

Hopefully I'll get some answers about the tongue color change tomorrow.  Until then, you know it by now, it is all about joy and all about Hardee!!