Thurs - Oct.14, 2010 - HH update, after a long break

It has been quite a while since I wrote an update on our Hardee boy.  I got very discouraged about putting information out there about Hardee since people took it upon themselves to write me privately telling me everything I was doing wrong with our boy and telling me what I should be doing instead.  Most of these people don't even know me or Hardee.  Every move we have made involving Hardee's activities has been cleared by Hardee's specialists, and we want only the best for our boy.  We balance what Hardee loves to do with rest and recuperation, but we believe in Hardee having good quality of life also.

Hardee is doing well currently, except we are battling another eye infection in his radiated eye.  Dr. Proulx (radiation oncologist) didn't know if Hardee's hair on his face and head would grow back since he wasn't supposed to lose it, but in some areas there is quite a bit of new hair growth.  Other areas are still bald.  All the sores have healed on his face finally, right before we left for the Specialty.  There hasn't been any discharge or bleeding from his nose for at least a month.  He still rubs and bats at his face, but not as much as previously.  I do believe he is breathing better, so that gives me hope that the gamma knife radiation is working to kill the tumor.  Hardee's body hair is also growing back slowly since I shaved him down with a 10 blade a month ago.  He still gets chilly, but a friend sent him a very nice jacket that she no longer uses to keep him warm.  He still sneezes quite a bit and does this 'choking type - trying to clear something from his throat' noise like there is something back there he wants to come out.  Tumor???  It's scary when I think about it, and we live for the day we can CT scan again.

We finished Hardee's radiation on Aug. 27th.  They told me then to give the radiation 2-3 months to work, and then we could CT scan again.  Originally, they told me 2 months but then changed it to 3 months.  I've decided to give them 2.5 months, so that means in one month we can CT scan again to see what the tumor is doing.  I'd like to go to Carlsbad, CA, where we had Hardee's radiation treatment, for the CT scan because then they can compare immediately the current scan against the previous scans to give me some sort of idea of the result before we have to wait for the radiologists reading.   They do have copies of his scans here in Vegas also as this was the first place that Hardee got scanned.  I'll have to compare prices first before we decide where to have the next CT scan done and the subsequent scans since they cost over two grand for each one, and Hardee will have to be scanned every 2-3 months to check on the tumor.  Hardee's cancer has cost over 25 grand so far (and that was all within a couple weeks in Aug), and it is unlimited as to other treatments and scans.  He is so worth it though, and we will do whatever we can, as long as we can.

We got back earlier this week from our first Portuguese Water Dog National Specialty where we competed in water, agility, rally, and obedience.  Anyone who saw Hardee work at the Specialty cannot say that he did not want to be there working and competing.  He loves the water and agility, and barks his head off doing each in his excitement.  Hardee completed his working water dog level again and got a very nice, colorful rosette and purple slip lead.  It was for exhibit only since he had already achieved that level last summer, but we lost too much training time with him being sick this summer to compete for the courier level.  In agility, he had some nice, fast runs and placed first in Exc. B Jumps with Weaves, and second in FAST.  He got some very nice rosettes and pewter boxes.  We qualified in both of our rally runs for our first Rally Advanced Excellent leg.  Hardee wasn't thrilled with the rain that day since he has no hair to protect him from the wet and cold, and he didn't perform the way he usually does, but I was still pleased. 

Obedience was thrilling and heart breaking at the same time.  It was our first time competing at the Open A level.  The rain had finally stopped, but the ground was still soggy and cold.  We were the second dog in for Open, and the grass was still very wet.  On his drop on recall exercise, that I have NEVER had trouble with before, when the judge signalled for me to drop him and I told him to 'down', he stopped immediately but just sat instead of downing.  He didn't want to put his bare belly down on that cold, wet grass.  That automatically knocked us out of a qualifying score.  I was disappointed, but I understood.  I was the one who shaved him, so it was my fault.  We would have had a 194.5 score if not for that one down.  Still, I was pleased with his first performance in Open, and would have been very pleased with a 194.5 out of 200 possible points.

We overheard many comments about how Hardee looked....some not very nice.  Many people thought he was improperly coated, not that there is anything wrong with that, but he is properly coated, just not now ;-).  We heard many say "is that a PWD?"  If they asked us specifically, we would explain.  If not, we would just ignore their comments because we knew they didn't know or understand.  One thought he had mange!

All in all, we had a good time at the Specialty.  We didn't get to socialize much at all or meet very many people because we stayed in the room in the evenings trying to get Hardee some rest.  During the day, we were competing and busy volunteering.  I went out of the room a couple nights to do my volunteer Boutique job, but Hardee doesn't rest when I am gone.  He's a mama's boy and likes me there.  Due to some very nice angels, we did get to attend the awards dinner and received Hardee's Gold and Silver Register of Merit awards.  Those awards are so special to us, especially now, because we don't know if Hardee will be able to attend another Specialty.  He is our first PWD and our first competition dog, and we are so proud of him and his accomplishments.  He is also our breeders first Bronze, Silver and Gold Register of Merit dog.  Even though she doesn't recognize him, we hope that she is somehow proud of him and all of his accomplishments, and we are thankful that she selected him for us.

It will be a long month waiting for the next CT scan with not a lot to keep us busy to take our minds off of the wait.  We don't compete again until the last weekend of the month where we will be doing agility, rally and obedience each day at a semi-local trial.  I'm so anxious to find out how how much of our enemy, the tumor, died during the radiation   

For our skeptics and those that will still find a way to criticize, Hardee is not sick.  He has cancer, but he is not sick and hasn't been for quite awhile now.  If you saw him at the Specialty, you would know.  He does require more rest, which we make sure he gets.  We did NOT train at all or go to lessons when he was sick.  I do have a vet friend who sees him weekly now, and she makes sure we have what we need for Hardee, if we need anything.  We only train one obedience lesson (< 1 hour) a week, IF we are in town, so it isn't even each week.  Once in awhile just lately, I'll try to do a drop in rally run through.  Hardee and Jim haven't trained agility in months, almost 4.  Water season has ended, so that is not even an issue, but we missed a couple months of training water this summer.  I don't know what people have in their minds that we do, but I'm trying to set the record straight.  We do not have any agility equipment at home, nor do we do any other at home training.  Really, we are quite lazy.  When, or if, Hardee can ever go back to tracking, we'll try to go out once a week for a track during the winter when the snakes are hibernating and that's it.  I really shouldn't have to explain myself and my choices for MY dog, but I feel the need to, for those that have questioned our training, to set the record straight.  I am pleased to say that Hardee is naturally gifted and we don't have to train that much :)  I do have goals that I wanted to accomplish with Hardee, but now don't know if they will ever come to fruition.  We take each day as it comes and make the best decisions that we can for our boy and us.  We don't know any other way.

Hardee has brought so much happiness into our lives, and we owe him so much.  We will do whatever we can for our most precious boy.  Every day that we continue to have him in our lives is a gift that we do not take for granted now.  Hardee is joy to us, and it is all about joy and of course, all about Hardee!!  Stick with us as we continue our fight.