http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100502/GPG0101/5020666/Wisconsin-transplant-needs-88-died-last-year-while-waiting-for-organs
I came upon a sad story that in the State of Wisconsin last year 88 people died while waiting for an organ transplant. I believe that is just shameful considering the fact that once you are gone you cannot use your organs but there is someone, somewhere out there who will be given new life from your generosity. It is something that is on my mind due to the number of miles we drive now and you never know what the next curve will bring. I would be much happier knowing that my gift gave someone else the chance to spend a few more Christmases, or a lifetime of Christmases, with their loved ones.
So Bill and I have gone to the website http://www.yesiwillwisconsin.com./ to let it be known that our wishes are to donate our tissues, organs and eyes in the event of a tragedy. Granted we both had orange dots on our licenses, but that was not legal and binding. Below is the statement from the website about the legality of signing up and the fact that it is irreversible unless revoked by the donor before death. All in all, we believe it is a great program as it takes the responsibility for the decision away from the next of kin so there can be no arguments if two parties disagree about donation. Hopefully registries such as this will help to ensure that no viable organs go to waste and as such, many more lives can be saved.
By submitting this registration I affirm that I am the applicant described on this application and that the information entered herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. This registration will serve as a record of gift as outlined in Wisconsin state law. A record gift, not revoked by the donor before death, is irreversible and does not require the consent of any other person. It also authorizes any examination necessary to ensure the medical acceptability of the anatomical gift.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Another Area to Cross Off
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_City,_Indiana
In Michigan City we boondocked at the Blue Chip Casino which is right near the waterfront. Not a horrible area but it has one of the worst laundromats I have ever been to....90% of the equipment was inoperable and the place was dirty and run down....I really, really hate not having a washer or a place to line dry the laundry! We had wanted to visit the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore but the weather would not cooperate. All the rain has caused quite a bit of flooding and an increase in my pain of course. Hopefully we will be able to catch the park in some better weather. The casino itself is nice and we each received a coupon booklet that included a Buy 1 Get 1 Free Buffet which was very good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_City,_Illinois
Calumet City was a stop that we were worried about due to reported violence. We don't really need someone thinking we are rich as we have an RV and trying to break in some night while Bill is in the store! But it didn't turn out as bad as expected. Granted I felt like a minority while in the mall and at a couple of other shops but the area the Target was in was fairly safe. It is right on the border of Hammond IN and there were quite a few Illinois people crossing over the border and stopping at the first gas station as gas was $3.09 in Calumet City and $2.84 in Hammond. Al Capone once owned a getaway home in Calumet City and after prohibition was repealed Calumet City had the largest amount of liquor licenses of any city in the country. Calumet City was also the birthplace of "Joliet Jake", John Belushi's character in the Blues Brothers and the orphanage they were trying to save was located there also.
This area and style of living is just definitely NOT us. I guess it is better to be able to cross places you'd like to live off of your list as you can't live everywhere rather than find tons of places you would like to spend more time in! We have spent the last few days in some rather populated, dirty, run down areas with people crammed next to each other like sardines and very little green areas anywhere. Going to the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond for a shop last night we passed by an oil refinery and I could feel my chest get tight and I had a hard time breathing....how do people live with that day in and day out? I met a guy at an Aldi shop and he said that if he could get out of northwestern Indiana he would. Unfortunately I guess he can't and either many other people can't as well or they just are afraid to take that step....or of course, maybe some of them like city living. To each his own but I am very glad we both agree it is not for us!
In Michigan City we boondocked at the Blue Chip Casino which is right near the waterfront. Not a horrible area but it has one of the worst laundromats I have ever been to....90% of the equipment was inoperable and the place was dirty and run down....I really, really hate not having a washer or a place to line dry the laundry! We had wanted to visit the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore but the weather would not cooperate. All the rain has caused quite a bit of flooding and an increase in my pain of course. Hopefully we will be able to catch the park in some better weather. The casino itself is nice and we each received a coupon booklet that included a Buy 1 Get 1 Free Buffet which was very good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_City,_Illinois
Calumet City was a stop that we were worried about due to reported violence. We don't really need someone thinking we are rich as we have an RV and trying to break in some night while Bill is in the store! But it didn't turn out as bad as expected. Granted I felt like a minority while in the mall and at a couple of other shops but the area the Target was in was fairly safe. It is right on the border of Hammond IN and there were quite a few Illinois people crossing over the border and stopping at the first gas station as gas was $3.09 in Calumet City and $2.84 in Hammond. Al Capone once owned a getaway home in Calumet City and after prohibition was repealed Calumet City had the largest amount of liquor licenses of any city in the country. Calumet City was also the birthplace of "Joliet Jake", John Belushi's character in the Blues Brothers and the orphanage they were trying to save was located there also.
This area and style of living is just definitely NOT us. I guess it is better to be able to cross places you'd like to live off of your list as you can't live everywhere rather than find tons of places you would like to spend more time in! We have spent the last few days in some rather populated, dirty, run down areas with people crammed next to each other like sardines and very little green areas anywhere. Going to the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond for a shop last night we passed by an oil refinery and I could feel my chest get tight and I had a hard time breathing....how do people live with that day in and day out? I met a guy at an Aldi shop and he said that if he could get out of northwestern Indiana he would. Unfortunately I guess he can't and either many other people can't as well or they just are afraid to take that step....or of course, maybe some of them like city living. To each his own but I am very glad we both agree it is not for us!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
When Will It End and Who Do We Trust?
The Cover-up: BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster
By Wayne Madsen
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19068
Global Research, May 9, 2010
Oilprice.com
WMR has been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton--, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and working together to limit BP's liability for damage caused by what can be called a "mega-disaster."
Obama and his senior White House staff, as well as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, are working with BP's chief executive officer Tony Hayward on legislation that would raise the cap on liability for damage claims from those affected by the oil disaster from $75 million to $10 billion. However, WMR's federal and Gulf state sources are reporting the disaster has the real
potential cost of at least $1 trillion. Critics of the deal being worked out between Obama and Hayward point out that $10 billion is a mere drop in the bucket for a trillion dollar disaster but also note that BP, if its assets were nationalized, could fetch almost a trillion dollars for compensation purposes. There is talk in some government circles, including FEMA, of the
need to nationalize BP in order to compensate those who will ultimately be affected by the worst oil disaster in the history of the world.
Plans by BP to sink a 4-story containment dome over the oil gushing from a gaping chasm one kilometer below the surface of the Gulf, where the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and killed 11 workers on April 20, and reports that one of the leaks has been contained is pure public relations disinformation designed to avoid panic and demands for greater action by the
Obama administration, according to FEMA and Corps of Engineers sources. Sources within these agencies say the White House has been resisting releasing any "damaging information" about the oil disaster. They add that if the ocean oil geyser is not stopped within 90 days, there will be irreversible damage to the marine eco-systems of the Gulf of Mexico, north Atlantic Ocean, and beyond. At best, some Corps of Engineers experts say it could take two years to cement the chasm on the floor of the Gulf.
Only after the magnitude of the disaster became evident did Obama order Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to declare the oil disaster a "national security issue." Although the Coast Guard and FEMA are part of her department, Napolitano's actual reasoning for invoking national security was to block media coverage of the immensity of the disaster that is unfolding for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean and their coastlines.
From the Corps of Engineers, FEMA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Coast Guard, and Gulf state environmental protection agencies, the message is the same: "we've never dealt with anything like this before."
The Obama administration also conspired with BP to fudge the extent of the oil leak, according to our federal and state sources. After the oil rig exploded and sank, the government stated that 42,000 gallons per day was gushing from the seabed chasm. Five days later, the federal government upped the leakage to 210,000 gallons a day.
However, WMR has been informed that submersibles that are monitoring the escaping oil from the Gulf seabed are viewing television pictures of what is a "volcanic-like" eruption of oil. Moreover, when the Army Corps of Engineers first attempted to obtain NASA imagery of the Gulf oil slick -- which is larger than that being reported by the media -- it was turned down.
However, National Geographic managed to obtain the satellite imagery shots of the extent of the disaster and posted them on their web site.
There is other satellite imagery being withheld by the Obama administration that shows what lies under the gaping chasm spewing oil at an ever-alarming rate is a cavern estimated to be around the size of Mount Everest. This information has been given an almost national security-level classification to keep it from the public, according to our sources.
The Corps and Engineers and FEMA are quietly critical of the lack of support for quick action after the oil disaster by the Obama White House and the US Coast Guard. Only recently, has the Coast Guard understood the magnitude of the disaster, dispatching nearly 70 vessels to the affected area. WMR has also learned that inspections of off-shore rigs' shut-off valves by the Minerals Management Service during the Bush administration were merely rubber-stamp operations, resulting from criminal collusion between Halliburton and the Interior Department's service, and that the potential for similar disasters exists with the other 30,000 off-shore rigs that use the same shut-off valves.
The impact of the disaster became known to the Corps of Engineers and FEMA even before the White House began to take the magnitude of the impending catastrophe seriously. The first casualty of the disaster is the seafood industy, with not just fishermen, oystermen, crabbers, and shrimpers losing their jobs, but all those involved in the restaurant industry, from truckers
to waitresses, facing lay-offs.
The invasion of crude oil into estuaries like the oyster-rich Apalachicola Bay in Florida spell disaster for the seafood industry. However, the biggest threat is to Florida's Everglades, which federal and state experts fear will be turned into a "dead zone" if the oil continues to gush forth from the Gulf chasm. There are also expectations that the oil slick will be caught up in the Gulf stream off the eastern seaboard of the United States, fouling beaches and estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay, and ultimately target the rich fishing grounds of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland.
WMR has also learned that 36 urban areas on the Gulf of Mexico are expecting to be confronted with a major disaster from the oil volcano in the next few days. Although protective water surface boons are being laid to protect such sensitive areas as Alabama's Dauphin Island, the mouth of the Mississippi River, and Florida's Apalachicola Bay, Florida, there is only 16
miles of boons available for the protection of 2,276 miles of tidal shoreline in the state of Florida.
Emergency preparations in dealing with the expanding oil menace are now being made for cities and towns from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Houston, New Orleans, Gulfport, Mobile, Pensacola, Tampa-St.Petersburg- Clearwater, Sarasota-Bradenton, Naples, and Key West. Some 36 FEMA-funded contracts between cities, towns, and counties and emergency workers are due to be invoked within days, if not hours, according to WMR's FEMA sources.
There are plans to evacuate people with respiratory problems, especially those among the retired senior population along the west coast of Florida, before officials begin burning surface oil as it begins to near the coastline.
There is another major threat looming for inland towns and cities. With hurricane season in effect, there is a potential for ocean oil to be picked up by hurricane-driven rains and dropped into fresh water lakes and rivers, far from the ocean, thus adding to the pollution of water supplies and eco-systems.
By Wayne Madsen
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19068
Global Research, May 9, 2010
Oilprice.com
WMR has been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton--, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and working together to limit BP's liability for damage caused by what can be called a "mega-disaster."
Obama and his senior White House staff, as well as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, are working with BP's chief executive officer Tony Hayward on legislation that would raise the cap on liability for damage claims from those affected by the oil disaster from $75 million to $10 billion. However, WMR's federal and Gulf state sources are reporting the disaster has the real
potential cost of at least $1 trillion. Critics of the deal being worked out between Obama and Hayward point out that $10 billion is a mere drop in the bucket for a trillion dollar disaster but also note that BP, if its assets were nationalized, could fetch almost a trillion dollars for compensation purposes. There is talk in some government circles, including FEMA, of the
need to nationalize BP in order to compensate those who will ultimately be affected by the worst oil disaster in the history of the world.
Plans by BP to sink a 4-story containment dome over the oil gushing from a gaping chasm one kilometer below the surface of the Gulf, where the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and killed 11 workers on April 20, and reports that one of the leaks has been contained is pure public relations disinformation designed to avoid panic and demands for greater action by the
Obama administration, according to FEMA and Corps of Engineers sources. Sources within these agencies say the White House has been resisting releasing any "damaging information" about the oil disaster. They add that if the ocean oil geyser is not stopped within 90 days, there will be irreversible damage to the marine eco-systems of the Gulf of Mexico, north Atlantic Ocean, and beyond. At best, some Corps of Engineers experts say it could take two years to cement the chasm on the floor of the Gulf.
Only after the magnitude of the disaster became evident did Obama order Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to declare the oil disaster a "national security issue." Although the Coast Guard and FEMA are part of her department, Napolitano's actual reasoning for invoking national security was to block media coverage of the immensity of the disaster that is unfolding for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean and their coastlines.
From the Corps of Engineers, FEMA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Coast Guard, and Gulf state environmental protection agencies, the message is the same: "we've never dealt with anything like this before."
The Obama administration also conspired with BP to fudge the extent of the oil leak, according to our federal and state sources. After the oil rig exploded and sank, the government stated that 42,000 gallons per day was gushing from the seabed chasm. Five days later, the federal government upped the leakage to 210,000 gallons a day.
However, WMR has been informed that submersibles that are monitoring the escaping oil from the Gulf seabed are viewing television pictures of what is a "volcanic-like" eruption of oil. Moreover, when the Army Corps of Engineers first attempted to obtain NASA imagery of the Gulf oil slick -- which is larger than that being reported by the media -- it was turned down.
However, National Geographic managed to obtain the satellite imagery shots of the extent of the disaster and posted them on their web site.
There is other satellite imagery being withheld by the Obama administration that shows what lies under the gaping chasm spewing oil at an ever-alarming rate is a cavern estimated to be around the size of Mount Everest. This information has been given an almost national security-level classification to keep it from the public, according to our sources.
The Corps and Engineers and FEMA are quietly critical of the lack of support for quick action after the oil disaster by the Obama White House and the US Coast Guard. Only recently, has the Coast Guard understood the magnitude of the disaster, dispatching nearly 70 vessels to the affected area. WMR has also learned that inspections of off-shore rigs' shut-off valves by the Minerals Management Service during the Bush administration were merely rubber-stamp operations, resulting from criminal collusion between Halliburton and the Interior Department's service, and that the potential for similar disasters exists with the other 30,000 off-shore rigs that use the same shut-off valves.
The impact of the disaster became known to the Corps of Engineers and FEMA even before the White House began to take the magnitude of the impending catastrophe seriously. The first casualty of the disaster is the seafood industy, with not just fishermen, oystermen, crabbers, and shrimpers losing their jobs, but all those involved in the restaurant industry, from truckers
to waitresses, facing lay-offs.
The invasion of crude oil into estuaries like the oyster-rich Apalachicola Bay in Florida spell disaster for the seafood industry. However, the biggest threat is to Florida's Everglades, which federal and state experts fear will be turned into a "dead zone" if the oil continues to gush forth from the Gulf chasm. There are also expectations that the oil slick will be caught up in the Gulf stream off the eastern seaboard of the United States, fouling beaches and estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay, and ultimately target the rich fishing grounds of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland.
WMR has also learned that 36 urban areas on the Gulf of Mexico are expecting to be confronted with a major disaster from the oil volcano in the next few days. Although protective water surface boons are being laid to protect such sensitive areas as Alabama's Dauphin Island, the mouth of the Mississippi River, and Florida's Apalachicola Bay, Florida, there is only 16
miles of boons available for the protection of 2,276 miles of tidal shoreline in the state of Florida.
Emergency preparations in dealing with the expanding oil menace are now being made for cities and towns from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Houston, New Orleans, Gulfport, Mobile, Pensacola, Tampa-St.Petersburg- Clearwater, Sarasota-Bradenton, Naples, and Key West. Some 36 FEMA-funded contracts between cities, towns, and counties and emergency workers are due to be invoked within days, if not hours, according to WMR's FEMA sources.
There are plans to evacuate people with respiratory problems, especially those among the retired senior population along the west coast of Florida, before officials begin burning surface oil as it begins to near the coastline.
There is another major threat looming for inland towns and cities. With hurricane season in effect, there is a potential for ocean oil to be picked up by hurricane-driven rains and dropped into fresh water lakes and rivers, far from the ocean, thus adding to the pollution of water supplies and eco-systems.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
South Bend Indiana Area
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bend,_Indiana
Bill had a cluster of Targets to do in the greater South Bend area which includes Granger, Goshen and Elkhart. The area was especially hard hit during the recession as there were several large RV manufacturers located here, some of which did not survive the downturn. There is a large Amish population in the area so Dozey had fun grrring at the horses. South Bend, of course, is the home to Notre Dame University and I expected the city to be a bit more upscale than it was, but it was mostly blue collar neighborhoods. We were trying to get a better tour of Notre Dame the day Dozey was having his seizures but it was probably just as well that we couldn't as it was finals weeks and the students were all moving out and there were parents and U Hauls everywhere. I was able to pull in a faculty lot and get a picture of the yellow dome.
Bill had a cluster of Targets to do in the greater South Bend area which includes Granger, Goshen and Elkhart. The area was especially hard hit during the recession as there were several large RV manufacturers located here, some of which did not survive the downturn. There is a large Amish population in the area so Dozey had fun grrring at the horses. South Bend, of course, is the home to Notre Dame University and I expected the city to be a bit more upscale than it was, but it was mostly blue collar neighborhoods. We were trying to get a better tour of Notre Dame the day Dozey was having his seizures but it was probably just as well that we couldn't as it was finals weeks and the students were all moving out and there were parents and U Hauls everywhere. I was able to pull in a faculty lot and get a picture of the yellow dome.
South Bend was the home of the former Studebaker company before it closed in 1963. It has also been the home of the College Football Hall of Fame since 1995 but will see that leave in 2010 and move to Atlanta. It is the birthplace of Nascar driver Ryan Newman, football coach Jon Gruden, and film director Sydney Pollack.
At our first Target in Granger we got into the parking lot and right by us found a pair of Canada geese who had for some reason decided to make their nest in one of the parking lot islands. Investigation found out that Canada geese normally return to nest in the area where the female learned to fly. So possibly the Target parking lot was at one time a marsh. It also says that she sits on the nest for 6 weeks to 2 months. I gave the male some bread which he ate but I did not see the female eat anything. Hopefully this pair can hatch their eggs and move the goslings to safer territory without losing too many of them to cars tearing through the parking lot!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Dozer
After staying on a once a month seizure schedule since he began having them last July things turned pretty ugly on Wednesday night. Bill left for work about 9:45pm and about 10pm he had his first seizure while lying on the bed. He soaked all the blankets down to the mattress so after getting him calmed down (somewhat) I changed the bedding and got him back up with me so I could cuddle with him so he knew he was ok. Of course, that was the time that the parking lot cleaning truck had to come real close to the rig with it's lights flashing and every train in northwestern Indiana had to come by on the tracks near the Target with their horns blaring. So he paced and tried to get into small spaces as he has been doing lately after a seizure. I had just gotten off to sleep when he had another at 2am. Where the urine came from I have no idea but he soaked the bed again. Changed the bedding again and this episode actually calmed him down. I called the 24 hour emergency vet in Mishawaka just to make sure I shouldn't bring him in. They said to just watch him and call my vet in the morning as it sounded like he had calmed down.
Bill got home about 5am and Dozey went out to greet him. Bill went in to bed about 6am and left him on the couch. I was woken up a little after that with Doze having another seizure, this time on the couch. And this one again had him pacing and panting. I decided just to stay up as we really had no blankets left anyway. Dozey and I left for the laundromat and $25 worth of laundry later came back to get Bill up. We decided to go to and see Notre Dame and left Target with Dozey in the back of the truck. We were on the freeway around 4pm when he went into another. Thank god that Bill was driving so I could try to get in back to hold him down. Normally it would have been just Doze and I and I would have panicked driving and him going into one.
We pulled off and decided to get him to a vet right away. I went into a Pilot and asked people there if they had a vet they would recommend nearby. I called the closest one and they said that they would stay open for us until we got there. So if you are even in South Bend Indiana and need a vet I highly recommend the Clayview Animal Clinic on Hwy 31!
I called and had our vet in Oshkosh fax all of Dozey's records that by now resemble a small library. The vet looked him over and we discussed the options. In order to stop the clustering of the seizures we made the difficult decision to put him on phenobarbitol which is a barbituate that is routinely used in cases such as this. Unfortunate side effects include weight gain, lethargy and peeing and drinking more. We also are taking him to Dr. Doug who has a vet clinic in Hammond IN and is the moderator on the RV.net pet group that I am on. He had a full blood test and the results came back with only a small elevation in some liver enzymes in one of the tests which the vet said is nothing to really worry about.
So we may need to take him to a neurologist and have scans done or we may just stay with the meds. He has to take a pill every 12 hours which can be a joy in trying to get it down his throat. Bill has come up with a technique of putting it on top of a crunchy treat so he can't tell the pill is there as it is crunchy too. Since starting the meds at 6pm on Wednesday night we haven't seen any sign of an oncoming seizure. We are both wishing it could be different but I can't watch him go through them as it looks like I will lose him any minute while he is in one and there may be one he doesn't come out of. Also, considering our track record with cancer we should be totally grateful that this is what we have to deal with and not that!
Bill got home about 5am and Dozey went out to greet him. Bill went in to bed about 6am and left him on the couch. I was woken up a little after that with Doze having another seizure, this time on the couch. And this one again had him pacing and panting. I decided just to stay up as we really had no blankets left anyway. Dozey and I left for the laundromat and $25 worth of laundry later came back to get Bill up. We decided to go to and see Notre Dame and left Target with Dozey in the back of the truck. We were on the freeway around 4pm when he went into another. Thank god that Bill was driving so I could try to get in back to hold him down. Normally it would have been just Doze and I and I would have panicked driving and him going into one.
We pulled off and decided to get him to a vet right away. I went into a Pilot and asked people there if they had a vet they would recommend nearby. I called the closest one and they said that they would stay open for us until we got there. So if you are even in South Bend Indiana and need a vet I highly recommend the Clayview Animal Clinic on Hwy 31!
I called and had our vet in Oshkosh fax all of Dozey's records that by now resemble a small library. The vet looked him over and we discussed the options. In order to stop the clustering of the seizures we made the difficult decision to put him on phenobarbitol which is a barbituate that is routinely used in cases such as this. Unfortunate side effects include weight gain, lethargy and peeing and drinking more. We also are taking him to Dr. Doug who has a vet clinic in Hammond IN and is the moderator on the RV.net pet group that I am on. He had a full blood test and the results came back with only a small elevation in some liver enzymes in one of the tests which the vet said is nothing to really worry about.
So we may need to take him to a neurologist and have scans done or we may just stay with the meds. He has to take a pill every 12 hours which can be a joy in trying to get it down his throat. Bill has come up with a technique of putting it on top of a crunchy treat so he can't tell the pill is there as it is crunchy too. Since starting the meds at 6pm on Wednesday night we haven't seen any sign of an oncoming seizure. We are both wishing it could be different but I can't watch him go through them as it looks like I will lose him any minute while he is in one and there may be one he doesn't come out of. Also, considering our track record with cancer we should be totally grateful that this is what we have to deal with and not that!
May 8th - Pet Cancer Awareness Day
I just wanted to share two stories that I wrote for the RV Pet group as there are so many of us on there who have gone through what we have and hopefully someday there will be more answers and greater cure rates..
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-breaking-news/2010/04/30/petco-and-blue-buffalo-join-forces-to-battle-pet-cancer.aspx
Mickey
Mickey came into my life on January 25, 2002 when I met Bill. She had been a gift to him from his kids. She was the kind of Golden that would cry when you came home and wag her butt around crazy! I brought 3 cats into her life which she stoically accepted at first and then became cuddle friends with one, Amiga. At that time it was Mickey and the Monsters when we talked about our babies. When we went out of town and couldn't take her (we didn't have an RV then) we dropped her off at my parents and my mom made her pancakes for breakfast! LOL..we have a picture from my mom's house of her intently "watching" TV..she was a spitting image of Mandy, a Golden I had grown up with so my parents doted on her.
Early in 2003 we noticed she had problems breathing. We took her to the vet who thought it may be blastomycosis which is a fungus that can get into lungs of people and animals when there is the perfect storm for it to be created. We treated her with $10 pills but she kept going downhill. We finally had to take her to the emergency vet one night and they put her on a respirator. They then told us that it was cancer and it was all through her. I kept thinking there was something that I could have, should have seen or done but I've come to know that we unfortunately lose 60% of Goldens to cancer.
Bill could not say the words so I unfortunately had to be the one to tell them we had to let her go. Besides saying those exact words last year about my beloved Tigre, who we also lost to cancer, that has been the hardest thing I've had to do in my life especially since I felt it wasn't really my place to make the call but it had to be done.
Afterwards Bill refused to discuss the possibility of a new dog. He internalizes grief and clams up. I finally made the decision almost a year later to just get one whether he approved or not. We came home in January 2004 from Florida and I had Dozer all ready to be picked up. Bill was not happy but in an hour it was forgotten. In memory of Mickey Dozey still wears her collar...a bit frayed but "in the family". We have Mickey's TV picture in the rig along with our current monsters and she will always, always be remembered and is waiting for us at the bridge I know.
Tigre
I hope I am not being a space hog here but I, unfortunately, have two stories to tell and I am sure there are some of you who do too. This is very cathartic as I have never really sat and put down in words just what they have meant to me....
Tigre came into my life at a time I was really mixed up and not sure if I was coming or going. I had always loved cats but my parents did not so I never had one growing up and when I got on my own I really didn't have animals in my 20s as I was moving around so much. At that time it would have been more of me worrying about inconveniencing ME rather than worrying about THEM so it is good I remained petless.
I was living in an upper apartment with my brother and a friend of mine when the downstairs neighbor kids found a young cat. They really didn't have the money for her so I decided to take her. As I was teaching Spanish at the time I went with that theme to find a name for her. Tiges was like a little koala bear in that she liked to be held and would cling to me. She had one side of her paws and mouth white and the other black. At that time I wasn't thinking and didn't get her spayed right away so she ended up having 2 litters when my brother couldn't stand her screaming at night and would let her out. I finally wised up and took her in to get fixed. Good did come out of the 2 litters and I now have 2 of her daughters - Amiga from the first litter and Gata Lu from the second.
When Gata Lu was just starting to walk I was in a leg brace as I pulled my quad. I accidentally stepped on Gata Lu who, of course, screamed bloody murder. Tigre came at me like a demon cat and attacked my head where I had fallen. I threw her off of me and she came right back! Talk about mother bear instincts, but I don't blame her at all as I had injured her baby. That was the only time she was anything other than loving and sweet.
After meeting Bill life became more settled. Although he had never really liked cats, he learned to! He called Tiges the "Michael Jordan kitty" as she always sat with her tongue sticking out!
In early winter of 2008 Tigre got "an ear infection"...or so says the vet that we took her to. We had moved 2 hours up north and had changed from our trusted vet to have someone closer. We treated her "ear infection" for over a month until one weekend between Christmas and New Years I realized I hadn't really seen her for a while. I found her under the bed and had to pull her out. In 48 hours a huge tumor had grown on the right side of her face and she was bleeding out of that ear. We immediately rushed 2 hours south to the emergency vet. She clung to me like a baby koala for the entire ride. We checked her in and the hospital started doing tests. Being the holidays everything took forever. On New Year's Eve I got the call that it was melanoma.
I, being me, had been frantically researching anything and everything I could online. This was about the first time I posted on this board. I had been just a lurker previously. Everyone here was as helpful as they could be. I found a study going on at the University of Wisconsin - Madison Veterinary School for cats with melanoma and I made plans to take Tiges there. We drove back down to get her but when I saw her I realized it was too late. She had a feeding tube, she couldn't walk...the cancer was too widespread...I know you probably think I was being selfish in taking her to the cancer program but I was also hoping they could find out more information for those of us who will go through this in the future...also for the fact that I have two of her daughters.
I painfully made the decision to let her go to the bridge. The pain of this has not entirely gone away yet as I am bawling as I write this and read all of your tributes. It is my greatest wish that somehow this monster can be eradicated so no one else has to go through what we have. Just the fact that there is now an Awareness Day and walks going on is a step in the right direction.
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-breaking-news/2010/04/30/petco-and-blue-buffalo-join-forces-to-battle-pet-cancer.aspx
Mickey
Mickey came into my life on January 25, 2002 when I met Bill. She had been a gift to him from his kids. She was the kind of Golden that would cry when you came home and wag her butt around crazy! I brought 3 cats into her life which she stoically accepted at first and then became cuddle friends with one, Amiga. At that time it was Mickey and the Monsters when we talked about our babies. When we went out of town and couldn't take her (we didn't have an RV then) we dropped her off at my parents and my mom made her pancakes for breakfast! LOL..we have a picture from my mom's house of her intently "watching" TV..she was a spitting image of Mandy, a Golden I had grown up with so my parents doted on her.
Early in 2003 we noticed she had problems breathing. We took her to the vet who thought it may be blastomycosis which is a fungus that can get into lungs of people and animals when there is the perfect storm for it to be created. We treated her with $10 pills but she kept going downhill. We finally had to take her to the emergency vet one night and they put her on a respirator. They then told us that it was cancer and it was all through her. I kept thinking there was something that I could have, should have seen or done but I've come to know that we unfortunately lose 60% of Goldens to cancer.
Bill could not say the words so I unfortunately had to be the one to tell them we had to let her go. Besides saying those exact words last year about my beloved Tigre, who we also lost to cancer, that has been the hardest thing I've had to do in my life especially since I felt it wasn't really my place to make the call but it had to be done.
Afterwards Bill refused to discuss the possibility of a new dog. He internalizes grief and clams up. I finally made the decision almost a year later to just get one whether he approved or not. We came home in January 2004 from Florida and I had Dozer all ready to be picked up. Bill was not happy but in an hour it was forgotten. In memory of Mickey Dozey still wears her collar...a bit frayed but "in the family". We have Mickey's TV picture in the rig along with our current monsters and she will always, always be remembered and is waiting for us at the bridge I know.
Tigre
I hope I am not being a space hog here but I, unfortunately, have two stories to tell and I am sure there are some of you who do too. This is very cathartic as I have never really sat and put down in words just what they have meant to me....
Tigre came into my life at a time I was really mixed up and not sure if I was coming or going. I had always loved cats but my parents did not so I never had one growing up and when I got on my own I really didn't have animals in my 20s as I was moving around so much. At that time it would have been more of me worrying about inconveniencing ME rather than worrying about THEM so it is good I remained petless.
I was living in an upper apartment with my brother and a friend of mine when the downstairs neighbor kids found a young cat. They really didn't have the money for her so I decided to take her. As I was teaching Spanish at the time I went with that theme to find a name for her. Tiges was like a little koala bear in that she liked to be held and would cling to me. She had one side of her paws and mouth white and the other black. At that time I wasn't thinking and didn't get her spayed right away so she ended up having 2 litters when my brother couldn't stand her screaming at night and would let her out. I finally wised up and took her in to get fixed. Good did come out of the 2 litters and I now have 2 of her daughters - Amiga from the first litter and Gata Lu from the second.
When Gata Lu was just starting to walk I was in a leg brace as I pulled my quad. I accidentally stepped on Gata Lu who, of course, screamed bloody murder. Tigre came at me like a demon cat and attacked my head where I had fallen. I threw her off of me and she came right back! Talk about mother bear instincts, but I don't blame her at all as I had injured her baby. That was the only time she was anything other than loving and sweet.
After meeting Bill life became more settled. Although he had never really liked cats, he learned to! He called Tiges the "Michael Jordan kitty" as she always sat with her tongue sticking out!
In early winter of 2008 Tigre got "an ear infection"...or so says the vet that we took her to. We had moved 2 hours up north and had changed from our trusted vet to have someone closer. We treated her "ear infection" for over a month until one weekend between Christmas and New Years I realized I hadn't really seen her for a while. I found her under the bed and had to pull her out. In 48 hours a huge tumor had grown on the right side of her face and she was bleeding out of that ear. We immediately rushed 2 hours south to the emergency vet. She clung to me like a baby koala for the entire ride. We checked her in and the hospital started doing tests. Being the holidays everything took forever. On New Year's Eve I got the call that it was melanoma.
I, being me, had been frantically researching anything and everything I could online. This was about the first time I posted on this board. I had been just a lurker previously. Everyone here was as helpful as they could be. I found a study going on at the University of Wisconsin - Madison Veterinary School for cats with melanoma and I made plans to take Tiges there. We drove back down to get her but when I saw her I realized it was too late. She had a feeding tube, she couldn't walk...the cancer was too widespread...I know you probably think I was being selfish in taking her to the cancer program but I was also hoping they could find out more information for those of us who will go through this in the future...also for the fact that I have two of her daughters.
I painfully made the decision to let her go to the bridge. The pain of this has not entirely gone away yet as I am bawling as I write this and read all of your tributes. It is my greatest wish that somehow this monster can be eradicated so no one else has to go through what we have. Just the fact that there is now an Awareness Day and walks going on is a step in the right direction.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Holland and Saugatuck Michigan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland,_Michigan
We had thought to stay on Saturday for the Tulip Festival but as it was only the first weekend of it, there was only a craft fair and Dutch dancing in the park. Of course besides touring the tulip gardens. Bill was not too keen on any of those activities so we decided to head south along the shoreline and see what else there would be to do on his only day off. So we left in the early afternoon and found Mount Baldhead and the city of Saugatuck.
http://www.michigan.org/property/detail.aspx?p=b9024
I am not sure if we were crazy or not, but we decided to climb up the new stairs to Mount Baldhead....all 282 of them! Here was the view looking up which was rather daunting.
And here is the view from the top about a half hour later!
Holland turned out to be a very nice town but very long from north to south as it is located along Lake Macatawa which then turns into Lake Michigan. Around the downtown area people have tulips planted in rows on their terraces for blocks. It looks really nice now although many of the tulips seem to be almost past their prime already. Another casualty of global warming? They may need to move the festival from the first and second weekends in May to late April if it keeps getting warmer. Other interesting Holland facts are that in 2010, Holland was ranked the 2nd healthiest/happiest town in the United States by the Well-being Index and that the city is the home to the church that kicked off the trend of the "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets in 1989.
http://www.tuliptime.com/We had thought to stay on Saturday for the Tulip Festival but as it was only the first weekend of it, there was only a craft fair and Dutch dancing in the park. Of course besides touring the tulip gardens. Bill was not too keen on any of those activities so we decided to head south along the shoreline and see what else there would be to do on his only day off. So we left in the early afternoon and found Mount Baldhead and the city of Saugatuck.
http://www.michigan.org/property/detail.aspx?p=b9024
I am not sure if we were crazy or not, but we decided to climb up the new stairs to Mount Baldhead....all 282 of them! Here was the view looking up which was rather daunting.
And here is the view from the top about a half hour later!And finally the view heading back down. We could have gone down the other side which headed to Oval Beach and was a straight down drop of pure sand but it was too far to walk back to where the RV was parked.
http://www.saugatuck.com/index.asp
We definitely loved the Saugatuck/Douglas area of Michigan. It was BY FAR the best place we had been in the lower part of the state, no doubt due to the location on the water.
It reminded us a lot of Fish Creek in the Door with the shops and restaurants along the water. There were cars parked EVERYWHERE and we can just imagine that if it is that busy the first weekend in May, Memorial Day must be a zoo. The houses along the water were awesome with some being built up on the bluffs. There were a couple of straight up driveways that there is no way they can be used in the winter. All in all if we had to live in lower Michigan, this would definitely be our area of choice. Unfortunately there are no RV areas right in Saugatuck -- if you have an RV you need to go either north to Holland or farther south to one of the state parks on the shore. We stopped at one private campground that was open as many places aren't opening until May 15 and we didn't want to pay $27 to $35 plus the $12 entry fee to a state park, but this park wanted $44 for one night. That much for a circular park with really no amenities. So we just decided to head on to the Target in Benton Harbor and save the fees as we will definitely need to have hook ups later in the year when we need to run the air. Benton Harbor is our last stop in lower Michigan and then we are on to Indiana on Monday.
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