Rails to Trails, Somers, MT

Somers, MT is on the way to my favorite grocery store. Karl and I almost always drive through Somers and take a walk on the “Rails to Trails” path that starts just down the road from the Somers Cafe – on the way to the grocery.

When Sandy and Jerry visited earlier this Fall, we stopped here on the way to breakfast at the Cafe.

There is a sign in the train door about staying off the train… Jerry climbed on the train. Actually, the door was open then and you couldn’t see the sign until you were pretty much on the train but I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t have mattered if he COULD have seen the sign :)! He spent a bit of time inspecting things and then informed Sandy and I that he could get it going, i.e. they left enough of the engine. I have no doubt he could, but we moved him on before he started working on it. There is only about 10 feet of track…

Walking on, around the bend, you come to the Ice House.

I never knew it was the Ice House. There was a lot of speculation among the three of us when we looked at it together. Jerry noted that it was heavy duty structure with thick walls and substantial beams.

Just in the past 2 or 3 weeks, this sign appeared. And they moved the fence so you can get right up to the Ice House. Fascinating history! Somers used to be a commercial city with both the railroad and shipping via Flathead Lake.

Now, it is a fairly quiet secret of a small, pretty town with a great cafe and a pretty place to walk.

Rails to Trails, Somers, Montana


** “Rails to Trails” is a National conservancy that uses old railroad beds for the creation of walk/bike trails.

Karl’s good news

Good news for Karl – he is doing very well!

I’m starting this with the end so no one panics as they read through this and I need to tell everything in order to explain where we are now.

On August 1, a little over 3 months ago, I took Karl to Flathead Pet Emergency, a 24/6 Pet ER about 18 miles from my home. He was uncomfortable – restless, and having difficulty pooping (I’m not going all clinical in my choice of words :)!) The ER vet found enlarged prostate. In a neutered male of Karl’s age, it is very rare for this to be anything but prostate cancer – a very aggressive cancer in canines. No surgery, no treatment except keeping them comfortable until you can’t. They aspirated some fluid from the prostate and overnighted it to a lab to confirm. In the meantime, on the very slight chance that it was infection, we started on anti-biotics and Rimadyl (canine aspirin).

Karl seemed nearly immediately better and steadily improved. Regardless of the ER vet’s dismal prognosis, I had high hopes that Karl was a rarity. I enlisted a small band of prayer warriors praying for healing for Karl and wisdom for me and the vets. I spoke to my regular vet and we scheduled an ultrasound and blood test. Meantime, the prostate aspirate was reported inconclusive but suggestive of cancer. On August 10 the ultrasound showed the prostate was normal and the bloodwork showed none of the markers that are typically there for prostate cancer. I was elated. ( Whitefish Vet ) As a precaution, everything was sent to a veterinary oncologist for review.

The oncologist still felt that a cancer was likely. A urinalysis confirmed “TCC”, transitional cell carcinoma, which is a bladder originating cancer. It is a non-agressive, slow growing cancer and many dogs live with it for a year or more. They felt we caught Karl’s early. The oncologist recommended 4 more weeks (6 weeks total) of antibiotics and a switch from Rimadyl to Piroxicam. Piroxicam is doggie Alleve – a stronger anti-inflammatory than Rimadyl and there is concrete evidence that it reduces TCC tumors for some time…eventually the TCC becomes accustomed.

4 weeks in on the antibiotics and 1 week in on the Piroxicam, Karl got worse. He was nauseated and lethargic. His left and then his right eye got very red and the lower lid came up. Irritated eyes are a possible side affect of the long course of antibiotics. The lower lid raising could have been that as well as it is a symptom of pain. We got salve for his eyes. He got worse.

I took him to Wayfarer’s Park on that Friday – his favorite spot. We walked about 50 yards from the car and he couldn’t go further. I asked a family on a picnic to hold him while I got the Jeep. When I returned, he was all waggy tail with the children who were petting him. He wanted some of their chicken and I ok’d that. It got me thinking…he was eating and going and seemed to feel better with food. I started to suspect the medication and stopped it.

He came around, but slowly. It was that weekend that I wrote Transition post. It took about a week but his eyes cleared, his tail started wagging regularly and finally it curled up again. His energy came back. I decided enough with the antibiotics and switched back to Rimadyl. He continued to do well.

I keep a chart in a spreadsheet of how I was feeding and medicating Karl and I sent all to my vet. We spoke and they wanted me to give the Piroxicam another try as soon as I was ready. The reasoning was that hopefully it was the combination of it and the antibiotics that had caused the problem and Piroxicam would give Karl the longest time.

We tried it again, this time with a stomach coater, Carofate. About day 6, he started becoming uncomfortable and I stopped.

Thinking that I couldn’t give him the Piroxicam, I thought that the next thing would be to supplement the Rimadyl with herbal/homeopathic treatments. I made an appointment with Dr. Calm, a local DVM who also specializes in homeopathic and herbal therapies. Waiting for that appointment, I did some reading on my own.

By the time we went to see Dr. Calm , I realized that I had failed to follow up on some things with my own vet. Like, where was the tumor or tumors. Are they all inoperable? The urinalysis test for TCC is prone to false positives – they felt Karl’s was not false since he had been on antibiotics for some time before the test. Since I had the appointment with Dr. Calm, I asked her all of these things. She counselled returning to my vet and getting another ultrasound of the entire area.

Two weeks ago, this follow up ultrasound turned up nothing. This time they looked in the bladder and entire abdomen. Nothing! We redid the Urinalysis and added a second test. It was still positive for TCC but also showed protein and high white count which can cause a false positive. To eliminate contamination from “stuff” on the penis, they did a procedure to draw urine direct from the bladder. The first tests were still inconclusive. They cultered the sample and nothing grew so no infection. But not much else either.

Now we are up to yesterday. Although we don’t have anything that conclusively says there is no cancer, the fact that there is no visible tumor and Karl is doing VERY well are giving everyone reason to hope that it was infection only. That’s what I believe at this point.

Piroxicam has been shown to be effective with an every other day dosage so they suggested that I try that with Karl. And we added Pepcid to the routine as well. If he tolerates that, we’ll do that for a bit and see how things go. Piroxicam is often given for arthritis – there is no downside to continuing to give it, if he tolerates it.

If, in a month, there are no new symptoms and no evidence of tumor, there will be a choice of staying on it or seeing what happens off. There is also an option of travelling to Pullman, WA, south of Spokane – to Washington State University where they have state of the art diagnostic ultrasound as well as MRI capability.

At the moment, Karl and I are enjoying that all seems back to normal and I’m letting the options rest. I have some more questions. I have found that the answers for what to do and when to do it come in the peace and quiet of reflection and prayer vs a frantic searching or rushed decision.

Karl looks good. We are back to our typical long walks and play sessions. We’re looking forward to playing in the snow and enjoying a Montana Winter. His coat has come in heavier than ever before. Local speculation is that we will get a real winter this year – hoorah!

Karl’s good news.

“We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today”. –Sydney Smith

Can you see us?

There was a convenient stump for the camera, the evening was beautiful, Karl was distracted enough by something to allow me to set up the camera…so there you have it: Karl and “the great pumpkin” :)!

November 2, 2010: Election Day in the U.S.

It is a “Get out and vote” day in the United States of America.

Here in Northwest Montana, my morning started early and warm at nearly 50F. A blustery wind high in the pines sprinkled moisture from the trees on Karl and I as we took our morning walk down the driveway and back through the woods…with no scary following by Bob as he apparently stuck to his garage and wood pile route.

We are forecast to have another day of off and on rain and off and on sunshine as we head into an inversion week of very low clouds and fog in the valley, sunshine and warm temperatures on the mountain tops.

After a morning meeting, Karl and I will board Wild Thing. My polling place is in a church across the highway from Wayfarer’s Park on Flathead Lake where we walk. Wild Thing needs propane. So…a mini-adventure to get propane, park in the park, vote and take a walk. Hopefully, some photos later.

But, meantime, if you live in the U.S. …sometime today – GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

A Perfectly Lovely Day

November 1. Blue sky, blustery wind that made the 54F high seem cooler.

Dark clouds mixed with the blue over the mountains.

Late afternoon walk around our home loop. A perfectly lovely day.

Spooked

This story is true.

It happened last Thursday night.

Sunset is about 6:20.

The sun hits us from a southern locale at this time of year. It is full dark by 6:45.

Karl, Bob and I have a last outing about 8:30.

Moonrise is 10:00

The last outing, down the driveway and through the woods, is in the dark.

About 8:30 on Thursday evening, I put Karl’s blue light special collar on him, outfitted myself with bear spray (pepper spray) and flashlight, said my prayers and opened the front door loosing the dog, the cat and myself to the dark of a Montana woods.

Bob typically ventures out on his own around the garage and the adjacent wood pile for his evening errands

Karl and I head down the driveway. Karl has a regular stop to starboard and then we trot purposefully to the road, hang a left and head for the far southeast corner of the property for the serious business of an evening.

Mission accomplished and the return is either back to the driveway or along the eastern most property line. On this evening, we returned to the driveway.

Karl, ever vigilant, was on the alert. No barking, but he was often stopping and “huffing” to the east. I shined the flash I carried into the woods…at eye level, above my head, low to the ground…nothing. We continued toward the house with occasional sweeps of the flash.

A rustle!! I heard a rustle in the woods! – My flash returned nothing. Karl stood at alert but did not bark. We continued.

I kept up a regular sweep behind and around us with the flash…looking, looking, looking – into the dark for telltale red eyes. When the flash hits the eyes of human or animal, the retinal reflection is bright red.

Karl and I were 2/3 of the way up the driveway to the house. I turned and swept behind us with the flash. RED EYES! In the driveway!!! The red stopped AND THEN STARTED TOWARD US!

My heart thumped. The red was not deer. Deer eyes are close together and about my own eye level. This red was lower and wider.

I did not know what to think.

The eyes moved toward us.

Mild panic set in.

I commanded Karl, “INSIDE”!

Inside is a command that I use when I want Karl IN the house. I use it ONLY for that reason and he responds.

As Karl and I headed for the house, I glanced back and did a quick sweep with the flash…the red eyes continued toward us!

Mild panic turned to alarm. I grabbed Karl’s collar, commanded “INSIDE” again and we both took off at a run for the house.

Approaching the porch, I yelled for Bob…worried that whatever was following us would trap him outside. He was not to be seen.

I got Karl inside.

I turned and yelled for Bob again…nothing.

I doused the porch light and stood in the dark of the house…heart pounding…thinking of those eyes following…unnerved…

Tiptoeing into the sunroom, I waited a few moments…and then turned on the sunroom spots to catch whatever was following us…

Bob!!!, It was Bob. He must have uncharacteristically followed Karl and I on our down the driveway walk….

Spooked!