hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay wel as yoo probly reemember i hav had a fyoo ummm noo helth challendjes in the last yeer or so on top of the hart murmer wot i hav had for a wile!!! so i think it is abowt time for an updayt on how i am feeling!!!
how am i feeling??? i am feeling rather artistikly filterd!!!
and hoo better to rite that updayt then me dennis the vizsla dog??? nobuddy!!! wel ok maybe my vets but i wood probly hav to pay them but stil i am the nekst best awthoritee on myself chek it owt!!!
Lately we’ve started thinking of Dennis’s conditions as being in a race to see which one is going to get him first. There are five major ones: Anxiety, Heart Murmur, Hip Dysplasia, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and now, Osteosarcoma. Anxiety was the first out of the gate, but the others have long since left that one in the dust. We imagine them standing around talking to trash to each other. Well, I imagine it, anyway.
Anxiety: “I’ll make Dennis so scared and nervous, he won’t be able to enjoy his life at all. Mwah ha ha ha ha.”
Hip Dysplasia: “Pfft. I’ll make it so he can’t walk.”
Heart Murmur: “You’re both amateurs.”
Inflammatory Bowel Disease: “You think you’re so bad, Heart Murmur, but they have medication that works on you. There’s nothing that works on me. We’ll see how long Dennis lasts when he can’t digest his food.”
Osteosarcoma: “The big C is here. The rest of you can leave.”
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (to Anxiety, Hip Dysplasia and Heart Murmur): “Hold my beer.”
So, yeah. At this point we are several days into a severe flareup of Dennis’s IBD that we have not been able to get a handle on. At all. Dennis has just started on a course of Metronidazole to try to get this flare-up under control, but the really big gun―Prednisone―is largely ruled out because of his heart murmur. (Way to keep yourself in the game, Heart Murmur.) This flareup is hitting harder than the one from the summer; he has already lost a few pounds that he can’t afford to lose, and is now on the “Give Dennis anything he’s willing to eat” diet. Which he thinks is wonderful, at least until he decides after a few meals that this food, like whatever the previous food was, makes him sick. (This even happened when we got desperate and started giving him ground sirloin. Sirloin.)
Digestive issues aside, Dennis’s pain from the osteosarcoma seems to be much reduced; he has been getting around better and even putting some weight on the bad hip, and has been better able to get onto the furniture and into bed. He had his first radiation followup earlier this week. The oncologist was encouraged by Dennis’s progress, and said his hip should continue to feel better over the next couple of weeks. (Dennis goes back for another follow-up in three weeks.)
Dennis’s prognosis hasn’t changed; we just need to make some headway against the IBD, and soon, so that he can spend a few more comfortable months here with his family of humans, Hipster Kitties, and imaginary friends, and all of his nice reederz out on the Interwebs. So please, keep the power of the paw, the tail wags, the purrs, and the nose bumps coming Dennis’s way. He needs them.
hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay i am tayking a kwik brayk frum owr meeting with the big skarry bird to diskuss sum importent topiks naymly perry-o and cardy-o!!! now of korse evrywun nos cardy-o is verry importent and wun of the primary keys to servival in the eevent of natcheral disasters sutch as a zombee apokalips check it owt!!!
Dada’s note: Dennis’s chest X-rays came back inconclusive, with “questionable nodular opacity in the ventral thorax” and mild heart enlargement,while the ultrasound showed evidence of a chordae tendineae rupture. So basically, we still don’t really know exactly why he’s been coughing; it could even be down to seasonal allergies from weeds sprouting after the one or two days when it rained a few weeks ago. The cardiologist does think that the medication is helping to relieve the pressure on Dennis’s heart, though. His next recheck will be in a few months, at which time he may be starting on another medication, depending on how things look then.
hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay thank yoo all for yore tail wags and purrs and sutch!!! my kardiak reechek went wel the vetnameez persun sed that their is less of a thrill in my mermer now yoozhually a thrill is a gud thing rite??? but aparently not with a hart mermer!!! so they think that meens the medikayshuns ar helping releev the preshoor in my hart frum the mermer becuz nobuddy wants to be under preshoor eksept maybe the faymus minstrels queen and david bowie!!! ennyway to figger owt wot is up with my koffing they tuk sum chest xrays wot did show my hart is sumwot enlardjed and my lungs are sumwot fuzzy and they told my mama that it is not unyoozhual to see fuzzy lungs on an older dog wel duh of korse we ar fuzzy we ar dogs!!! ennyway we ar stil wayting for the ofishal reeport frum the persun wot reeds the xrays to find owt wot eksaktly it all meens but so far the nooz is pritty gud!!! thank yoo all agin for yore wel wishes and purrs and tail wags!!! as yoo kan see i am resting komfortably and dreeming of my old pack and konserving my enerdjeez for the big debayt this weekend!!! ok bye
Producer Smurf: “Dennis, we have to smurf something about your poll numbers. They’re smurfbysmal.”
Dennis: “Which line am I on that graph?”
Producer Smurf: “None of them. You’re not on that graph. Nobody knows who the smurf you are. We need to smurf a press conference.”
Greetings, quivering civilians! This is Saya the Mighty, reporting from points north. You may have noticed that I’ve been away at summer camp for longer than I originally planned. I am doing much too well here to leave. See if I’m not!