[My] Life in Wisconsin

Lumps are not good.



Good Morning All;
Warning! This story may be a bit too descriptive for a few of you.

If so, too bad.    Just kidding- Hey, just look at the pics then.  hehehe  

A long week last, for the Punk-
On Tuesday I had felt a spot of hard fur on her side- Like she had gotten into some syrup or jello- 
But saw nothing out of the ordinary, even as I brushed her!
She has had a lump on her back for a while- Doc said it was nothing to worry over, so I never gave it a thought.
Besides, the hard sticky 'evidence' was ½-way down her rib-cage, and nowhere even close to the almond sized lump in the middle of her back..

On Wednesday, she was twisting around, flopping even- 
My first thought was "she's showing off" (Not that she does that a lot).  hehehe   

As she did it again, and recalling the stick, (among other 'mishaps' she has had), my next thought was "What next?



Slouch

I can see in these shots that her almond 'lump' was getting bigger and bigger...
And her smile was getting rarer and rarer.

So tired she seemed-
But she has been getting a workout too as the weather has been so much nicer.  
I just thought my [sort of] fat dog was pooped out...


Punk sick
Nice to sleep alone-

But sometimes you just want to have a friend nearby...


Punk was using Sputty as a pillow 'til I grabbed the camera...


These twists, jerks and 'sighs' continued...

Good grief, was she epileptic? 
Or did she just keep reacting to me saying something to her with a smile on my face about her strange calisthenics?

By Thursday, her jerking around alerted me as I finally realized that the lump on her back had opened up...

I used a warm wet washcloth to clean it up the best I could, and it began to open up even more!
That warm washcloth drew out some pretty funky crap, and her fur came right off!

1.  Blood. 
2.  Water-Ooze? (Not like pus though, real runny).
3.  And little bitty white circles.  They didn't seem to move of their own accord, or I would have been forced to barf.
4.  I trimmed the hair from around it; then used the Hexaseptic Flush Plus I have for her.

I repeated this every few hours throughout the night-  
I even called Casey about 10:30- (Hey, she's the one with the veterinary background- much more than I have).

I called Dr. Spires early Friday morning.




"You Can NOT be serious!"
 hehehe   
She was not at all thrilled when I asked her if she wanted to go see Doc Spires.  


Now I see the swelling...
Just one more shot- I should have noticed that swelling...

As he thought, it is a sebaceous cyst. Rare for them to open up too.
He shaved it better- finding two more little cysts near to it...


Sebaceous cyst

I should have put a nickel up there so you could see how big it is. 
(About the same size as that nickel)...
The little pinhead size white balls were fat! hehehehehehe

And it is still a bit swollen, but looking better after 4 days on the antibiotics; and I am to continue using the Hexa stuff a few times each day-


Punk, home from the vet

She didn't even beg for the chicken from the mini-casserole I'd made yesterday.
Still catching up on that sleep. (Damned antibiotics). hehehe

With our weird weather last month- (In the 80's mid-March), then back to below freezing again for the past few weeks- (at night), my tree blossoms have been as weird as the weather...


crabapple tree- 1/2 flowered out

Only half of my flowering crab has blossomed out. 
Blossoms are on the north side, and the south sides. But NONE on the East or the West?

My daffodils are turning up pretty- and I have had a few vasefuls in the house already!

daffodils
This is the little patch out in the west lawn.
More behind the house and out by where my garden... was.

Miss Polly called yesterday afternoon, and even got to speak to Casey!


Miss Casey, yakking to Miss Polly!
Casey with a Wink, and the Sput!
* Polly and Rich are dealing with his ALS diagnosis as well as can be expected.
I cannot imagine what they must be going through, even after speaking to Polly
Those are not shoes I would care to walk in.
My heart, my love, goes out to both of them.

As soon as Casey leaves the chair, Sputty immediately decides it is time for his bath.



"S'cuse me, but I am bathing here!"

"Bathus-Interruptus!"

My own bath will be postponed a while today, as I have to get outside and mow again. 
Last week, I did not even do the west lawn- and barely even finished behind the house by the clothesline.
Oh UGH.

Hope all is well in your little corner of the world!
Love to all.

XOXO,
Me!

PS
As I write, I am also thinking some very good and positive thoughts- burning sage, and saying prayers for my friend Jerri...
Some of you may know her as "CubbieFan"

Jerri is at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, this morning, receiving results of yet another 'opinion' as to whether she will lose her leg. Her knee has been infected for 3+ months now- 
This destruction, because of the RECLAST POISON she had received.
Like me, she did not do her homework ahead of time; and like me also, she is paying an awful price for drugs that do not work.

Please, won't you keep her in your hearts today, and do the click (on her name), to leave her a message in her guestbook on here?


Bone Scan- Dexa Scan Mania

--Clicking on pic should make it viewable--

Do you have bones?

As most of you know, (and among other things), I have been diagnosed with severe Osteoporosis.
And am now up to 28 fractures...

Has your doctor ever mentioned having a bone scan? (Especially if you are post-menopausal, or an over 60 male).
See why they might just "THINK" you need one- Do the click below! ↓↓↓

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2012/01/19/bone-scan-mania-a-12-year-drug-industry-con-finally-exposed/
or
www.blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2012/01/19/bone-scan-mania-a-12-year-drug-industry-con-finally-exposed/

From the article:
"... Nor do the bone drugs even prevent fractures–their intended purpose! By suppressing bone remodeling, they are supposed to stop bone loss. But since the bone is not being renewed, it becomes brittle, ossified and fractures. The thigh bones of patients on bisphosphonates have “simply snapped while they were walking or standing,” after “weeks or months of unexplained aching,” reported the New York Times in an article called “Drugs to Build Bones May Weaken Them.” Oops. Medical journals and patients on the web site askapatient have been reporting the fractures for years...
...it should be even more embarrassing that the con only surfaced when the biggest bone drug patents are expired so the drug companies don’t even care–because the big bucks are behind them."





The human skeleton is made from 206 bones which create a framework that supports and protects the body's soft tissues and organs. 

Movement is the result of the muscles acting on the bones of the skeletal system. Muscles are connected to bones by tendons; bones are connected to each other by ligaments. The places where bones meet each other are called joints

The main difference between the male and female skeleton is that females have a wider pelvis to allow for childbirth. Smaller diferences include a shorter, straighter clavicle in the female (resulting in narrow sloping shoulders), as well as a smaller skull and smaller, lighter bones. 

The skeleton produces red blood cells from the bone marrow of certain bones and white cells from the marrow of other bones. The skeleton's bones also store minerals such as calcium. 

Babies are born with 270 soft bones (about 64 more than an adult); many of these will fuse together by age twenty, into the 206 hard, permanent bones. 

Click on a label at the right, or a link below, to find out more about each part of the skeleton. 


SKULL | CERVICAL VERTEBRAE | CLAVICLE | RIBS | SPINAL VERTEBRAE | PELVIS | SACRUM | FEMUR
PATELLA | STERNUM | HUMERUS | ULNA | RADIUS | HAND PHALANGES | FIBULA | TIBIA | | FOOT PHALANGES | BONE


Biology | Science & Math | Worsley School


HTML & design by Bill Willis
© 1996 - 2012
Wunderland Website Design
***********************************************************

Bone Densitometry

Every day, physicians use radiography, or x-rays, to view and evaluate bone fractures and other injuries of the musculoskeletal system. However, a plain x-ray test is not the best way to assess bone density. To detect osteoporosis accurately, doctors use an enhanced form of x-ray technology called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). DEXA bone densitometry is today's established standard for measuring bone mineral density (BMD). It is a quick, painless procedure for measuring bone loss. Measurements of the lower spine and hips are most often done.

The DEXA machine sends a thin, invisible beam of low-dose x-rays with two distinct energy peaks through your bones. One peak is absorbed mainly by soft tissue and the other by bone. The soft tissue amount can be subtracted from the total and what remains is a patient's bone mineral density.

The amount of radiation used is extremely small—less than one-tenth the dose of a standard chest x-ray.

More portable devices that measure the wrist, fingers or heel are sometimes used for screening, including some that use ultrasound waves rather than x-rays.

Osteoporosis involves a gradual loss of calcium, causing the bones to become thinner, more fragile and more likely to break. The DEXA test can assess your risk for developing fractures. If your bone density is found to be low, you and your physician can work together on a treatment plan to help prevent fractures before they occur. DEXA is also effective in tracking the effects of treatment for osteoporosis or for other conditions that cause bone loss. Bone density testing is strongly recommended if you:

  • are a post-menopausal woman and not taking estrogen.
  • have a personal or maternal history of hip fracture or smoking.
  • are a post-menopausal woman who is tall (over 5 feet 7 inches) or thin (less than 125 pounds).
  • are a man with clinical conditions associated with bone loss.
  • use medications that are known to cause bone loss, including corticosteroids such as Prednisone, various anti-seizure medications such as Dilantin and certain barbiturates, or high-dose thyroid replacement drugs.
  • have type 1 (formerly called juvenile or insulin-dependent) diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease or a family history of osteoporosis.
  • have high bone turnover, which shows up in the form of excessive collagen in urine samples.
  • have a thyroid condition, such as hyperthyroidism.
  • have experienced a fracture after only mild trauma.
  • have had x-ray evidence of vertebral fracture or other signs of osteoporosis.

For more detailed information on this examination, visit RadiologyInfo.

From:  http://www.radiologyinfo.org/index.cfm?bhcp=1
RadiologyInfo.org tells you how various x-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound, radiation therapy and other procedures are performed. It also addresses what you may experience and how to prepare for the exams.
  • The website contains over 115 radiologic procedures and is updated frequently with new information. 
All material on the RadiologyInfo.org website is reviewed and approved by experts in the field of radiology from the ACR and RSNA, as well as other professional radiology organizations.


All the info, plus more, can tell you why YOU are your own best doctor!

XOXO
Me


PS
My newest blog will be up shortly, but I am still clearing out my drafts folder

Bone Scan Mania: A 12 Year Drug Industry Con Finally Exposed. « SpeakEasy

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2012/01/19/bone-scan-mania-a-12-year-drug-industry-con-finally-exposed/

2012 Bumper Stickers


Checking my 'drafts' folder here...

And *If* I remember correctly these came in an email from my Sweet SissyKrissiePoo. 
(My apologies if I remember wrong).  hehehe

Just for fun ya know- 
Enjoy!

XOXO
Me




























 













 




 




 





























If I had an old VW Bug I would buy every one of these...  hehehe


XOXO
me



PS

Being the caring individual that I am,  I am offering my assistance for you...