I feel like we got an extra week in November this year!  I am grateful as it gave me time to recover from Thanksgiving! How does that Alka-Seltzer commercial go, "Drop, drop!  Fizz, fizz! Oh what a relief it is"?  I felt more like"Eat, Eat! Stuff, Stuff!  Oh what a pig I am!" LOL!  I swear it took 4 days to get over it!  But it was yummy and worth it once a year! And, of course, I am thankful that we have no shortage of food and many blessings for which to be thankful!

Buddy's condition is an ongoing concern since November 7, when he had surgery.  Twelve days after surgery some of his stitches were removed and the vet injected medication into another tumor in his front leg.  That medicine caused the incision in his belly to open up again.  This caused near panic for yours truly!  A big hole just where his belly button would be opened up as if there had never been any stitches there at all!  Of course this was on the Friday after Thanksgiving so no vet to call.  I had to deal!  I washed and covered the hole with the balm the vet had given me, then put a bandage on that.  Buddy scratched it off with his hind foot almost immediately!  Damn!  What to do!  Steve is brilliant!  My wonderful Spouse!  He suggested we put socks on Buddy's hind feet! Ha!  So we did.  Then I found an old belly band, one of those things that is supposed to reduce the size of your midsection just by wearing it around the house, yeah right!  But it turned out to be useful for Buddy.  I re-bandaged his belly then wrapped the belly band around him.  Waala!  With socks and belly band in place his scratching no longer worked.  

We returned to the vet on Monday, Nov. 26.  She thought the belly was healing well and removed a few more stiches from his hip.  I was afraid for her to remove all of the stitches because of what happened with the belly so leaving them in awhile longer was ok.  We also decided to go ahead and put Buddy on cancer medication.  This will stop more tumors from growing hopefully.  Frankly, I do not want to deal with any more open wounds or cause Buddy any more pain by giving him injections every time a tumor pops up on his skin.  The tumor on his front leg did finally come off but it has left another gaping hole that I am currently still delaing with.  I am replacing the bandage often and have put a long-sleeved t-shirt on Buddy to keep him from tearing the bandage off.  I had to keep the cone on his head because the bandage comes off immediately if it is not in place, even with the t-shirt on.  Today, I removed the belly band and will see how that wound is doing.  So far so good.  His leg however, is down right scary!  I have faith that it will eventually heal but right now it is pretty horrible and I'm sure it is painful.  

Buddy has to be on a new diet now that he is on the oral cancer medication.  I am cooking for a dog! HA!  He has to have cooked meat, rice and vegetables with the medication added.  After he eats 2/3rds of his food, he has to have a scoop of ice cream to calm his belly from the meds and then he gets the rest of his food.  This goes on til the medication is gone and the vet does a re-evaluation, about 4 months!  He may be on a lower dose of the medication for the rest of his life.

Life does go on! Thank God!  I have finished the Christmas shopping and we have put up our new tree.  We replaced an artificial tree that we've had for the last 25 years with a new "Martha Stewart" pre-lit and snow flocked tree.  I decided to decorate with silver and blue this year.  The tree needed a little something more.  So yesterday, I went to Tucson to get a few more decorations and bobbles.  I was glad I did not go on Black Friday because people were still rushing around in panic, rudeness mode even if there were fewer of them than on that infamous day!

Our family picture was taken on Thanksgiving Day and has been ordered in mass quantities for delivery with the traditional Christmas card and letter.  I am working on addressing cards today with a goal of having them all posted to all of you by next week.  Next week is DECEMBER!  Holy Cow!  Only 27 days til Santa comes, unless, of course, the Mayan are correct and the whole world comes to an end on December 21, 2012.  The thing is, my Lord and Savior said that "No one will know the time and day..." when He is to return.  So while I am looking forward to His return, I intend to enjoy His birthday and every day until then.