Lisa's Lounge

So - about 5 months have passed since we received the bad news about Elway's health. He has been on chemotherapy that long... and he is doing so good! I'm a bad Mommy and got so busy at work last week, I missed his appointment. So he went 2 weeks without any drugs. I was dreading this week's appointment and blood count results, but he fared well! We figured that without chemo, his "good" cell count would increase, but were concerned about the "baddies", the lymphocytes. When the doggie oncologist called, she said "What did you do to him over Christmas? His lymphocytes only increased about 4,000!". We were all very pleased with that result. I think it had something to do with spending time with his cousin Jake, and his favorite Aunt & Uncle, in Dallas. :-)



I had to drop him off for his appointment and leave him Wednesday, which thoroughly ticked him off. I think maybe today he'll speak to me again. When Dr. Brown called, I could hear Elway baying in the background. She said "anytime you want to come get him is good with us..." I believe he was very indignant over the fact that he, His Royal Highness, was locked in a kennel.

Labels: Elway

Merry Christmas to all! Right click and save this - it's beautiful Christmas music, compliments of Jake the Beagle Irby, currently residing in Dallas Texas. He is the cousin of our boy, Elway the Beagle Mills. Jake is accompanied by Paul on the piano.

Jake singing

While we're on the video thing, here is one from our Disney trip - the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights. This was an AWESOME display at Disney's MGM Studios.

Dancing Lights

We had a great time at Walt Disney World this past weekend - and it sucks to be back at work. But we have our pictures to comfort us :-) Special thanks to Socks and her newly betrothed for taking care of our children, and to Brown, Timothy, for being on call in case Ben needed a ride home Tuesday night. (My flights were a bit delayed - we were on separate airlines - and I had the car keys)

The highlights of the trip were 1) finally getting some time alone together; 2) Expedition Everest roller coaster at Animal Kingdom; and 3) the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights at the Studios.

Expedition Everest:


Osborne Lights by day and then by night:


This photo is from the fancy schmancy hotel on Disney property, the Grand Floridian. They have a live piano player in their lobby - it's a beautiful place but just a tad bit out of our price range. Every year they build this life sized real gingerbread house. All of this is edible. Very Christmas-y in the 80 degree weather!

Grand Floridian Gingerbread House


Some other Christmas-y stuff from the World -

At the Animal Kingdom Christmas Tree, The recipe and the G-bread house at the American Pavillion at EPCOT

Labels: Disney

Ah yes, we are *this* close to departing for our Christmas time Disney trip! We'll get to eat at our favorite restaurant, Boma! on Saturday evening. It's located at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, a beautiful hotel. I also intend to replace a bowl I've lost somehow. We will be staying at the Wilderness Lodge hotel, where we also stayed in January 2006. (Can you spot Ben in his Nooner shirt?) Sunday, we'll be eating supper at another favorite in the World Showcase at Epcot, Germany's Biergarten. After dinner there, we'll attend a Christmas show called the candlelight processional. Then on Monday night we get two Christmas-y events! The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights is something we didn't see the last time we visited Disney at Christmas time, which was December 2001. And after that we'll go to a special event at the Magic Kingdom called Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. They have bubble machines that make it look like it's snowing on Main Street, hot chocolate and cookies, and all the characters are dressed in Christmas outfits.

And the best part? The weather!!! This is the forecast:

Labels: Disney

Ever since Elway started his chemo treatments, we've been working at keeping him fattened up. His taste buds no longer tolerated dry dog food, and canned dog food was too rich for him. Our doggie oncologist suggested ground turkey and rice. So for months we have cooked the boy ground turkey and rice... dressing it up at times with chicken or beef broth. Here in the last couple of weeks, he has decided he doesn't want the rice. He usually pushes all the rice out of the bowl and onto the rug. So the oncologist said we could give him pasta or potatoes, too. Well - here's our first attempt at potatoes.



and the clean up crew...

Peso is a true junk yard dog and will eat ANYTHING. She loves to clean up after the Beagle.

I found it pretty darn funny when I went to check on him and saw all the potatoes on the floor with the remnants of rice from suppers past... I've since figured out how to mash it all up together with chicken broth on it and he chows it down. As for an update on his health - he's been on a new chemo drug his last two treatments and seems to be doing much better. For a couple of weeks there his lymphocyte count went way up, but it's back down to manageable again. And our oncologist had her twins on Sunday November 26th. Guess when we get to see her again? Well, Elway's next appointment is on Tuesday with the new mama of twins! Isn't she nuts??