1 week check-up, done!

We went back to the Vet Cancer Center today for the first time in a week. It was our one week check-up as well as our final appointment. Future check-ups will be done with a neurologist back home. Everyone stopped by our room to say goodbye, and Jordan insisted on being aloof about the whole process. Here she is with her radiation doctor:


Dr. Lyons & Jordan

We also were very fortunate to cross paths with Honey & her peeps again. Today Honey graduated!
Honey has had an uphill battle against her side-effects, and they will probably be getting worse before they get better, but we are pulling for her!
We hope that eating becomes something fun again and breathing becomes something easy soon...


Honey, Lindsay, Jordan, & Colten

9 nights left in California before Jordan and I get to fly home...

Brains at Rest

Jordan and I have spent the last week at Grandma's.
She is doing really well with her stroke recovery, but she needs 24 hour care so Jordan and I are on duty.
For me that means cooking, cleaning, engaging, and physical help moving around & doing therapy. For Jordan that means keeping Grandma's lap warm and bonding about brain problems. It seems that Jordan got the easier job:

Brains at rest.

While at Grandma's I dug up a pic of Grandma and one of her first dogs. Her twin brothers found Rex abandoned as a puppy and stuck under a nearby wheat elevator. They brought him home and were allowed to keep him:


Going to back to my mother's house in Pasadena for two nights before coming back for a full week of grandparent duty.

Jordan has been dong well, a bit less energy than usual, and she did end up getting on radiation burn in her mouth, but it has not caused any major problems so we are lucky.

Hard to Resist, a note from Colten

With Tristan now out of town I am a single parent to the Flying J and she is milking it for all she can. Last night she gave me the eye from the bed. You know the look... it's her "don't you think I should sleep in the bed tonight look." She was kind enough to let me snap a pic before I agreed to her demands and diaper'd up the pup for the night in the person bed:



She only got me up twice in the night to bring her a bowl of water at 3am and a trip outside at 5am.

And she has been on me all day today with special requests too.
Pet me, hold me, take me to Trader Joes... I thought it would never end - and then, out of the blue I found myself alone on the couch for the first time all day. I called her a couple times, and I could hear her in the kitchen but I had no idea what she was doing nor why she wouldn't come. I finally got up to check on her and found this:



That would be her "I'll wait here until you feed me (and you really should feed me) pose..."
It wasn't a meal time, but how could I resist? One bowl of sloppy prescription wet food coming right up.

I've got 16 more days before I head home, let's hope I eventually get to have the upper hand in this relationship.

Graduation Day!

Jordan completed her 16th and final radiation session today.
She almost caused a postponement when she violated the no-food-before anesthesia rule and cracked open her post-treatment food stash in the car on the way there, but thankfully she was able to still complete her appointment.

Jordan now has a picture on the official Radiation Graduation board:



We are so happy that this chapter in her already rocky medical career is behind us. We still have 1 week for possible side-effects to surface, and 2 weeks before she can fly home, but we'll take it.

Thanks for all the love and support via the web.

xo,
the Jordan Love Team

15 of 16 down

Today marked the second to last treatment. Jordan was fortunate in that she only needed 16 sessions, and we are thankful that they are just about done. It worked out great for TT and I to have her radiation done in CA and we know Jordan appreciated the much warmer climate during her treatment.

Tomorrow Tristan flies back to NY to finally be at home with the other two dogs, and dig fully into the mountain of work that has been accumulating. Jordan and I are bummed that we can't go back yet, but we need to give her a good couple weeks to let the extra brain swelling from the radiation go down before she has to get on an airplane and fly at 30,000 feet.

To commemorate her second to last day we took a couple pics on Tristan's cell...


Jordan flying by the VCG sign

And this is Honey. Honey is another regular who is on the same schedule as us so we have seen her almost every day. She is such a sweet, sweet dog. Tristan is totally smitten with her - how could you not be? Between her tumor and the radiation side effects, Honey has had a tough time of late, which was hard to hear. We hope that her side effects ease up and the rest of her radiation goes by quickly! And most of all we hope that things get a whole lot better with her tumor for both her and her people. Jordan didn't get to meet Honey directly, but she assures us that she is rooting for her as well.

We hope you feel better soon Honey!

On our way home we ran some errands around Pasadena. It was dark and looked like raining, but we some how missed it. We did, however, get a really big rainbow. This is what we could capture on the cell:


So tomorrow Tristan will be gone, and Jordan and I will have 2 more weeks in CA. Our time will be spent doing a lot of computer work, and spending a lot of time at Grandma's, enjoying the weather while we can, and of course, missing the rest of the pack back home...

weekend recap, a note from colten

Well we had a great weekend. Leaving town for the day on Saturday was great. I had not been to Dana Point since I spent the night on the Pilgrim Brig in 4th grade (see photo of TT & the boat in last post). This was our 7th anniversary and we think it is only the second one that we have actually celebrated. To mark the occasion we got a room at the St. Regis which was a really ritzy place. I managed to call ahead and had the room decorated with rose petals. Tristan was really surprised, which made me happy of course. She is very, very hard to surprise and they almost gave it away at the front desk but they didn't. It was amusing watching the bellman walk the dog crate into the room while not stepping on a single rose petal.
Jordan was agreeable enough to model the petals on Sunday morning so they could be documented:


The hotel was amazing. Our room even had a balcony:

TT & Jordan on our balcony

The balcony over looked the garden of course:

TT & Jordan take a stroll through the upper garden

There was also a botanical garden and some places to walk around... oh and several pools which were all open 24 hours:

Jordan & I near a pool

So we had a great weekend, TT got me a great anniversary gift, and we have had the chance to be reminded that taking a whole day off (really, no work - not even a little) can be a really healthy thing... especially when you spend it in good company.

An anniversary and a day away

So we went to Dana Point, which is South of LA on the way to San Diego. Our first stop was Dana Point Harbor, which has a marine life refuge. No dogs are allowed on the beach, but Jordan walked around the harbor and smelled everything. There were lots of other dogs there, so there were lots of smells.



We arrived at low tide, and Colten and I went down to the beach. We saw sea anemones, mussels, hermit crabs and other creatures.



It was very cool. Then we headed over to the hotel. We got a great last minute deal at The St. Regis Monarch Beach, a five-star hotel and spa that's totally unbelievable. We set Jordan up in the room, bought some sandwiches, and headed to the beach for a picnic. We met a guy there who brought his cat on a leash.



The cat's name is Tiger, and we immediately regretted not bringing Jordan with us!



We went down to the water where we watched lots of surfers, then saw a beautiful sunset. ---Tristan