Sunday, December 6, 2015
I think it has been a while since we have given an update on Henry and his health issues. We go for blood work about every 4-6 weeks and sonograms and xrays every over month or so, and I am not sure how recently we have shared the latest results. Well, like most things, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Henry's remaining kidney continues to be free of cancer and functioning well. The bad news is that he is still not retaining proteins as he should be. We have tried a few different courses of action and now we will be moving to a different steroid. One that is specific to "the gut" and hopefully will be the miracle that we are seeking. We will try for 60 days and re-do blood tests.
We also know that he is not doing well on the protein front as he is starting to get a bit of fluid on lungs/retaining water. Hopefully the new meds will help with this as he will start to keep his proteins. If not, he will go on Lasix. Luna was on this and there were some side effects for her. This concerns me since Luna rarely suffered medication side effects and typically needed larger doses of some meds to get the desired results, if Henry needs to go on this, he will likely have side effects. He has nowhere near the medication tolerance that Luna had. So, we are hoping this new med (Budesonide) will work wonders.
The really good news, though, is that Henry is improving cognitively. He still has good and bad days/moments, of course, but we can link his rough days to days when he is short in the sleep department. As far as social skills, those have also been on the upswing. He has started to show some interest in meeting other dogs, and has been seeking out love and attention. So, Henry of old seems to be creeping back to the surface. We are not sure if it's his depression that is lifting now that it's been over a year since he lost so much and he is finally getting accustomed to being the lone wolf and being able to navigate without sight, etc. No matter what it is, he is in better overall spirits. His anxiety is less and he will not tantrum in the mornings quite as quickly and even when he does tantrum it is not as bad as it once was. Even the doc is impressed. In an upcoming post, I will share a story that the vet shared with us recently about the day Henry had his kidney out. I am glad the vet waited to share some behind the scenes with us until MUCH later. It was a very risky and tricky surgery. Much more than we thought. But Henry is a trooper and he is our little Superman and Underdog all rolled into one!
Thursday, December 3, 2015
So, obviously anywhere we go, Henry goes. Anywhere he is allowed to go, that is (and some places he probably should not go). Well the event that we recently attended that brought us back to St. Augustine was an outdoor wedding. A wedding were maybe not all dogs were allowed, but Henry was certainly welcomed! We were sure to dress Henry appropriately for this special occasion. He shouldn't very well attend a wedding in camouflage harness! Even at an outdoor wedding that would not have been good manners. So, we were sure to have Henry be as George Clooney-esque as possible and this meant having him wear a black bow tie. Clooney ain't got nothing on Hank! #WhosAHandsomeBoy?! #HenryIsAHandsomeBoy! #HenryReallyWasTheBestMan
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
The room where we stayed in St. Augustine had a fire place. (It was electric but still gave off heat.) We were fortunate enough to get a pretty chilly day (by Florida standards) and were able to use the fire place for a few minutes to take the chill from our room. Here you see Henry waiting for the flames to start kicking up. But he fell asleep waiting since this was a flameless type of heat. There were no logs needed for this fire and the only logs that were being sawed were his!
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
As we made our rounds in the St. Augustine area, we discovered the St Francis Barracks to be towards the end of a main drag and the area offered slightly wider sidewalks and less people than on the main thoroughfare. So, we took the opportunity to give Henry and passersby an opportunity not to get into each other's way. The grounds of this military establishment are quite lovely. They are adorned with very large flower pots displaying a lovely array of colorful flowers.
So, we were plodding along, Henry style and the further we walked, the more pooped Henry was getting and even though the morning started cool, as the sun was getting higher, the coolness was fading fast. Like with many other walks, Henry needed to take a break. His break time happened to be in front of the barracks. So, we sat on the front step there for a few minutes, he had a sip or 2 of water and I used this as a photo opp! I anchored him (as if he needed it) to the flower pot and took a photo. VERY shortly after that, we were approached by a serviceman who asked us what we were doing. I told him we were walking our dog and taking photos of him. He promptly told us to leave the premises. So, off we scooted. So, Henry got the proverbial boot! Since this is a military establishment we assumed that even though we are seemingly innocuous, we perhaps were posing a threat. Threat of CUTENESS! Henry had no interest in bebopping out of their way, so Henry had the luxury of being carried off all the while giving both the military man the stink eye (for kicking him out) and the high paw (for making sure that he was carried away). We still got a pretty cool photo, though!
Monday, November 30, 2015
Reminder: Ask OBP will be back in 2016. So for now, enjoy a flashback photo and come up with your best comment!
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Welcome back from your day of giving thanks and then shopping for all the goodies you didn't have to be thankful for but now you have to add to list for next year. Hahaha! Well, we are catching up and trying to get back on track with the blog post holiday. There are still a few stories we have to tell about our recent Henry adventure. So, we will try to wrap those up this week and then we will get to more current stuff right after.
As you know, Henry had been on a trip to St. Augustine for the Pugs In the City event and he had had a blast. Well, we were fortunate enough to have reason to do a double take of that city! There was another occasion that brought us to St. Augustine this time. ("NOT a Pug event?," thought Henry.) But it was true! And even though there were no other pugs around, Henry still had a great weekend getaway! You already saw him at the miniature golf range and having as special seat at the breakfast table. Well, here you see him being the center of attention on St George Street which is the unique shopping district of St. Augustine. As we walked up and down the area Henry received many comments. Most of them were very positive. Some of them could have gone either way. While we know, ultimately, the "so ugly he's cute" comment lands him on the side of cute, we never seem to see the ugly portion of that commentary. To us, he is simply handsome smooshed nose to curly tail tip! He is just 100% amazing in our eyes. And this trip he kept proving what a strong guy he is! We will share a few more posts about random stuff on our trip.
#HenryKeepsOnTrucking
Thursday, November 26, 2015
On our recent adventure, where Henry got to go putt putting, there was an overnight stay involved. Henry did not take particularly well to the deviation in "home" arrangements too much, at first. Once he realized that food was brought to the room, though, he sang a whole different tune! Once the yummy goodness arrived on scene, he realized that he needed a seat at the table! And it was quite a fancy seat! Here, you see Henry pretending to be a Victorian style pug waiting for service. After the room service, he understood that he needed to behave like a little trooper. 
He was truly King Henry sitting in that stately seat!
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