Muppy

Maggie loved Santa

My mom's nickname for Maggie is Muppy (short for Magster-puppy).  Mags had a rough 2012.  Let's be honest, she had a rough 2011 too, and really, a rough life in general.

Helping "wrap" Christmas presents -
or eating the tubing

2012 started with us still trying to get her seizures under control.  When that finally happened, her knees went kaput.  After 3 surgeries on one knee and 1 on the other, she's on the mend.  (KNOCK ON WOOD).  She is still pretty lame on her right back leg and scoots around a bit, but a lot less than before.  Her knee is still inflamed and she's on steroids to help with the swelling.  It's not 100%, but helping.  She may never be 100% and we've come to grips with that.  Luckily, she's getting used to the steroids and the side effects are now minimal.  We've started using essential oils (mainly Frankincense) on her knee to see if that will help.

New bones waiting to be opened but
loving her new bed too much to move!

The interesting thing about the oils is that wild dogs self-medicate with the plants and herbs they need out in the wilderness.  So we read to put all the bottles on the floor and let her choose which one she needed and she chose the Frankincense - the one for arthritis and inflammation!  We always let her smell it before we put it on, as to not force her into something and respect her space.  It seems to be helping gradually.  She's been able to get up the stairs almost unassisted which is the first time in a really long time.

We also FINALLY got some good news about her.  The huge mass that has developed on her back is just a fatty, benign, tumor which is ok to leave.  If it gets bigger or hinders her, we can have it surgically removed but for the time being, it's ok.  The vet had taken aspirations and even done a biopsy on it and said that of all the things it could have been, that fatty tumor was absolutely the best scenario.  That's never happened with Maggie!

My new bed!

When we took her in to get her biopsy stitches out, another vet at the clinic saw her and we had her look at a bump on Maggie's head.  It's in her wrinkles and barely noticeable but she took an aspiration and said that there were some "scary" cells in there and to have it removed.  That caused me a LOT of stress and we were planning on having it removed tomorrow but after talking to our regular vet, he said he looked at the slide and nothing indicated cancer to him, and fairly normal, and that it was fine to leave.  He said that it wouldn't develop into anything scary, and to focus on the baby and we could revisit removing it in the Fall or Winter if it didn't go away on its own.  Also, so grateful and such a blessing.  Mags had such a hard time with the general anesthesia last time we were talking about just doing a block and Valium to save her from more complications but to avoid surgery completely was more than I could have asked for.  So we're also using Frankincense on that to see if we can help it go away.

It seems like everything with the Muppy is pretty dramatic and has stressed me to the max at every corner.  It was just what I needed to hear as we are already so anxious about how our lives will be changing with the baby and trying to get moved.  I'm a little nervous about how Maggie will adjust to a new environment (although not completely foreign) and a new little sister so I'm glad we don't have to cause her any physical distress at the moment either (another big knock on wood!).  The many times we've had to face the thought of losing her has been awful.  She is such a big part of our family and we love her more than most.  She's like a little human and has been our "child" for so long we just love her to pieces.  She makes our lives better and happier for sure.  Here's to hoping 2013 holds a lot more good news for Miss Maggie.