Murphy

Murphy is 11 today!!!

  He got steak & an apple/peanut butter muffin.  Of course there was enough to share with Cassie & Max, too!

They devoured it in about 2 seconds lol.  No appreciation at all!

Donna

We hope everyone had a great holiday!  Here are a couple of pictures from ours.

Trying to get Murphy in front of the tree is a chore!  lol  He acts as if he’s being punished.

Getting all 3 together in front of the tree is even worse!  So I settled for the couch this year 🙂

I couldn’t pass up on this shot.  Cassie & Murphy have loved each other from the minute that they met.  I love this picture of their 3 front feet together <3

I think they’re saying, “Are you done yet?”

Donna

Here are the new rugs and everyone approves!

   Cassie, Murphy & Max

So we just spent the weekend pulling up the carpeting in the living room.  My husband already pulled the carpet from the hallways back in October, so we’re trying to get things finished before Christmas.  It’s all Jasmine’s fault, really.  I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say that we’re relieved the wood is mostly not stained and we just need to replace some baseboards.  It’s better than we expected.  The hazards of having pets! ugh

I’ve already ordered some rugs from Wayfair and they should be here this week.  Murphy, however, is not happy!  He was already having a hard time with just the hallway floor, but he was really slipping on the living room floor.  So I had to scramble around for what I could find.  We have a hodge-podge of rugs, a bath mat & even a scrap of old carpet.

  Everybody had to check them out! I think he’s happy 🙂

Donna

4 years ago today Murphy had his first x-rays.  He had already been limping for a couple of weeks and our vet had started him on pain medication and an anti-inflammatory.  With the medications he could walk with just barely a limp.  My husband had had an accident at work the day before, so we spent the night in the hospital, but I made it home in time to get Murphy out to his appointment at the radiology center.  I walked in, met the doctor and explained what had been going on.  He took Murphy to the back and returned with him just a few minutes later, telling me that everything looked great.  I was so relieved – he must have just strained something running out in the yard with the other dogs.  Famous last words, right?  He gave me a copy of the x-rays on CD and sent us on our way.

A couple of weeks later, Murphy finished his medications and immediately started limping and yelping in pain again.  I took him back to our vet along with the CD of the x-rays.  When our vet reviewed the x-rays, however, he thought he ‘might’ see something near Murphy’s elbow, but the picture was a little bit blurry.   He gave us a refill on the medications and told me that if that didn’t do it, he would give us a referral to an orthopedic specialist.  The medications helped again until January, which is when we got the referral to go out to Michigan State University.  However, it took a few weeks to get an appointment.

Why didn’t they get a better picture??? Why?  It wasn’t until February that we got repeat x-rays.  Murphy went misdiagnosed for 4 months!  And it was over 5 months by the time he had his biopsy, even more x-rays, then finally surgery.

I do realize how very lucky we’ve been – we’ve gotten 3 1/2 years so far, and that’s just incredible.  But I still get angry that Murphy was in pain and that time could have been made better for him.  He could have had surgery sooner.  I knew something was wrong, but I never thought it was cancer.