Kaden Came to My House!

And he decided to make a little poo-poo... I'll have to post all the rest of the Mother's Day photos tomorrow. I'm exhausted!!!

Monte On The Mend

Montesquieu came through the surgery with no problems. I'm really glad we chose to do this rather than continue nursing the nasty open tumor. He has 3 layers of stitches - and a scar that goes all the way around his belly. The vet had to go through several layers of muscle to get most of it removed.

Although he is taking pain meds 3 times a day, he gets stronger each day.


and he's still wearing the t-shirts until his stitches are removed

Tater was sure glad to see him back home!

On Second Thought...

It seems that Star Trek, like love, is lovelier the 2nd time around. Mom & I went to see the movie today at a regular (non-IMAX) screen and I found that much more pleasant. Special effects didn't seem nearly as overwhelming as they had upon first viewing. I enjoyed the show much more this time because it was much easier to follow the plot and I caught a lot of the nuances I had missed in the pre-screening.

I also found that I wasn't watching it to find references to Trek. I just watched it without expectations of Trek and it was much more enjoyable to watch. Wonder what will happen the 3rd time I see it :--)

It was too hot to wear our uniforms to the show, so we opted for Trek t-shirts instead. Hopefully we looked better than we did in this photo Gina took of us. Sheesh...at least you do get to see my cool new hat from the IMAX experience.

Star Trek - the new movie - no spoilers here

I was so excited about seeing the new Star Trek movie tonight. My friend, Tory Vonderhaar's husband reviews movies for a blog and has connections. He knows the publicist for Paramount and got me and a friend from work reserved seats (the press row) for the pre-screening at the IMAX. We were dead center in the theater, the best seats in the house. I even got a new Star Trek baseball cap as a promotional item. It was pretty cool just walking ahead of the very long line, showing our press wrist bands, and entering the theater. Rather than wear my uniform, I just donned my communicator and Star Trek III: Search for Spock wristwatch in honor of this auspicious event.

I was surprised that the theater wasn't full - there were about 20 empty seats and the IMAX only holds about 300. But there have been other pre-screenings here in Houston, so maybe that's why.

Or maybe...just maybe...it was the Trekker geeks like me, who were most likely to want the pre-screening passes, found out the movie is a lot more action-packed JJ Abrams than it is Trek. There were a few really neat things thrown in for Trekkers, but as has been reported from all over (click here for a funny rendition) it's not really made for the faithful. I really didn't like the references to Star Wars -- let them get their own prequel! Oh yeah, they did...

I think that Chris Pine did a fine job capturing the essence of the James T. Kirk character, and Zachary Quinto did even better at portraying Spock. The actor who took on the young Dr. Bones McCoy was also quite believable. But Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, and Scotty were just not at all like the actors who created them in TOS. Scotty's accent sounded a lot more Liverpoolian than Scottish to me and Chekov's accent was so heavy it was hard to understand him at all. Indeed, the computer had difficulty recognizing him on the bridge (OK, minor spoiler there - I promise no others) and since when was he a child prodigy? (Oops - there's another one.)

I definitely still want to take Mom to see it on Mother's Day. I need to see how good it is on the smaller screen compared to the IMAX. It might have been all the action was doubly overwhelming due to the size of the screen and all that special surround sound speakers.

I can say for sure that you DO NOT have to be even the least bit familiar with Trek to enjoy this movie. That is, of course, if you really enjoy a lot of CGI, and violent fight scenes, and all kinds of stunts. I much prefer the cerebral Trek of the small screen (I mean, really small - TV - screen) to this.

I was also a little disappointed that JJ Abrams had said he was relying on two Trek novels for some of the plot. I read both of these novels, Prime Directive, which I didn't see anywhere in this movie anything even remotely connected to it, and Best Destiny, which did use his dad's name and the fact that he was in Starfleet - but was very different in the movie than it was in the book regarding the role Captain Pike had in young Jim's life.

Perhaps I had hoped for too much. I know it sounds like I was very disappointed in this movie. I wasn't - it's a good show. It just wasn't Star Trek -- at least, not to me.

WARNING - Graphic Photos

Some folks asked to see the gory tumor, so I'm obliging them. Please do not look at this post while eating. And if you have a particularly weak tummy, don't ever look at this post.

Here it's kind of a soft focus, but you can see how big it is.


And here you can see the necrotic tissue - the black part.

Dr. May suggested that we get some infant size t-shirts for Monte to wear until we decide if we are going to have him undergo the surgery. The dogs are way too fond of licking it and so is Monte. The t-shirts allow it to breathe while keeping the tongues away from it.

So Gina bought 3 in size 6 months - a perfect fit - two blue stripes and one in white.


As you can see, Monte is none too happy about his new outfit.

Monte Update

Getting Monte to the vet this morning was a major ordeal. Gina had put Timitu in a crate to transport her (she's having kidney problems) and Monte saw me bring in his crate and headed under the bed. He was just out of reach and wasn't budging. I got the squirt gun and pelted him with water. But he just sat there getting wet. Staying out of reach. Tater went under the bed and began to whine and cry as I continued to squirt Monte trying to get him out. I felt like some sort of sadistic Nazi!

I decided to just call in to work late and sit on the couch with the dogs until he came out on his own. He did, after about 15 minutes, then saw his crate which I thought I had cleverly "hidden" and immediately ran back under the bed. The boy is smart!

I figured there was only one other possible way to get him out. I lay down on the floor and put my hand palm down on the floor just a few inches away from him. Then I talked sweetly to him. After about 10 minutes he finally moved closer to my hand and started to lick it. I continued talking baby talk to him and as he moved a little bit closer for me to scratch his ears I grabbed his head and pulled him out. It was not without a struggle I tell ya'.

So, Dr. May recommended removing the tumor. Not as a curative, but as a palliative treatment. Since Dad's ordeal I know what that means. It won't be completely removed - but the part that is exposed and oozing will be gone. The tendrils are already about 4cm into his muscles. He says that he can remove the top part which is about 6cm long and 2cm wide. Because he has done so well in his previous surgeries, Dr. May doesn't think he'll have any problem tolerating this one. The goal is to make him as comfortable as possible until the tumor grows into his spine causing paralysis. The good news is that Dr. May sees no reason for me to consider euthanizing him at this point.

If we don't do the surgery, then the tumor could be treated topically with antibiotic cream to keep it from getting infected. Dr. May said there is a considerable amount of necrotic tissue which he'd prefer to remove surgically, but we could just put t-shirts on him to keep the dogs from licking it. Yes, all 3 of them are quite enamored with the tumor. Gross. I was going to take a photo but it's just too yucky to post. Dr. May removed the orange neon thing the ER doc put on saying that it was better to let it "breathe".

Another Trip to the ER - Montesquieu's Turn

Monte was diagnosed with cancer back in January 2005 and has had 3 successful surgeries removing tumors over the past 4 years. Last year he developed a different type of tumor on his back which was inoperable. Dr. May had told us when it got big enough to interfere with his spine he would be paralyzed, and we decided that when that time came we would euthanize him rather than put him through radiation therapy, which would not appreciably extend his lifespan.

The tumor was about the size of a pea when we first discovered it and now it's about the size of a silver dollar. It also went from being rather gelatinous to being hard and crusty. Still, it didn't seem to be bothering him. But today it burst somehow and began to bleed and ooze. Gina noticed it when he had started to barf. Seems he had been chewing a plastic baggie that she had accidentally dropped on the floor and he was giving it back after having ingested God only knows how much of it. There was blood in the puke, along with little pieces of the plastic. Then she noted the tumor had burst and was bleeding.

I arrived home 5 minutes after all this happened, having spent the afternoon with Mom. We rushed Monte to the ER and saw the same vet who treated Trip's injured foot two weeks ago. He put this neon orange wrap on Monte to keep the blood and ooze under control, but said there wasn't much else to do. I'll be taking him to our vet on Monday for a second opinion.



The dogs always want to check out any new attire other animals are wearing. Here's PB wanting a closer look at the wrap.


Poor Monte. Y'all please pray for him. I'm not quite ready yet for him to take the trip to the entertainment center :--(