An update on the 3 month trip is coming!

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog.  I know we had promised to update while we were in Minneapolis.  However, the drive is a large undertaking so we were pretty tired when we were there.  On the drive home we did run into some weather related slow downs in Michigan and again in western Ontario.  We didn't end up pulling into the driveway around 3:30am this morning.

There is a lot of information that we would like to post and will hopefully begin that later today.  We have new MRI images from Rilley's three month check up, plus we picked up copies of the set done immediately post op back in November of last year.

All in all Rilley is doing well.  More to come!

Roy.

Back in the Twin Cities

So, contrary to our last post, we ended up leaving home about six hours later than I had indicated.  However, we are here now and Rilley is safely tucked in at the Veterinary Medical Center and we have checked in to our hotel.

It proved to be a wise decision to postpone our departure from Wednesday to Thursday as the sky was clear the whole way!  There were only a few slippery spots in Michigan but everywhere else had the perfect road conditions.

Well, it's been a long 15 hour drive so I'm signing off and heading to bed.  We will update the blog with Rilley's MRI results tomorrow.

As Les Nessman of the famed WKRP in Cincinnati would say "So long and may the good news be yours!"

12:30am and hitting the road once again

With the winter storm behind us, it is now 12:30am on Thursday morning and we are about to hit the road for the 16 hour trek back to Minneapolis, Minnesota.  We are hoping to reach the university by late afternoon to check Rilley in and have his blood work drawn.

More to come....

Return visit to Minneapolis delayed



In light of the severe winter storm occuring between us here in Georgetown and the Twin Cities we have decided to postpone our departure by one day.  Hopefully this will allow the storm to pass by and allow the road crews some time to clean up.



(NASA / February 1, 2011)

The majority of our travel concerns centred around the city of Chicago.  Apparently they are being hit the hardest out of all the areas along the route.  We had considered not changing our plans and pressing on, but as we received more and more reports of poor conditions we began reworking our arrangements. 

  

(Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune / February 1, 2011)



Luckily, Dr. Pluhar is very accomodating and arranged for Rilley's MRI to take place on Friday instead.  Even the hotel we booked changed our reservation without any issues.  Coincidentally, we received an email from Dr. Pluhar yesterday to let us know that Rilley's sixth and final vaccine will be ready for injection when do finally make it.  The lab was having a great run at growing the cells for this round.  The best news about this is that we won't need to deal with any trouble that the courier company can cook up!  No more customs brokers, whoo hoo!

(Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune / February 1, 2011)

So in the end, despite the set back due to weather, everything seems to be falling nicely into place.  Sorry Minneapolis/St. Paul, Rilley's triumphant return is delayed, but only by a day!

A Bit of A Stressful Weekend

Rilley received his 5th vaccine on Thursday and seemed just fine. To err on the side of caution we decided to have him stay with Dr. Ewing on Friday since I wouldn't be home. Again no problems. We thought we were in the clear once again with any problems.

Then on Friday night we were watching television with Rilley happily snoring next to us when he starts to twitch. At first we took no notice as he often twitches in his sleep. Something seemed different though ... the twitching was lasting longer than usual and when we tried to wake him up he wasn't startling awake as he normally would. I must admit I started to panic a bit. Thankfully in these situations Roy is calm. After some coaxing with food he soon bounced back and seemed fine. I emailed Dr. Pluhar and she said that if he did have a seizure it wouldn't be unexpected with the later vaccines to see breakthrough seizure activity. She explained that such seizures would be caused by brain inflammation from the vaccine. The next morning he still seemed a little out of sorts though and would just sit there and stare blankly into space.

Happily he seems back to his normal self and is begging for food as he normally does. This morning he tried to steal everyone's pancakes at breakfast which is the Rilley we know and love.

So it is off to Minnesota on Wednesday for his MRI and appointment to see Dr. Pluhar on Thursday. I am excited and a bit nervous to see the results but looking forward to seeing Dr. Pluhar and what she has to say.

Vaccine #5 is done but old problems return

"This is because of that time I jumped into that courier truck, isn't it?"

Once again the courier had managed to foul things up with this shipment; despite the fact that the last two had come through flawlessly.  They claimed that Canada Customs has altered the rules for importing as of January 1, 2011 that significantly changed the process.  The funny thing is though, vaccine number four (and the one before that) had no problems coming through the courier's customs brokerage, not to mention that it sailed right through customs and that was when?  Oh...JANUARY 6th!  As our post entitled "Four down and two to go" can attest to!  Obviously, everyone involved in Rilley's care have always made sure that everything is being done correctly, and we've always had all the paperwork in order.

As for the actual injections today, everything went smoothly.  No complaints from Rilley, not even a yelp, even though he did need to lose some more fur to the sheers!  Dr. Ewing did her best to remove just the right amount on the back of his neck.  As usual, we must now wait and see what the next few days will bring in the form of reactions.  Hopefully they will be as tame as the previous rounds.  Also, as we have done for the previous rounds, I will be taking photos of the injection site at 24 and 48 hours post injection and sending them off to Dr. Ohlfest for him to review.

Right when he had regrown the fur on the back of his neck...
A patch is shaved to make room for the latest injections.

Tomorrow is Vaccine #5!

One...two...three, four, five, everybody in the car so come on let's ride...

To the vet for...Vaccine Number 5!

Ok, so Lou Bega I'm not.  However, Dr. Ohlfest's lab has regrown Rilley's fifth vaccine from a set of backup tumour cells and it is presently on the way from Minneapolis!  Once Rilley has been given it, there will be just one more to go.  The sixth and final injection was originally going to be administered at his three month follow up visit with Dr. Pluhar next week and despite the delay there has been some discussion of injecting it on schedule.  However that is dependent upon the severity of any reactions to tomorrow's vaccine and we have a feeling that it will most likely be shipped to Dr. Ewing and given to him here in two weeks.

Unfortunately, now that Rilley's fur has pretty much grown in, he needs to be shaved every time he receives an injection.  Poor little guy, especially in the winter.  The one thing he does have going for him is that he seems to be regrowing it quite rapidly now.

I think it's time to wrap up this blog entry.  Sara and I are still looking for a hotel for next week and I think I should help out!