Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Cinco De Mayo

We're celebrating lots of things today. It's Cinco De Mayo which means we'll probably go out for enchaladas tonight. Rob and I met in Acapulco, Mexico and were married in Mexico, New York, so we feel the urge to celebrate.


The next thing to celebrate is the ninth birthday of our friend Thor.

Thor is a Mastiff. He's a very big boy, but extremely sweet and gentle. Here are some of my favorite pictures of him.


Look what a gentleman is as he converses with the guinea pig.


He rests with his mallard, one of his favorite toys.


Happy birthday, Thor and many, many more of them.

Next thing to celebrate is Samba's checkup. It's been two months since her last checkup for the Myositis and six weeks since the paralysis began.


She's doing great. She has grown a new coat of curly hair. It's very thin and her skin is dry and flaky, but those are both caused by the prednisone. She's maintaining her weight even with the extra snacks she steals at every opportunity.


She can open her mouth pretty wide as she demonstrated by eating yogurt from a spoon. She can catch a ball and yawn, both good signs. The paralysis is causing a few problems, but they're mainly cosmetic. Her eye gets dry because she doesn't blink normally and needs ointment and drops.

She gets rather drooly because her lips sag on the left side. Dr B suggested cutting the hair on her muzzle very short and using a warm soft towel to dry her face when necessary.


She's doing so well that we're cutting her prednisone back to 25 mg on odd days and 5 mg on even days. Our aim is to get her to 20 mg every other day as a maintenance dose and so far we're making good progress.

We're also going to raise her dosage on her thyroid meds. She'll need to go back for another blood test in about six weeks. Dr B was very happy with her progress so far. He's even hopeful that the paralysis is temporary.

It's been a good day and we have a lot to celebrate.

16 comments:

Molly the Airedale said...

What great news, Samba! We're so happy for you!
Happy birthday to Thor! He sure is handsome!

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

For the Love of Dogs said...

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Great news!! Loved the pictures!

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Happy Birthday to Thor - he looks like a sweetie. Wonderful news on Samba - hope to see continued improvement. And by all means, we hope you did celebrate - a great day for celebration.

Woos - Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

Thor and Jack said...

Great news! I'm so happy to hear Samba is doing very well!
Happy Birthday Thor!

Jo's World said...

Me, too, we seem to be BACK. Whether we want to be or not!

Cheers for Samba! And a few More Cheers just for the excitement of it.

Kisses,
Stella and Jo, who have almost forgot how to do this.

the many Bs said...

it's a good day! happy birthday to Thor, congrats to Samba on her recovery, and happy cinco de mayo! we're really happy that life is good.

woofs.

LizzieJane said...

So lovely to hear that Samba is doing great! A very Happy Birthday to Thor. What a wonderful big guy you are.
x

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Great news for Samba. We're happy she's improving. Everytime one of us has a tablet to take, we all get cheese. Do the other dogs get a treat?

Thor is definitely a gentle giant. I don't think I could trust myself around that guinea pig and know I couldn't with the cat!

Have a happy dinner.

XXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella

Martha said...

We hope you enjoy your Cico De Mayo celebrations.
Happy birthday to your friend Thor.
We are so pleased to read the good news about Samba too.
Unfortunately we cannot see any pictures - only the words on your blog.
We are having ongoing problems but at least we are able to comment!
We will come back and try for the pics again - sorry to be such bad bloggers.
love
Martha and Bailey xxxx

Dianne said...

Wonderful news about Samba!

SissySees said...

Yaya Samba! I'm sure Thor thinks that's a great reason to celebrate too.

Love the Mexican connection for you and Rob. We went out for Mexican last night too.

gMarie said...

Oh it has been a good day. I'm so thrilled for Samba - what a good girl. g

Lapdog Creations said...

Happy, Happy Everything!!

Marjie said...

Oh, that's great news on Samba! And Thor appreciates your birthday tribute. Hope you had a great Cinco de Mayo celebration!

Janet said...

So happy to hear that Samba is doing so well!
Happy Birthday to Thor!

Vivian said...

So nice to hear Samba is doing well!