Updates for Biff Wiff: Catching up before the next round starts...

Well it's been a lot the last week and a half. I thought I'd catch up here before the new chemo starts tomorrow, so here goes.

Biff is doing well, although the tension and worry about trying chemo again is having an impact (along with some grief - more on that below). He tends to sleep more during the day and then have trouble sleeping through the night. But he continues to get stronger and stronger.

He uses a cane around the house now, and sometimes out in the world, although he still uses the new walker if we expect he'll need to be on his feet more.

Although neither of us care for the physical therapist that comes to the house twice a week, she does put him through his paces - and I encourage him and he tries every day to do the exercises on his own, too. Some days that works better than others.

Also, it turned out the Neuro docs wanted a CT scan of his head done before starting up with chemo again (can't recall if I mentioned that before or not). The results were generally very good. The small bleed they'd seen before from his falls back in May/June had reduced a lot, and he is healing as he should. However, his new Primary Care doctor (who we will actually meet in person on August 4th for the first time) called to also advise there was a small new spot they will be monitoring. She asked about any neuro-related symptoms, and he hasn't had any, so she agreed with the Oncologist that there was nothing to worry about and no need to delay the new chemo treatment tomorrow (Monday, July 24th).

The hardest thing is that our sweet, beloved dog, Snookie, passed away peacefully during the night last Monday (I found her in one of her favorite spots in the bedroom Tuesday morning, July 18). She was 14 years old and had been showing her age more and more the last year. We are grateful she didn't have any serious medical issues and never seemed to be in pain, but it has been devastating to lose her. She was truly special. The grief still smacks us in the face. You always know when you adopt a dog that they will break your heart eventually. Doesn't make it any easier when it happens.

But I wouldn't trade the joy they bring into our lives for relief from that pain. In many ways, there is something to be said for feeling so deeply, so profoundly, all that love. We're gonna miss her forever. Bopper, too, who has spent almost all of his 9 years not just with us but with her. They were super tight. He seems mostly okay but a little discombobulated. And I've been having a rough time figuring out how to feed him. Snookie was all about food, especially in her later years after she retired from playing so much, while Bopper has never been all that interested (except for chicken!). We're still figuring out how to make it work for him, poor little guy. He's more velcroed to me than usual now.

Back in her puppy days, right after we brought her home.
(Biff in his goatee days.)

Another from the puppy days (okay, she was 8 months old).

A more recent shot when both needed my lap!

From one of our last walks together.

Bopper loved to use her as a pillow.

R.I.P. sweet girl.

Trying to help Bopper adjust, and needing to release some energy and grief tension, Biff decided to give it a try walking with Bopper and me around the block one early morning (before the heat got too bad):

Biff mostly led the way.

But he decided to turn back before we got halfway around, and trucked far ahead of us on the way back home... (He's that red spec way down the block.)

We also attended a memorial service for a wonderful man who had been part of our "Eclectic" theater community. He was actually a few months younger than I was (which I hadn't known before) and always had serious health issues related to asthma. We met when he became an Associate Producer on a show with me back in 2010/2011, and I ended up casting him in the show, too. It was a very special project, with a lot of special people, and it was moving and emotional to go through old pictures from that time. I put together a collage to add to a Memory Book. The memorial was in his wife's new home, and there was SO MUCH FOOD. We didn't actually know anyone else there, but we enjoyed meeting a few people from his various "circles."

We didn't stay long though. Biff didn't have the energy for it, and it was emotionally hard, considering everything that's going on in our lives these days. But I was glad we were able to be there for some of it.

In the meantime, our laundry room has been completely redone! (Yeah, workers at the house every day for the last week - also a little exhausting...) New machines have been purchased (at a great sale price) and will be delivered on Tuesday. I can't wait. Although I think now I should have gone ahead and done one last trip to the laundromat last week, at least I'll have lots of laundry to test out the new laundry room at home this coming week. I promise I'll share some pictures after the new machines are installed. Maybe I'll even put up some "before" pictures, but they are embarrassing. That poor room had been so neglected for so long... Anyway!

They even installed a doggy door. Now I just have to figure out how to teach Bopper to use it. Snookie was supposed to take care of that - she'd have figured it out easily. She opened doors with her head all the time as it was. But Bopper is a little more shy about using his head to push things... I'll figure it out, but it may take a little time. And maybe even a new "sibling" to help him. Not exactly sure when we'll be ready for that, but I don't think we'll wait too long. Bopper really likes other dogs, and we hate having to leave him at home all alone too much. Luckily we are mostly here with him. But I'm not going to wait in the hall during chemo tomorrow, as I usually have. I'll take Biff in, get him settled, and head back to the house and come back to pick him up later. At least that way, Bopper won't be alone for hours. (Biff usually sleeps through most of the infusion treatment anyway, so he shouldn't miss me much, if at all.)

Oh, and that torn up back garage door has been replaced, with the framing fixed up, too. Still needs the new locks installed, but here's a picture of that:

It is wood covered with metal and a coating on top, so it will handle the weather and critter attacks!

Okay, I think I've covered pretty much everything. My brain has been a little glitchy lately (the fog of grief and fatigue, I think - I had a mammogram appointment yesterday, just routine/no worries, and I wrote my year of birth as 2023... LOL), but I'm pretty sure I've covered the important stuff. More updates forthcoming as we start the next leg on the treatment journey.

Bopper always loved to groom Snookie. She was so patient with him.