Author: Mackenzie’s Mom

Well, we’ve been very blessed once again.  Mackenzie had her 2 month chest X-ray and I have great news to report! Her lung mets have stabalized – no changes – no increases in size and  no new mets found either since her last check-up.  Plus her blood work came back all normal.  We are sooo happy.  So now it’s been 5 months since her lung mets have been discovered and we’re celebrating big time!

We recently went to an oceanside place in San Simeon CA where we took the dogs and stayed at a pet friendly place right on the water.  Mackenzie absolutely loved it and got to swim for the first time in the ocean since her amputation.  She did so great and I couldn’t get over how energetic she was – so stimulated by the ocean.  It was incredible.   So here is a special video I made of my Ocean Girl enjoying her favorite place! (and a couple of pictures too.)

We are celebrating a huge ampuversary this weekend – 1 YEAR!!! I can’t believe it and can’t begin to tell you how emotional it’s been for us looking back (yes, my tears keep flowing) – where we started and how far we’ve come.  Honestly, I never thought I’d see this day.  But we have and I feel so blessed to have my girl with me still.  

It was on Nov 6, 2009 that her leg was amputated.  I was a complete wreck and even 2^nd guessed this decision while she was in surgery.  But when she hopped out to me the next morning I just broke down into tears.  I couldn’t believe my eyes – my sweet baby was alive, a walking miracle.  I didn’t care how she looked, what her incision looked like, all I cared about was that she was here with me and we were going to survive this together.  These were tears of joy now,  no longer tears of sadness.    I couldn’t believe how quickly she adjusted too.  When I think back to that time, it brings tears to my eyes now because of of the emotional stress and trauma we went through only to have it be the best decision we could have ever made.    

I think Mackenzie knows it’s a special weekend for us because she’s been full of so much energy.   I can’t get her to stop running in the house, rough housing with her brother, bolting across the street when she knows she’s not allowed to do that, barking and talking at me (and of course, let’s throw in the not listening to me) and begging for treats and food like there’s no tomorrow.  She continues to do great every day and every day I count my blessings.

So here’s a special video I made to celebrate this wonderful time.  I am truly happy and grateful for the time that I have had with Mackenzie and continue to have with her.   I’m not ready to let her go and I think she knows that……

To my beautiful golden Mackenzie of Malibu……

It was one year ago today that our world turned upside down.  Mackenzie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma on her front right leg.  I was in shock when I got the news and then when the vet told me that amputation was one of the few options available I just gasped! What?! Amputation?? Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever comprehended that this was one of few treatment options available for osteosarcoma.  Just couldn’t imagine….  So here we are celebrating 2 monumental events – 1 year since her diagnosis and 10 months since her amputation!!!   I never thought I’d see this day! So today in celebration we are  hanging by the pool, Mackenzie’s favorite activity besides going in the car, eating lots of treats and exchanging lots of hugs.    I am forever grateful for this day as we’ve come so far in our journey.

I also wanted to share my beautiful T-Shirt that Chloe’s Mom designed.  I am so proud to wear this and display for all to see. What does that mean exactly? Well I’m even going to be brave enough to post a picture of me with my goldens wearing it!  It’s just beautiful and holds so much meaning for me – thank you Chloes’ Mom – you are an incredible talent!  I’m also attaching a beautiful illustration of Kobe that Chloes’ Mom sent with the T-shirt that I will forever cherish too. 

I also have one more thing to share – one of Mackenzie’s favorite Golden friends, Murphy, who lived across the street, passed away at the age of 11 of hemangiosarcoma this past week.  It was so sudden and so heartbreaking.   He holds a very special place in our hearts and I just wanted to dedicate this post to Murphy and his family – he was our neighborhood’s perfect golden boy and will sorely be missed!

Thank you Tripawds for all of your support! I feel so blessed to be part of such a loving community. 

As some of you may know, we recently had the pleasure of Barney visiting us here in LA. It was quite the honor when we were contacted by Angel Jake’s Mom to be the next host of Barney because Angel Jake was one of the very first friends we met on this website.  Here’s to you Angel Jake and Angel Jake’s Mom!

So it has been an interesting time with Barney….my 2 little golden starlets were not very  cooperative or very friendly to Barney when he first arrived.  Kobe, giving him the once over literally turned his nose at him and walked away. Mackenzie, on the other hand, was much more of a sport about it,  but I could tell that she was playing a little hard to get until….he was thrown in the pool! Joyously swimming after him, she fell in love with her new found boytoy :).

As a sneak preview to Barney’s arrival, here’s  one of two  Barney videos titled “California Here I Come!”   Barney was soooo excited to be coming to California but I don’t think he quite knew what he got himself into when he arrived.  Thus, the 2nd video gives you the true picture of  Barney’s real Golden California Adventure…..we all thought it was a golden time for sure….but I’m not so sure Barney felt that way.  But you be the judge.  Enjoy! (Oh and you might want to get out that big bowl of popcorn and 48oz of soda and kick back in that comfy chair!)

California Here I Come!

Barney’s Golden California Adventure!

This weekend marks Mackenzie’s 8 Month Ampuversary and her little brother’s 2 year birthday!! Plus it’s 4th of July!  We have been celebrating all weekend having so much fun! Even though we had a bit of a setback last week finding out that Mackenzie has early spots (4 nodules) on her lungs and a lump on her side that tested positive for cancer from the osteosarcoma…it hasn’t stopped her or us from enjoying every moment.  Since hearing the news, we’ve probably been in the pool almost every day – one of Mackenzie’s favorite things to do and she has shown so much energy lately (more than normal) – it’s unfathomable to me that she even has any problems.  I so appreciated everyone’s wonderful comments and support when I posted this last week – I can’t even begin to tell you how much it meant to me. 

In addition to the metronomic therapy (cytoxin) her oncologist is also putting her on palladia (alternating every other day with the cytoxin) and we hope that this will slow down the cancer and shrink her tumor.  The studies they’ve done so far has shown a good response to palladia.  I will go into more details about this another time but we are keeping our fingers crossed that this gives her more time and quality of life that we want her to have.  If I let myself think about it, I get very sad so I’ve made a pact to myself – not to let this get me down (just yet!) and only to think positive and move forward with whatever we need to do to make sure Mackenzie is not suffering in any way. 

Here’s a video I made called the “ABC’s of Swimming”.  As some of you know, Mackenzie is an Olympic champion Triapawd swimmer (in my eyes – I’m just so proud of her!);  whereas,  her little brother Kobe ( a quadpawd) 🙂 is extremely fearful of the water….but we did get him in the water recently so I made this to showcase both sides of their swimming abilities :).  My poor husband who helped Kobe is practically drowning himself from all the splashing and clawing that Kobe’s doing while in the water – it’s quite funny I must say (although he wouldn’t agree!)  And yes, Kobe likes to sit on his sister’s head….

We hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend!  

We are so amazed and proud of Mackenzie!!  This weekend was the first time Mackenzie  swam in the pool as a Tripawd.  She was so pawesome!! Words can’t describe it.  First starting in her float coat – a total natural and then just leaving her float coat behind – she was swimming and diving just like she always used to do on 4 legs.  She loves the water so much and we are so proud of her because she did not miss a beat or stroke I should say!  So here is my Tripawd Olympian California Girl  in her glory! (Sorry to be the braggart Tripawd pawrent but we’re just so proud of her!)

P.S. Her little brother Kobe is afraid of the water – a golden retriever!!  Go figure – so you you’ll see him on the sidelines 🙂

I’m so happy to announce that Mackenzie has passed her 6 Month Ampuversary and we are celebrating!  She just gets stronger and better every day….when I take her for walks now, I don’t even use a leash because it slows her down big time.  She runs so much farther ahead of us that by the time we catch up to her, Kobe and I are out of breath and exhausted (I do run too!)

Lately, Kobe’s been licking Mackenzie’s face for some reason (I wonder, does he sense something, perhaps?) But it is so sweet and endearing I had to capture it on video.  So I’ve made this video but it comes with a BIG WARNING:

WATCHING THIS VIDEO MAY CAUSE LUMP IN THROAT AND TEARS IN EYES.  (Also may cause you to think that Mackenzie and Kobe’s Mom is a sentimental nutcase ….) 

This is dedicated to all of our tripawd heroes and angels…..

This is specially dedicated to  our fearless A.M.B.F. leader  Covert Cometdog who always comes up with the best songs!

P.S. Mackenzie wants to know if she gets the part…..

We just celebrated a big week where Mackenzie’s chest X-Rays came back clear and she is almost at her 6 month ampuversary.   I’m so proud of her – yea Mackenzie!!

Every day is a celebration with our tripawds and I’m forever grateful!

First of all, I finally figured out how to do a video and voila!  Here it is ….it’s a little rough (and maybe a tad hokey) but just wanted to share my first video called Born to Run…(you’ll hear why when you see it :)) 

As previously mentioned, we decided with our oncologist not to do Mackenzie’s 6th and final chemo treatment.   5 will be the final – yea!!  I’m relieved and happy about this decision.  Maybe by the fact that she had this UTI and it needed to be cleared up before proceeding was the blessing in disguise. This delay was our answer to the gnawing question of whether we should do 6 or not.  Boy, was I on the fence about that one. 

So our next step is to do another urine culture to make sure that her UTI has cleared up and then look into the metronomic treatment  (low dosage chemo) as a follow up maintenance plan (I hope I phrased that correctly – sounds like a car tune-up or something.)  I still don’t know enough about this and I know that other tripawds have done this, so will be planning on asking questions to our tripawds pawrents out there and doing some research as well.

So one final note…..Tripawds Were Born To Run – YES!  (ok I need to enlist the help of  Cometdog’s songwriting skills with the uh uh uh oh oh oh….part :))

And btw thanks to Cometdog, Jerry and Angel Jake’s Mom for making this video  and many more to come happen! How does that saying go…a little bit of video is a powerful thing (oh no, I meant dangerous thing!)

Yesterday was Mackenzie’s 8th birthday!!!  As I’ve mentioned before, when she was first diagnosed in September I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see this day.  But now it has come and gone and I’m truly happy for that.  I tried to take some pictures with her birthday hat on but wasn’t very successful cause her little brother kept pulling it off her head and playing with it like a toy.  So it’s now a soggy slobbery birthday hat that she really doesn’t like to wear anyway.  I did capture one moment …but I could tell Mackenzie just really wasn’t into this party thing. So for all you tripawds out there, Mackenzie’s birthday gives you a great reason to ask for more treats! Yea!!