February Shenanigans

I have not had much to blog about since our trip to the Philippines and the holidays...until now. The past week or so has been a bit busier with noteworthy activities.

One of the families we have become close friends with are moving (PCSing) off Guam in about a month and so we started the Good-bye tour a little early. Last week we had a Ladies Dinner out in town at Carmen's which is one of the Mexican restaurants on Guam. Good food (including homemade tortillas), great calamansi margaritas, and great friends!!

L to R: Lissette, Allie, Nikki, Emilee, Jennifer P, Alicia, Julie, Me, and Jessica!

Also noteworthy...Bubbles had a second surgery last week. This one was very minor compared to the last one but we are hoping that this will be it. She had another open wound that had not healed from the dog attack last April. This one is fairly small and was hidden by her hair, so we didn't realize it was there for a long time. The vet took out the unhealthy tissue and sewed it up. Only took three stitches which she will be getting out next week. Bubbles is still wearing her royal red cone of shame but you would never know she had surgery. She's been running around and trying to wrestle with Edge like nothing ever happened!

This is the scar from her first surgery.

This is the new spot - very small.

Carlton finally got a weekend off this past weekend, so we were able to go out and do some hiking!! He has been very busy with work over the past month, so we hadn't really been doing much. But this past Saturday we finally got to hike one of the many trails we have been wanting to check out!

It is called Tarzan Falls and is a popular hike. There are three waterfalls you can hike to and a couple pools to swim in if you feel so inclined. It's one of those hikes that you want to do during a dry spell so the trail isn't so muddy but then the waterfalls aren't as spectacular. You could go after a wet spell but then your chances of slogging through mud are pretty high.

This trail is also used by people on dirt bikes and 4x4 vehicles, so there are places on the trail with deep ruts from tires. Luckily when we went, it was fairly dry. We were able to avoid most of the muddy spots without too much trouble. It is 1.4 miles to the waterfall - although I do not know if that is to the first waterfall or farther. My guess would be the first waterfall and then you can continue down the trail even farther if you like. Most of the hike is downhill as you are heading to the waterfalls.

Trailhead

Carlton near the beginning - note the ruts in the road

View before we start to descend

Top of the 1st waterfall

It drops off past the boulders

Looking upstream

Portrait by the waterfall dropoff

Selfie!

First waterfall

Better view

You can see people at the top

And people at the bottom right

We continued hiking to the next waterfall...

This one was smaller but still lovely. The water was a bit suspicious looking, so neither of us really felt like getting into the pool. In this second picture you can see people coming to the top of the waterfall - they had a little boy with them who got in and was swimming around.

We did continue hiking for a bit longer planning to go see the third waterfall, however, the trail took a very steep dive and we decided we had gone far enough. So instead we turned around to head back. The hike back was definitely challenging! Lots of climbing and lots of steep areas! Our legs definitely got a workout from this hike!

Funky seed pods we found on the trail

Towards the end of the hike...steep!

Not sure if you can tell from the last picture, but the trail was steep and still muddy in areas. We heard stories from friends who lived on Guam previously and one of their daughters got her leg stuck in the mud up to her knee hiking this trail. She was about 12 at the time. Not only is the mud thick, it is also very slippery! Hiking shoes with good traction is a must!!

Now that we have tackled that hike, we have to try out another one sometime! We hope you all had a very Happy Valentine's Day!!

XOXOXO

Recovery is Ruff

I believe the last time I wrote about Bubbles and her wound, the vet had thought that it was healing well and she wouldn't need surgery. Well that all changed this past Monday when I took her in for another bandage change. Apparently the wound had opened up again and he decided that three weeks of doing the bandage changes and waiting for it to heal on its own was long enough.

So Ms. Bubbles had surgery on Wednesday - they had to go in and debride more of the tissue that wasn't healthy. They also had to close down the spacing that was left from the wound so it wouldn't fill with fluid again and form another seroma, so they had to tack down some of the tissue directly to her leg muscle. Lucky girl got a little nip/tuck during her procedure, although that might mean one leg is leaner than the other! Ha! I am sure she doesn't care.

We had a little bit of a scare before they did the surgery. The vet was doing a preliminary physical assessment before putting her under anesthetic and found a solid mass in her mammary tissue. He took a sample to check it out on a slide and thankfully determined that it was not cancerous. He was concerned that it might be mammary cancer, which is pretty bad according to him. It appears to be another site of infection that can be dealt with by Bubbles taking antibiotics. The vet is still sending a sample off to a pathologist to double check but he really thinks it is non cancerous.

Poor Bubbles is definitely not herself. When I first brought her home, she basically just stood in the spot where I set her down. She had to be carried out of the vet and from the truck into the house. I finally got her to lay down (by picking her up and turning her so she was on her side rather than standing) and she has basically been in that position since we got home yesterday. Of course she still eats...I mean, it is Bubbles after all. But I can tell she is definitely in pain and is afraid to try to move her leg because of the pain. She has yet to go to the bathroom and I am pretty sure I am going to have to carry her out when she does need to go.

Here are some pics I took when she got home yesterday:

Bubbles on her favorite doggie bed...cone of shame still on, I think this is week 5.

They shaved quite a bit to make sure the area was clear.

Close-up of the stitches. She goes back in 2 weeks to get them out.

So for the next few days, I will be Bubbles' nurse. I have been bringing her food bowl and water bowl to her so she can eat and drink. She won't even get up for food, so I know she doesn't feel good. I also have to ice her wound every two hours to keep the swelling and inflammation down. In the next day or two I am hoping she starts to move around a bit more. This should be the last of this ordeal for her and the antibiotics should get rid of the mass in her mammary tissue as well.

I will keep you updated!!

Bubbles and Bananas

Ms. Bubbles had her follow-up appointment with her vet yesterday and she is healing well! She does still have to wear the bandage over the puncture wound in the back and the cone of shame. She is also still on antibiotics to continue to fight any bugs that might be lingering in her wounds but she is doing well!

The view during our walks

Happy girl in her cone of shame

As you know, I had to return her to the kennel last weekend after I moved into a month to month that does not allow dogs over 25 pounds. She hadn't seen Edge in about 6 weeks at that point and Edge had been in the kennel for 2 weeks. When I brought Bubbles in, I let her and Edge sniff each other through the fence of his kennel first. They were both wagging their tails, so I figured things would be fine.

I brought them both out into an open area of the kennel on their leashes and they did the normal circling each other to sniff the other one's butt. As soon as Edge turned to sniff Bubbles in her face, she growled at him. I separated them and things were fine for about a minute until Edge wanted to get in her face again and she growled at him. Poor Edge has been cooped up and just wanted to play with his sister...he was completely clueless as to why she would be so uptight! Of course Bubbles is still afraid of other dogs and Edge's hyper behavior didn't help.

To try to ease the situation, I had the kennel worker put Bubbles in a kennel and I took Edge for a walk to try to get him calmer. When we returned from the walk, I had the kennel worker take Edge from me and put him into a kennel and then try to move Bubbles into the same kennel to see how they responded to each other. I was thinking that maybe it was because I was there and Bubbles had been the only dog with me, so maybe a jealousy response...? But within 10 seconds of Bubbles being in the kennel with Edge, she growled at him again. So the kennel worker put Bubbles in her own kennel and to this day they are still in separate kennels.

So I go to the kennel every day to walk the dogs (separately) and then give Bubbles her medication and change her bandage. I suppose routine is good although I could do without the 30 minute drive (one way) to get to the kennel! :-)

Today a group of us went to the Talofofo Banana Festival to check things out. There were some baked goodies to be eaten, some plants to purchase, fruit juices to drink, and meat on a stick! Here are some pictures:

Plants for sale

Bananas!!

The many benefits of bananas

View of the beach near the festival

More of the beach