Once More Unto the Breach

... dear friends, once more. I've asked my vet for a referral to Richard Allport in Potters Bar, to see if he thinks it's worth Herbie trying the drug developed by the late John Carter. There's a blog up and running for people who are using this drug, CV247.

Herbie ran miles this morning. He saw a rabbit and that was it, off over the horizon. I spent ages staring into the distance, at the spot where he had disappeared, and suddenly he popped up behind me. To do that, he had to have done a huge loop round. There's life in the old dog yet.

Tonight, the dogs had pink and purple mince - beef mince boiled up with red cabbage. The meat goes purple on the outside, but when you mash it up with a fork, it has a pretty pink and purple look to it. The cabbage doesn't look great though.

Eight and Five-Sixths

I'm back to counting. It's mostly been degrees centigrade (supposed to reach the heady heights of 8 degrees C, I am so happy it's above freezing!) but today it's Herbie part-birthdays. His nodes seem to have taken another leap forward in terms of growth. We're seeing the vet tomorrow for a check-up. She's agreed to refer us to a vet who will prescribe CV247 but wants to see Herbie first. She's understandably wary of a drug she has no personal experience of, but the Editor of Dogs Today, bless her and her house for always, has given me a list of vets who will prescribe.

It's pretty late in the day to be trying experimental (in the eyes of the licensing authorities, anyway, I know the drug has been around for a while) things on Herbie, but there are meant to be no side effects. Either it works or it doesn't, and it's worked on some mice with lymphoma in trials. I swing between wanting to leave Herbie be, and refusing to give up without a fight.

The more it snows...

... tiddly pom, the colder my toes, tiddly pom (as Winnie the Pooh once said). And the blacker the bruises. At the moment I have one black elbow, a matching shoulder, and a green and purple knee. I have spent the weekend resting up, because my right arm has been out of commission after falling on the ice at the Park and Ride at Monk's Cross. The concept is, you get out of your nice warm car into an ungritted skating rink, and if you're still alive by the time you reach the bus, it then takes half an hour to get to where you really want to be. Funnily enough, numbers of passengers are decreasing.

Herbie and Holly are both being little asterisks (as in ****s) and refusing to leave the house with the new dog walker. I've told her they're both adult dogs, they can make their own minds up, they just can't use a door key, so as long as she opens the door to the garden, it's up to them if they want to go out and wee. Maybe a walk is a bit ambitious at this stage. I'm worried though. She said Herbie bared his lips at her this morning and growled. Is he becoming possessive over the house? It's so unlike him, he'd normally run and hide at the first sign of trouble. I need to be at home.

There's a programme on telly tonight about how the over-40s have little chance of finding jobs anyway. What with that and the chance of developing Alzheimers before I even retire (TV programme on Terry Pratchett's illness) and... there must be some chocolate in the house somewhere. I'm off to look for it.

Snow-delay-ee-hoo

Yes, more snow. Sigh. I was supposed to be running a workshop today, but can't get there, and nor could half the participants. It was a lot of work to arrange, and now I've got to do that work again. I like snow when I don't have to go anywhere. This isn't one of those days.

I read some interesting news on Beverley Cuddy's blog about CV247, a potential cancer cure. I need to find out more, and see if my new vet's open to trying to contact a vet in Hungary. One can but hope. Herbie's as OK as he's ever likely to be at the moment, but his nodes are so big, and his crusty nose seems to be getting worse.

Oh, and my dogwalker has winter vomiting virus, so in a way it's just as well I can't get to work. The dogs and I can all stand on the doorstep together, shake our heads, and go back upstairs.

Wherever you are, stay warm.