The Beacon: A journal

The doggie hospice

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:23:00 +0000

It's been a rough couple of months with Thor. A time I've come to think of as "doggie hospice".

It started mid June when Thor developed a cough. My experience with a previous dog is that a cough in an older dog is never a good thing. So off we went to the vet.

On the second visit to try and knock out the cough, we looked at some lumps on Thor's skin. He had four that had suddenly emerged and looked decidedly unfriendly. Time to schedule surgery.

(It's kind of gross, but if you would like to see a photo of Thor with his chest drain, click here.)

The vet took wide margins around the lumps, thinking they were probably mast cell tumors, which is a cancerous tumor. The tumors were sent out to biopsy. The result made me wish they were mast cell tumors.

Malignant Histiocytosis. It's a form of systemic cancer that is rare in dogs, except for Bernese Mountain Dogs, where it is all too common.

Since our regular vet had no experience with this sort of cancer, we consulted with a doggie oncologist. He offered chemotherapy, but cautioned that in a dog, with its shorter life span, chemotherapy is only meant to prolong the quality of life.

With chemotherapy, he estimated, we could extend Thor's life by about four months. Without it, we probably had one to two months left with Thor.

We opted to skip chemotherapy and make the best of our time with Thor.

I've been through cancer with two previous dogs, but never with this much advance notice. My experience is limited to a sudden weight loss and loss of appetite, which leads to rapid decline and only a few days at best to say goodbye.

How would Thor's cancer play out? I asked the oncologist.

He said we would know it was the end in one of three possible ways: Thor would have trouble breathing, or the skin lesions would get so bad we couldn't care for them, or he would lose his appetite and waste away.

I didn't anticipate having to deal with all three options.

In July his cough came back and he started coughing up blood. I decided there was no reason Thor had to suffer so I called his regular vet and asked what we could give him. Since his cough had responded to Clavamox before, we tried it again. It worked.

In August his appetite was waning and he noticeably lost weight, down 15 pounds from his normal 75. The major effect of this was to aggravate his arthritis. The vet explained that as he lost muscle mass, the effects of the arthritis were worse. So in we went to get more pain medicine. It helped.

In this time, more skin growths started to emerge. By September, one on Thor's side was the size of a golf ball. He managed to tear it open and start it bleeding. The vet advised that we couldn't stitch it up without removing the growth all-together, which would require anesthesia. We opted to keep it bandaged.

This began Thor having to wear a T-shirt all the time. A black T-shirt with a maxi-pad stuck to the inside to absorb blood and other fluids. The tumor has gotten to be the size of a tennis ball. Very gross looking and smelling. (Click here if you would like to see. Fortunately we don't have a way to share the smell.)

Through this all Thor has been so good. So patient. Working with me to let me help him.

And I've had to constantly do the reality check and ask: Is Thor still enjoying life?

The answer has been a consistent Yes. He has been big smiles for me. He has enjoyed laying and napping outside. He has continued to make it up the stairs to sleep with us.

But yesterday his cough started to come back. And today his rear end has so little strength, he is falling a lot and having trouble moving around.

I do not believe the answer is a whole-hearted Yes any more. It is time.

I am sad and will miss him.

Catching up -- Little X, Loki, and a Video Tour of Chicago 1930s

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Is anyone still there? I have thought about catching up with you, dear readers, many times in the past year. I miss you and this blog.

What have I been up to, you may wonder?

Mostly chasing after Little X, who turns 3 in a few weeks. He's a curious, active little guy who keeps me on my toes. Especially since he stopped taking naps in March. I mean he stopped cold turkey. He doesn't even fall asleep in the car. He refuses to waste daylight hours on a nap. The bright spot, though, is that his bedtime has moved up.

Loki: 2002-2011

Another major thing, and this was deserving of a post all its own, is that we lost Loki in November to an undetermined cancer. She was 9 1/2 years old and a wonderful dog who is greatly missed. Little X still says sometimes, "Loki died. She's not coming back. Let's go get her."

My letters project blog is still going strong -- News From Home: A Father's Letters to His Son, 1931-1940 (Melbourne to Chicago). I have posted 22 letters so far. It's mostly family reading it, but a few academics have found it and sent me encouraging comments about it being a wonderful example of community history.

I've also gotten some old family 8mm video digitized (through ScanDigital), and have posted them to YouTube. There is one video in particular that has caught some attention, with more than 1,300 views so far. It's a video tour of Chicago that my grandfather put together in about 1936. I think he intended to use it on his return to Australia so that he could give lectures about Chicago.

I think it's fun to see the city as it was. If you click through to YouTube, I've put in a table of contents in the caption information with shortcut links to the various sites shown in the video. My favorites are the "The Ghetto on Maxwell Street" at 9:07 and a shot of my grandparents at about 6:22.

What I especially like about the video is that many of the major sites shown in the video are still must-see sites on a tour of Chicago 75 years later, such as the museums and parks.

It's also been fun to see people discover the video and repost it in various places. It's thrown me back into social media as I've had reason to discover reddit and tumblr now. For my own future reference, here are direct links to places where the video has been posted:

Calumet412 on Tumblr
Reddit
Chicago Architecture Blog
Chicago Screen Shots
Skyscraper City Forums
Thrift and Shout! on Tumblr

I have more old 8 mm videos to post with some fun footage in them. I'll share them once they are on YouTube.

I hope not to be a stranger to this site. I'm a dedicated blogger, even if I take a vacation now and then.

News from Home: A Father's Letters

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:14:00 +0000

Recently I was given a few boxes of my grandfather's papers. In the boxes were 10 years worth of letters written by my great-grandfather and sent to my grandfather when my grandfather came to this country in 1931.

The letters are full of history of all sorts -- world history, family history, YMCA history.

So, in my *ahem* ample spare time, I've started another web project. It's called "News from Home: A Father's Letters to his Son".

It probably has a very niche readership, but, who knows, maybe you fall into that niche. Check it out and see. I'd love any feedback.

Celebrating the big 2

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:28:00 +0000

It's been a busy year. Little X just turned 2. He's is curious about everything and likes to explore. He's really kept me on my toes since he learned to walk over a year ago.

Sorry I've been so neglectful of this blog. Maybe I'll post again soon.

I just wanted to say "Hi" and "I'm still here."

The price of motherhood

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:29:00 +0000

The price of motherhood seems to include this blog. Now that Baby X is 1 year old and walking everywhere, I seem to have little time or energy to update. Sorry about that. Know that I'm still here, lurking in the background, and someday soon I hope to catch up with you more.

Wordless Wednesday: Walking!

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:15:00 +0000

Wordless Wednesday: Sharing

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Happy Birthday Miss Loki

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:21:00 +0000

I realized it was Wednesday and thought I could quickly bring this blog back up to date with a Wordless Wednesday post. Then I decided that I don't dare post only a photo after abandoning the blog for several weeks.

So, here are two photos of the family and Miss Loki celebrating Loki's 8th birthday at the end of May. I can't believe she's 8 already!

Don't you love the party hats? We make the dogs wear them every year and every birthday. It's a silly tradition, but I love it and they tolerate it well.

As for the rest of us, we're keeping busy. Baby X is 10 months old and on the verge of walking. He loves to point at things and have us name them. We journey into Dad's office several times a day so that we can look at Dad's Godzilla action figure thingy.

Sorry to keep this update short. I'm late for bed, and Baby X will be waking me much to early in the morning.

Our little pilot

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:54:00 +0000

Two posts in one day! It's feast or famine around here. :)

Just hanging around

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 02:39:00 +0000

That's frustrating. I just wrote a whole post updating what we've been up to, and the internet ate it. You'll have to take my word for it, the post had some amazing writing. Award-winning. But now no-one will ever know. ;)

So, to keep it short, the highlights of the last post were this:

Baby X cut his first tooth last week, which explains the copious drool in the photo above.

He's crawling and pulling himself up on everything, and is pretty fearless when it comes to standing.

Even though we've baby-proofed a lot already, there's always something else he'll discover and try and get into. Keeps me on my toes.

He has a cute sense of humor and considers coughing to be a great form of joke-telling.

I've been making his food, which has been fun for me as I've long been a finicky eater and this has allowed me to explore more vegetables.

We've been enjoying the warmer spring weather. Taking regular walks, which Baby X loves. He gets excited when I put on the Baby Bjorn or bring out the stroller. In a few months I know he'll be insisting on doing some of the walking himself.

I'm trying to find time to write more, but Baby X makes it difficult. He has little patience for me being on the computer.

Speaking of which, I need to run. So much to do now that he's asleep for the night.

I'll leave you with this video, which is one of Baby X's (and his Mommy's) new favorites.

Wordless Wednesday: Hat

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:22:00 +0000

It's official -- Baby X is crawling

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:48:00 +0000

Silhouettes

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:25:00 +0000

I did it again. A whole month without an update. Gah. I hate it when I do that.

One of the many things I did in the past month was take a vacation to Galena, Illinois. We rented a house, packed up Baby X and the dogs, and headed out for four nights with friends. From our rental house we saw deer and squirrel up close, plus enjoyed the daily parade of wild turkeys. We also did some snowboarding at Chestnut Mountain, did a wine tasting in Galena's historic downtown, and had an all-around nice time. (Click here to see all the photos from the trip.)

Here are two of my favorite photos from the trip. I took them one afternoon while Marriott was walking the dogs. I was standing in the doorway of the house, holding Baby X in one arm and balancing my camera in the other.

Marriott said that even though she knew it was her in the photo, the image of her standing at the top of the driveway gave her nightmares. She could imagine some evil person approaching the house like that while she slept...

Wordless Wednesday: Armchair Quarterbacking

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:29:00 +0000

Go to Wordless Wednesday central to find more participants.

Facebook fan pages for writers

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:02:00 +0000

Several months ago, my Windy City Romance Writers group had a formal presentation on how writers can use Facebook. I remember some published authors wondering why they should go to the effort to create a fan page to promote their writing instead of using their personal profile for that purpose.

Recently, I've been helping a few Windy City writers set up fan pages, so the question has been swirling in my head.

Below are some rough thoughts on the subject. This is the same list I sent to members of my writers group. Comments are welcome.

Why create a fan page on Facebook instead of using your personal profile to promote your writing?

Your personal profile is meant to be personal. You probably have family and non-writing friends on Facebook with whom you'd like to keep in touch. Having a fan page helps you separate people you know from people you don't personally know and limit how much personal information you're potentially exposing to strangers.

Being a Facebook "friend" with someone is a two-way relationship. If I like a writer's work, but don't know the writer personally, I wouldn't presume to ask them to be a "friend". However, I wouldn't be afraid to become their "fan".

Your fans are interested in news about your writing career. That's why they became fans on Facebook. They hope to get rewarded with news about what's happening with your writing. If you have a fan page, when you post career-related news, you don't have to be afraid of inundating family and personal friends with too much self-promotion.

Fan page administrators aren't public. You can administer a fan page without revealing who you are or your personal profile information.

You can have multiple administrators for a fan page. This way, you can have someone else silently help you run your fan page and build community.

Fan pages look and act a lot like your profile page, so navigating one doesn't require much extra knowledge.

Fan page status updates stream to fans' Home pages, just like updates from their personal friends. It's hard to tell the difference when viewing your Home page.

Windy City Romance Writers on Facebook

I've started a collection of Windy City Romance Writer fan pages. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know if I should add you to the list.

Destiny d'Otare
Grace d'Otare
Ann Macela
Jenna Petersen
Deborah Pfeiffer
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Denise Swanson
Melody Thomas
Margaret Watson

Don's Brutalist School

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:27:00 +0000

A friend I've written about before on this blog, Don Hammontree, just released a new video for a new song, Treason. It's catchy, but with some strong language.

As he explained it on his Facebook post:

"This is the video for "Treason," the opening song off my CD "Brutalist School." It's a protest song aimed at the corporations and fat cats who are selling the working people of this country out by sending all the jobs anywhere but here."

Don, whom I know from my days working at the newspaper, has first-hand experience with the unemployment situation in this country, as he's a victim of the ever-shrinking newspaper industry. He's also lived in some neighborhoods especially hard-hit by the economic downturn.

His CD Brutalist School is available in iTunes and from CD Baby.

A world of books to discover

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:31:00 +0000

"Every baby needs love, the magic of words, and the rhythms of language. A writer's baby needs that AND his own library."

That's what a friend, who writes romance novels as Lindsay Longford, wrote in a card to me this summer before Baby X's arrival.

"May your baby love books and stories and the gift of reading as much as you do."

I put the card aside, intending to write in this blog about it, because I really like the sentiment. More than six months later, I'm finally getting around to it.

And, wow, does Baby X have an impressive library. My writer friends showered him with books, one of my two baby showers had a theme of giving inscribed books instead of cards, and another good friend passed along her children's library, which they'd outgrown. Remarkably, of all the books given, only four were duplicates. These were either exchanged or are awaiting re-gifting so another child can experience the joy.

We're already having fun reading board books to him, such as Barnyard Dance! and Guess How Much I Love You.

My husband and I can't wait to read the rest of Baby X's books to him over and over as he grows. It'll be an education for me, too, since I've never read a lot of the classics, or have forgotten them, or they became classic long after I grew up.

Fish!

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:56:00 +0000

So I made you wait more than a day for the answer. Sorry.

What do "yesterday's" two objects (homeless stuffed animals and a pile of gravel) have in common?

Anyone who has visited my home in the past TEN YEARS or read this previous blog post should have guessed the answer: A fish tank.

Specifically, it's a 65-gallon fish tank that we emptied back in 2000 when we moved to San Francisco (then back to Chicago). It got filled with stuffed animals during the move, and the stuffed animals didn't leave it again until four weeks ago. Frankly, the jokes about it needing a crane arm to look like one of those arcade games never got old.

But now that joke is so 2009, because the fish tank is a proper fish tank again.

See?

We tested it first to make sure it held water after almost 10 years of being dry. Success.

Then we called in Cousin Bob, who is our experienced aquarium man in the family, and he helped us buy a new filter and get the gravel clean and all the fun stuff.

Here's Cousin Bob on gravel duty (remember this photo is four weeks old, the Christmas tree is down by now):

And here's my husband assembling the filter:

Then we put in half a dozen hearty starter fish (zebra danios) and let the tank cycle for a month to get the bacteria on track.

This coming weekend we'll get the water tested and -- voila! -- add fish!

But not this kind of fish. This is Baby X. We do know the difference. :)

What do these two things have in common?

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 06:24:00 +0000

A basket full of homeless stuffed animals and a pile of gravel -- what could they possibly have in common? Wanna guess?

There's a clue on this page. It's obvious when you see it, I think.

Answer tomorrow. :)

Something pretty redux

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:58:00 +0000

My Minerva Amaryllis keeps getting prettier and prettier as it blooms. I think I can get hooked on growing bulbs in the winter, especially since I'm home to enjoy the flowers.

The Red Lion Amaryllis that I started at the same time is way behind, barely sprouting still, so I should have flowers for a while now.

On the personal front, things are going along.

My father-in-law had a stroke yesterday, affecting his ~~brain stem~~ right cerebellum near the brain stem. As long as the swelling goes down in the next few days, we're hopeful that the effects will be minimal, all things considered. Send some healing thoughts his way.

I'd hoped to get the Christmas tree down today, but I think that'll have to wait another week now.

Baby X is rolling around a lot and starting to get a little mobile. We need to seriously do some baby-proofing in the next month. I'm trying to get Baby X on a sleep schedule, which, except for today, has been going well. Hopefully, this nap will be a long one and he'll catch up on the sleep he missed this morning.

Oh, and I finally did something with my haleyhughes domain and put together a writer's website. I cannibalized things from this blog to get it started. I fully expect it to evolve as I have time. This is more of a rough draft. Check it out. Feedback is always welcome.

That's about all the time I can spare for the blog today. I'll try not to be a stranger.

Something pretty

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:00:00 +0000

As we settle into the deepest and dreariest part of winter, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to look at something pretty. I took this today. This bulb is just starting to bloom and will soon be bringing some warm-weather cheer to the house. It's from one of those Christmas bulb kits, but I started it a little late and that's how we missed the Christmas part of it.

Tell Me Thursday: ... The Perpetrator

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:35:00 +0000

Yesterday, we witnessed the crime. Poor little Pooh Bear -- a mere shell of his former self.

How could this have happened?!?

Meet Benton, our friends' 9-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog. Caught red-pawed. See that shifty gaze?

Will a stuffie ever be safe around such a ferocious beast? How many more stuffies have to die?

Alas, what else would you expect from a puppy when he meets "a chubby little cubbie all stuffed with fluff?" It's too much to resist!

Fortunately, it wasn't Baby X's Pooh Bear.

And yes, I've been singing "Winnie the Pooh" more than I care to admit lately. :)

If you're a blogger and you participated in Wordless Wednesday, go check out Tell Me Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday: The Crime...

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:31:00 +0000

Tune in tomorrow to meet The Perpetrator...

Find more Wordless Wednesday participants here.

Tell Me Thursday: I'm on to you Mr. Flower

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:01:00 +0000

This one is pretty straight-forward. Baby X (about 4 months old here, taken a few weeks ago) is fascinated by happy faces, and this flower immediately attracted him when he first tried out his ExerSaucer. I was trying to get a photo of him smiling at the flower, and instead caught this wary expression.

If you're a blogger and you participated in Wordless Wednesday, go check out Tell Me Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday: I'm on to you Mr. Flower. Don't try anything funny.

noreply@blogger.com (Haley Hughes) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Find more Wordless Wednesday participants here.