Last of the AC and the dead armadillo

Today is my last treatment of Adriamycin + Cytoxan.  Yay!  I have another excellent nurse, Pat.  However, it’s been super busy today at TxOnc so I’ve been here most of the day (since 9:30a and it’s now almost 2:00p.  Still have another hour at least).  Will likely go home and crash from here.  I’ll return in two weeks to start 12 weeks of Taxol.

In other news, I found a dead armadillo in my backyard this morning.  Had my dogs killed it?  Had they been playing with its dead carcass?  Did they eat any of it?  It was way to gross to examine more thoroughly, the flies were swarming and it had such a non-lovely smell to boot.  I tossed it over the fence with a shovel, but it was still kinda freaking me out so I called my vet’s office.  They said they didn’t think I had anything to worry about.  Rabbies?  Leprosy?  No.  If my dogs killed it, it was probably a good thing.  They said it likely dug under the fence somewhere and that an armadillo will tear up your yard.  Not that my dogs hadn’t already done a good job of that.  They said my pups should be fine.  Oh good, so they won’t turn into killer, zombie dogs?  What a relief! :-)

Come to think of it, the other night both Mo and Greta came in a little worse for wear.  Greta with scrapes above and below her right eye and Mo with a small, bloody spot on his side.  Oh, right.  Yes, I’m having a flashing lightbulb over head moment.  I thought maybe they had just played too rough.

Now it all makes sense.  My beasts are sweethearts, but I wouldn’t put killing an armadillo past them.  One day I came home and Mo was playing with a dead squirrel.  Another time Greta tried to tear the gutter drain off the side of the house to get to a trapped squirrel.  She succeeded but the squirrel got away.

They love to torment the squirrels.  The squirrels probably torment them too–Devious, little suckers.  One squirrel got stuck on the very tip top of one of my cedar trees screaming its head off until I called them to come inside.  Guess that squirrel’s plan backfired.  Greta was already half way up the tree.

Another time they killed a harmless tarantula.  I tried to stop them but it was too late.  I gently picked it up and the poor thing was still twitching, and then it died.