Baymule
Herd Master
Beautiful fence! It's quite a chore, but so fantastic when done!
Purplequeenvt in 2026
- Thread starter purplequeenvt
- Start date
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- #452
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
It’s been a rough couple of weeks. I don’t know if I talked about this before, but my mom was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer 5ish years ago. She’s been on various meds to slow the spread and they’ve work ok up until recently.
Her scans in February showed that it had spread to her large and small intestines and that one of the tumors was close to causing an obstruction. Surgery is not an option. She had symptoms of a blockage a couple weeks ago and when they did a CT to check, they found no blockage, but that the cancer has spread significantly within her intestines. She is perilously close to a complete blockage. At that point there’s not a lot they can do and she’d be sent home on hospice.
She says she feels fine (except when the meds make her feel sick), so I guess that’s a blessing. They have put her on a new chemo med to hopefully slow/shrink the tumors, but who knows if they will make a significant difference.
No one, except maybe my mom, is coping well and my entire family is emotionally constipated so that’s making things harder.
Her scans in February showed that it had spread to her large and small intestines and that one of the tumors was close to causing an obstruction. Surgery is not an option. She had symptoms of a blockage a couple weeks ago and when they did a CT to check, they found no blockage, but that the cancer has spread significantly within her intestines. She is perilously close to a complete blockage. At that point there’s not a lot they can do and she’d be sent home on hospice.
She says she feels fine (except when the meds make her feel sick), so I guess that’s a blessing. They have put her on a new chemo med to hopefully slow/shrink the tumors, but who knows if they will make a significant difference.
No one, except maybe my mom, is coping well and my entire family is emotionally constipated so that’s making things harder.
murphysranch
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Oh, I'm sooooo sorry for you and your family. A soft hug from me to you. 
- Thread starter
- #454
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
On a less depressing note:
The duck hatched 13 ducklings last Wednesday/Thursday. They are Cayuga/Indian Runner mutts.
I made it safely to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival and back.
Osmanthus and Sprig were excellent passengers. They didn’t make a peep the whole drive. They were shockingly calm for 2 little boys who’d never left home. The look of concern on Sprig’s (white boy) face in the 2nd picture is over the slightly neurotic Tunis that was doing laps in the pen next door.
My injured lamb unfortunately went lame again a few days after her injury and wasn’t putting any weight on her leg at all. I still couldn’t find an obvious break, but I splinted her leg and penned her up. This also meant that she needed to go on a bottle because I was not about to try to pen her mom and sister also. She’s lost a lot of weight and it has taken over a week, but she’s finally taking a bottle and actually interacting positively with me instead of acting like I was trying to murder her.
The first few attempts at feeding, she was very belligerent and would spit the milk out. I couldn’t tube her because I didn’t have enough hands to hold her, keep the tube from being swallowed, and pour the milk. I ended up syringing the milk into her for a few days and she probably wore more of the milk than she swallowed. We eventually got to the point where she would keep the nipple in her mouth if you held her face and she’d swallow the milk as it dribbled or was squeezed into her mouth, but that was about as much participation as you’d get.
I left her and Cornelius’s with my neighbor while I was gone and even when I picked her up on Sunday, she still wasn’t eating a lot. She was getting fed about 2oz every couple hours. She took 3 or 4oz when I fed her Sunday night and the Monday morning it was like a switch had flipped in her brain and she sucked down 10oz in one go. It was cold milk too. She’s continued that trend ever since.
She even baa’d at me yesterday morning when I came out to feed. She’s still standoffish, but she’s starting to follow me around when she’s ready to eat.
My 2 teen moms lambed on Monday and Tuesday. I’m very proud of them. Fuchsia lambed around 3a on Monday and I found her and baby when I got up that morning. I went back and checked the cameras and she had him with no issues and immediately started mothering him. There was no stupid new young mom behavior.
She had a lovely black gulmoget ram
Fern lambed at 1230 yesterday while I was at work. She wasn’t acting terribly suspicious at feeding, but her belly had dropped to the point where she almost didn’t look pregnant and she had really loose poops. I checked the cameras a few times after I got to work. She still wasn’t acting like she was in labor as in she wasn’t pacing or pawing, or not eating, but she was up and down a lot and would lay with her back legs kicked out. I caught the moment she lambed completely by chance. Again, no stress. Pushed baby out, hopped up and got to work cleaning.
She had a gorgeous little moorit gulmoget girl.
Last ewe to go is Addie the Border Leicester. She was bred at the same time as the little girls so she’s due any day.
The duck hatched 13 ducklings last Wednesday/Thursday. They are Cayuga/Indian Runner mutts.
I made it safely to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival and back.
Osmanthus and Sprig were excellent passengers. They didn’t make a peep the whole drive. They were shockingly calm for 2 little boys who’d never left home. The look of concern on Sprig’s (white boy) face in the 2nd picture is over the slightly neurotic Tunis that was doing laps in the pen next door.
My injured lamb unfortunately went lame again a few days after her injury and wasn’t putting any weight on her leg at all. I still couldn’t find an obvious break, but I splinted her leg and penned her up. This also meant that she needed to go on a bottle because I was not about to try to pen her mom and sister also. She’s lost a lot of weight and it has taken over a week, but she’s finally taking a bottle and actually interacting positively with me instead of acting like I was trying to murder her.
The first few attempts at feeding, she was very belligerent and would spit the milk out. I couldn’t tube her because I didn’t have enough hands to hold her, keep the tube from being swallowed, and pour the milk. I ended up syringing the milk into her for a few days and she probably wore more of the milk than she swallowed. We eventually got to the point where she would keep the nipple in her mouth if you held her face and she’d swallow the milk as it dribbled or was squeezed into her mouth, but that was about as much participation as you’d get.
I left her and Cornelius’s with my neighbor while I was gone and even when I picked her up on Sunday, she still wasn’t eating a lot. She was getting fed about 2oz every couple hours. She took 3 or 4oz when I fed her Sunday night and the Monday morning it was like a switch had flipped in her brain and she sucked down 10oz in one go. It was cold milk too. She’s continued that trend ever since.
She even baa’d at me yesterday morning when I came out to feed. She’s still standoffish, but she’s starting to follow me around when she’s ready to eat.
My 2 teen moms lambed on Monday and Tuesday. I’m very proud of them. Fuchsia lambed around 3a on Monday and I found her and baby when I got up that morning. I went back and checked the cameras and she had him with no issues and immediately started mothering him. There was no stupid new young mom behavior.
She had a lovely black gulmoget ram
Fern lambed at 1230 yesterday while I was at work. She wasn’t acting terribly suspicious at feeding, but her belly had dropped to the point where she almost didn’t look pregnant and she had really loose poops. I checked the cameras a few times after I got to work. She still wasn’t acting like she was in labor as in she wasn’t pacing or pawing, or not eating, but she was up and down a lot and would lay with her back legs kicked out. I caught the moment she lambed completely by chance. Again, no stress. Pushed baby out, hopped up and got to work cleaning.
She had a gorgeous little moorit gulmoget girl.
Last ewe to go is Addie the Border Leicester. She was bred at the same time as the little girls so she’s due any day.
farmerjan
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Sent you a PM....
Baymule
Herd Master
I am sorry about your mom. I pray for her and your family.
- Thread starter
- #458
purplequeenvt
Herd Master
Welp….I took the splint off the broken lamb’s leg to reassess things and she’s lost her foot. That is exactly what I was worried about.
She seems to want to live at the moment so I’ve dressed her remaining leg and we’ll go from there. She’s acting like she’s in a bit more pain tonight, but she got knocked over a few times today and she no longer has the splint to lean on. I may put the splint back on to act as a peg leg so she can’t accidentally put weight on the stump for now.
Long term, if she survives, I’m not sure what the plan with her would be. Pet for a softie if she’s able to get around well or a quick trip to freezer camp if she can’t.
Poor girl.
She seems to want to live at the moment so I’ve dressed her remaining leg and we’ll go from there. She’s acting like she’s in a bit more pain tonight, but she got knocked over a few times today and she no longer has the splint to lean on. I may put the splint back on to act as a peg leg so she can’t accidentally put weight on the stump for now.
Long term, if she survives, I’m not sure what the plan with her would be. Pet for a softie if she’s able to get around well or a quick trip to freezer camp if she can’t.
Poor girl.
Baymule
Herd Master
That's tough. Heal her up if possible, then take a look at her quality of life.
SageHill
Herd Master
Awe 
