No word yet on Kozmo Kirby’s liver biopsy test results. They were supposed to come back Friday or Monday, but here it is Monday night and they’re not back yet.
Still hoping for good news. Stay tuned.
We washed his face tonight and he’s looking good. It’s hard for him to keep clean when he can’t bathe (he has stitches for another week from the biopsy).
Hey Dad?
Yeah, Kozzy?
I just wanted to wish you a Happy Father’s Day, Dad.
That Kozzy… he’s a good boy.
He sure is, Flapper. And you’re a good Dad, too.
I picked some peonies for you.
And you can do whatever you want this afternoon.
Thanks. And thank you, Kozzy. I love you, son.
I’m going to settle down for a good, long nap.
Ha ha that’s a great napping spot, Flapper. Sweet dreams.
And Happy Father’s Day to all good Dads.
Tags: duck, father's day, flapper, flowers, kozmo, nap, pekin, pet, summer, sunday
Thank you to EVERYONE who has sent so many good thoughts and prayers to Kozmo. We did not get his liver biopsy test results back today, so we expect them on Monday (hopefully). He is staying strong in the meantime. He’s eating, drinking, pooping, playing and can now turn himself around. He even doodled in a mud puddle tonight.
Thanks to everyone who posted comments this week, too. This blog format is new, and it took me a WEEK to figure out how to approve comments (I thought people just hadn’t posted any). Sorry!
XOXOX, Tiff
Hey Kozmo? You’ve got some mail.
Hold on a minute… I’m eating. Nom nom nom. Who is it from?
Yeah who sent it? Is it for me?
No, Chewy. It’s for Kozmo. It’s from Miss Matilda Duck.
It really IS for you, Kozmo.
Well can you BRING it to me, please?
What’s it say?
I’m trying to see that, Flapper. But you’re beak is in the way.
Oops. Go ahead. Read it.
Miss Matilda saved up her egg money and sent it to you, Kozmo. She says you should buy yourself some peas or french fries to help you feel better soon.
I’m speechless. Matilda… that was so sweet of her to send me her egg money.
That is so nice.
I agree, O’Malley. That is super nice. Thank you Terrie and Miss Matilda.
Tags: duck pekin pet muscovy illness liver kozmo letter matil
I’m going to get Kozmo from the vet. They took a biopsy of his liver. It turns out the mass/cysts/tumors… whatever… are all connected to his liver. It’s not good… well it would have been better if it was a separate mass. Still, it could be treatable depending on what’s causing it. So tissue samples went to the lab. I won’t know more ’til at least Friday, possibly Monday. For now, Kozmo’s coming home.
Kozmo is having surgery Tuesday, June 10th in the afternoon.
We’re not sure how his surgery is going to go.
So Kozzy got to do all his favorite things tonight.
He swam, ate some treats and preened in the sunshine.
Good luck my sweet Kozmo. I love you, kid.
XOXOX.
O’Malley came in for awhile last night to hang out with me.
He asked me if we could make some popcorn and watch some Animal Planet, so that’s just what we did.
Later he went back outside and told everyone else about his time in the house.
Chewy was not impressed.
But Flapper seemed a little jealous.
He told O’Malley that he mated with all the girls while he was inside goofing off and watching TV.
Then he ran away, very quickly.
O’Malley needed a hug and a pep-talk to recover.
And then he was fine.
The end. 
Well, for those of you who don’t know, Kozmo Kirby – Flapper & Georgie’s kid – has had some trouble for over two months now. He has had a limp since 2006, but two months ago it got much worse. Originally the vet thought it was related to his hip and arthritis, but then he got completely immobile. He has been to the vet about five times since early April. They’ve tried treating him for arthritis, immobilizing him in case he had an injury, treating him for botulism with anaerobic antibiotics and more. He’s had over 30 x-rays from all angles sent to specialists twice.
Now that they’re convinced it’s not an injury or arthritis, he went back to the vet for x-rays with barium. They kept him all day and fed him barium so his guts would light up and they could see if he had a mass.
The area right above his intestines looks like it could be a mass. They’re showing all the new x-rays to a specialist tomorrow. Their guess is it’s a pretty BIG mass displacing his guts (and possibly pressing on his nerves?) He is completely immobile and can’t walk at all. He can pull himself along with his beak and he can still fly a bit to get around.
If the specialist agrees it’s a mass, Kozmo will have surgery to remove it Tuesday or Friday. At this point I’ve spent so much money on him that I might as well do the surgery and see if it helps. He’s priceless, of course, and at this point he’s literally the most expensive duck on the planet. The vets guess that the mass is amyloidosis. I mentioned teratoma tumors and they said it could be that too. Or a walled-off abscess, or lymphoma, but his blood work came back normal. A mass could be a lot of things.
For now he is eating good again, and seems stronger (except that he cannot move his legs). He perked up once I let him hang out with the other ducks again – so that’s good. I have to keep O’Malley away from him because O’Malley will try to kill him (I love my killer dinosaur but he’s a vicious beast, too).
So keep Kozmo in your thoughts for the next week or two. He can use all the good juju you can send his way.
Thanks and quacks,
Tiff
Flapper turned 4-years-old on April 29th, 2008. He had a very tasty corn cake and some quality time with me.
A lot has happened since the last time we did a Flapper update. I’m trying to do them in a new way now, so they happen more often. O’Malley posed for this photo so you could see we’re both still kickin’ and doing well.
And we hope you’re doing well, too.
Quacks and bup bup bup,
Tiff & O’Malley Peepers
