Sit. Stay. Read.
obsessed with dogs
When I saw the theme for this month’s positive reinforcement pet training hop–my training mentor or inspiration–my first thought went to trainers whose work I devour: Patricia McConnell, of course. Victoria Stilwell. Debbie Jacobs. Et cetera. But I wouldn’t know about any of those amazing women without their critical predecessor. When I started to really think …
A year ago today, we lost our Lucas. I couldn’t write about it then–except to let you, our kind friends, know he was gone. I didn’t think I could write about it now either. See, the thing is, I felt like we failed him. We lost him too soon, so it had to be our …
How does time slip past us so quickly? Where does it go? Tomorrow, Lucas will have been gone for three weeks. How can that be? When he left us, our hearts were shattered. We wondered how we would ever put the pieces back together. Finally, I realized: They will never be put back together, at …
He’s gone, and we are shattered. He went too soon. It’s always too soon. Lucas joined our family on March 28, 2007, and he left us on October 28, 2015. But he is forever and ever part of our soul. I miss my friend. So much. It will take time to pick up these pieces.
“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” ~Marianne Williamson
That Dylan Thomas poem has been swirling around in my head for weeks now. The first stanza, anyway: Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Lucas has been having a ball. He is absolutely raging. Heck, …
One. Between Emmett and Lucas, someone’s going to the vet nearly every week for a checkup or blood test. I dutifully schedule tech appointments at the same time to get Newt’s nails trimmed. And every time I get there, I have to tell them to cancel it because I, once again, couldn’t get her in …
That’s the only question these days, and it doesn’t have a straightforward answer. He’s great: He loves our micro-hikes and fast food trips. He loves friends dropping by with beef stew, cheese, bacon treats, and snuggles. Lots and lots of snuggles. He loves taking super slow strolls with lots of long pauses around the block. Then, …
At his checkup yesterday, Lucas was amazing. He has come so far since those early, fearful, aggressive days when the front desk staff would have to clear the lobby just for Lucas to even walk through the door. No, yesterday, he nailed it. Dogs on flexis, big dogs, little dogs, owners on their cell phones… …
I wrote this post while staring down at my belly button… please forgive its length and self-absorption. When John started his new job, one of the benefits was a spousal life insurance policy. So, of course, I filled out the paperwork. And got turned down. For life insurance. Why? Because, and I’m paraphrasing here, at …
We heard the elderly couple express their fears of administering an oral chemo at home to their dog, Dixie. Their concerns centered around one theme: What if something goes wrong? We heard them tell the oncology resident about Dixie, about how she literally saved their lives from a burglar and how she, as his farm-hand, …
Since December 6, 2011, the day I got my diagnosis, cancer has ruled my life. After that, it was four surgeries followed by a year of chemo followed by five years–currently in progress–of quarterly tests and checks and appointments and driving to and from Indy a million times for blood work. In the midst of …
You know those commercials for… something… a bank, maybe? And they ask, “What’s in your wallet?” That popped into my head when I was working out the details of this post, and it’s sort of a perfect fit. What’s in your car? My car is definitely the dog-mobile. I’m weird about keeping it picked up, …
I’ve been thinking about some of the quirkiness that goes on around here related to specific sounds. There’s a lot. An awful lot. I’m hoping we’re not the only one with these noise-induced quirks… Of course, there’s the sound of the UPS truck rumbling down the street. As soon as we hear that, John and I …
Guess who’s finished with chemo! After last week’s debacle, we repeated his blood work locally, and he was good to go. So, back up to Purdue for his fourth and last round of chemo! And, once again, he did GREAT! Better than great, actually, because he didn’t flip out in the lobby despite it being …
Yesterday Lucas was due for his fourth and hopefully final dose of chemo. As you can probably guess, it didn’t happen. He had a blood test on Tuesday, and both his platelets and his white counts were too low to administer the chemo. I’m thrilled it saved us the drive to and from Purdue–and all …
Both Emmett and Lucas had their blood panels this morning at our local vet. Em’s is just routine; since he’s on oral chemo probably forever, they’re monitoring his levels every 10 weeks. Lucas’ is part of the weekly checkups he gets for his Purdue chemo trial. With both of them undergoing two different chemo protocols, …
Last week, Lucas and I had another 12-hour Purdue day. We left the house right at 6:30 in the morning and arrived home just after 6:30 in the evening. Such a long, exhausting day. This schedule requires a balancing act that feels like juggling while riding a unicycle–neither of which I can do. We’re trying …
When we moved from DC to Indiana, our tiny bowling-alley backyard was so exciting! We had our own space! Outside! Emmett and Lucas would be so happy! But then… For one thing, we realized that the yard wasn’t the suburban paradise we hoped for because they really didn’t want to be out there unless we were …
As BlogPaws 2015 kicks off, things might be a little busy for a couple days! I’ll definitely check in with news and highlights from the conference, but I wanted to leave you with a little bit of a Wordless Wednesday (though I’m incapable of a post without words, apparently). Since Lucas’ surgery, there have been …
After I wrote the post on osteosarcoma and amputation, I wanted to write one about chemo, too. But it was such a roller coaster those first few weeks. I thought I’d wait until things settled down. And then I realized: Duh. Chemo IS a roller coaster. It’s not going to settle down until it’s over, so …
No doubt about it. On Wednesday when I wrote something like, “Oh, blah blah! Got the appointments together! Saving a whole day! Should get back in town to get Cooper just before daycare closes! Yay for plans working out!” That? Jinxed us. They expected to have the boys finished up by 4, which would’ve gotten us …
I’m starting to feel like we need to rent an apartment in West Lafayette. Both Emmett and Lucas have appointments today, and I’m very grateful we were able to coordinate for them to go together. It’s usually a 10- to 12-hour door-to-door day, and Emmett was originally scheduled for next week – so two of …
“You chose to amputate the leg,” the oncology resident nodded. “It’s not an easy decision but, I think, the right one.” Frankly, for me, the decision wasn’t a difficult one: Without amputation, this insidious cancer, osteosarcoma, would take Lucas in only a few months, if not weeks. With amputation, his prognosis expanded to around four …
