Ten years.
Ten years ago Mike and I walked into a pet store to 'window shop'. I was looking at a boxer puppy when Mike came over and urged me to take a look at this other puppy in the store. I remember asking him what kid of a dog it was, and (knowing that this would probably be the best way to get me over there) he told me it was just like the dog in Mad Max.
For those of you who do not fall into the geek category, the 'Mad Max' dog, or if you are a gamer the "Fallout' dog is an Australian Cattle Dog. Specifically, a blue heeler.
The puppy he showed me looked like a German shepherd that had been dipped in powdered sugar. She was an adorable, big eared puppy that wiggled and yipped.She ended up leaving the store with us that day.
She was far from the perfect dog. It took forever to potty train her. She never mastered walking on a lead (always wanting to herd us, or other people and animals that she saw). To this day she is still a very mouthy dog, obsessed with licking the floor. But she loved us unconditionally. Nara was never the kind of dog who would run away and never come back. Underfoot more than not, and always very talkative with a strange series of vocalizations that went far beyond yips and barks. But she was always good with people, with kids, with out other pets (cats!).
We have gone on early morning walks with her, administered medicated eye drops when she had an eye infection, hidden pills in treats to give her medicine when she got sick. Taken her for baths where the end result was more hair on us than not (thanks to the second coat that never seems to go away). Patiently gone over her coat with a pair of tweezers and jar of nail polish remover nearby when clearing her of ticks. Clipped her nails, spoiled her with treats and toys. Taken her for shots, yearly checkups, micro chipping.
Nara has traveled with us to two countries (and the stops in between). She went back home with me when I had Olivia. Nara has had infinite patience with her, putting up with a little baby, then toddler who only knows that this is her dog. And that her dog lets her pet her, plays with her. Olivia gives her food from the table when she thinks we aren't looking. She picks up the bag of dog food and tries to put food in the bowl for Nara (oftentimes almost spilling out the entire contents of the bag in the process) because she sees mom and dad fill the bowl and she wants to help.
She is family, so when we found out I was pregnant with Peanut and that we'd be going back to Florida for his birth, there was no question that Nara would be going with us. None. Also along for the ride would be our other pet, Elizabeth. Elizabeth had also been with us for a very long time, as our petite elder kitty, and she too had traveled along with the family overseas back and forth. In January, we noticed that Elizabeth was having problems. We later found out after a visit to the vet that she had cancer (a large mass in her chest pushing on her lungs and heart and basically making it very hard for her to breathe). It was bad enough that it was better to put her to sleep than let her get worse and wither away in front of us. So we did, and we had her cremated and bought a cat-shaped urn to put her ashes in.
Then we noticed a lump on Nara's neck. This had not been the first time one of her glands had swollen up only to go back down again on its own, so we did not rush to get it checked out. She was acting like herself (nothing out of the ordinary), but the lump didn't go away. Since the time for my departure was getting close (and Nara needed her yearly checkup anyway), we took her into the same vet that had treated Elizabeth. During the examination they also noted the swollen gland. So they took a blood draw, and a puncture from the area for cell samples.
They called the house a few days later and told me that the results of the blood draw and puncture were a strong indication of lymphoma. Cancer. In order to be sure, they would need to perform a biopsy on Nara. To be honest, they probably should have contacted Mike at work because I really wasn't paying much attention after the vet tech on the other end of the line said lymphoma. The only thing I was thinking was that Nara had cancer. That ten years is not enough time. That Olivia was going to be looking for her dog, and not find her. That Peanut is never going to know Nara, even as a foggy memory. I did end up contacting Mike when I was able to and telling him the news (and that we'd have to take Nara in again for a biopsy).
So we scheduled the biopsy. That weekend we talked about what would happen if it the biopsy confirmed the initial diagnosis. We agreed that there would be no chemo if that were the case.
We took her in on Monday for the biopsy. They told us that on Wednesday we would have the results. Today we found out that she has malignant lymphoma. We don't know how bad it is yet. We are going in next week to find out. We don't know how much time she has. But it doesn't matter. She is coming home with us to Florida. She is flying with me and Olivia in two weeks when we go back. I am going to take her every day to the dog park in the corporate apartment housing complex we have rented. We are going to take a lot of pictures with her. She is going to have a lot of treats and toys. And hopefully she will still be ok when Mike gets there in May. She is going to be with us until it is apparent that the cancer is negatively impacting her. Then we are going to go as a family to the vet, and we are going to say goodbye to her for the last time.
For those of you who do not fall into the geek category, the 'Mad Max' dog, or if you are a gamer the "Fallout' dog is an Australian Cattle Dog. Specifically, a blue heeler.
The puppy he showed me looked like a German shepherd that had been dipped in powdered sugar. She was an adorable, big eared puppy that wiggled and yipped.She ended up leaving the store with us that day.
She was far from the perfect dog. It took forever to potty train her. She never mastered walking on a lead (always wanting to herd us, or other people and animals that she saw). To this day she is still a very mouthy dog, obsessed with licking the floor. But she loved us unconditionally. Nara was never the kind of dog who would run away and never come back. Underfoot more than not, and always very talkative with a strange series of vocalizations that went far beyond yips and barks. But she was always good with people, with kids, with out other pets (cats!).
We have gone on early morning walks with her, administered medicated eye drops when she had an eye infection, hidden pills in treats to give her medicine when she got sick. Taken her for baths where the end result was more hair on us than not (thanks to the second coat that never seems to go away). Patiently gone over her coat with a pair of tweezers and jar of nail polish remover nearby when clearing her of ticks. Clipped her nails, spoiled her with treats and toys. Taken her for shots, yearly checkups, micro chipping.
Nara has traveled with us to two countries (and the stops in between). She went back home with me when I had Olivia. Nara has had infinite patience with her, putting up with a little baby, then toddler who only knows that this is her dog. And that her dog lets her pet her, plays with her. Olivia gives her food from the table when she thinks we aren't looking. She picks up the bag of dog food and tries to put food in the bowl for Nara (oftentimes almost spilling out the entire contents of the bag in the process) because she sees mom and dad fill the bowl and she wants to help.
She is family, so when we found out I was pregnant with Peanut and that we'd be going back to Florida for his birth, there was no question that Nara would be going with us. None. Also along for the ride would be our other pet, Elizabeth. Elizabeth had also been with us for a very long time, as our petite elder kitty, and she too had traveled along with the family overseas back and forth. In January, we noticed that Elizabeth was having problems. We later found out after a visit to the vet that she had cancer (a large mass in her chest pushing on her lungs and heart and basically making it very hard for her to breathe). It was bad enough that it was better to put her to sleep than let her get worse and wither away in front of us. So we did, and we had her cremated and bought a cat-shaped urn to put her ashes in.
Then we noticed a lump on Nara's neck. This had not been the first time one of her glands had swollen up only to go back down again on its own, so we did not rush to get it checked out. She was acting like herself (nothing out of the ordinary), but the lump didn't go away. Since the time for my departure was getting close (and Nara needed her yearly checkup anyway), we took her into the same vet that had treated Elizabeth. During the examination they also noted the swollen gland. So they took a blood draw, and a puncture from the area for cell samples.
They called the house a few days later and told me that the results of the blood draw and puncture were a strong indication of lymphoma. Cancer. In order to be sure, they would need to perform a biopsy on Nara. To be honest, they probably should have contacted Mike at work because I really wasn't paying much attention after the vet tech on the other end of the line said lymphoma. The only thing I was thinking was that Nara had cancer. That ten years is not enough time. That Olivia was going to be looking for her dog, and not find her. That Peanut is never going to know Nara, even as a foggy memory. I did end up contacting Mike when I was able to and telling him the news (and that we'd have to take Nara in again for a biopsy).
So we scheduled the biopsy. That weekend we talked about what would happen if it the biopsy confirmed the initial diagnosis. We agreed that there would be no chemo if that were the case.
We took her in on Monday for the biopsy. They told us that on Wednesday we would have the results. Today we found out that she has malignant lymphoma. We don't know how bad it is yet. We are going in next week to find out. We don't know how much time she has. But it doesn't matter. She is coming home with us to Florida. She is flying with me and Olivia in two weeks when we go back. I am going to take her every day to the dog park in the corporate apartment housing complex we have rented. We are going to take a lot of pictures with her. She is going to have a lot of treats and toys. And hopefully she will still be ok when Mike gets there in May. She is going to be with us until it is apparent that the cancer is negatively impacting her. Then we are going to go as a family to the vet, and we are going to say goodbye to her for the last time.
Ten years is not enough time.
There is never enough time.
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