Beautiful Moments

The news that Princess's cancer had progressed upset us. Our friend Gene even had a specialist friend look at the x-rays to confirm.  Good news is, you cannot tell by the way she's acting. She's not letting facts spoil her fun and her spirits are high. Truth is, Princess doesn't know or care about her long term prospects.

Watching her reminds me that sometimes, it's best to be in the moment - in full appreciation mode. She thinks; I'm feeling pretty good right now, run and play. She doesn't think or care about anything past the next five minutes. She's always in the moment.  I walk by, she follows. You'd think that she'd figure out that I'm coming back the other way in a minute or two. Humans have to think long term and many times, ignore the moment. It's crucial to our survival.  Can you imagine the credit card bills and hang-over's if we thought like dogs?

We're trying hard not to project our grief and disappointment onto Princess. That would overshadow the many beautiful moments that we've had and are still possible with her. We're sad that this relationship will not last forever when it never could have. Princess lives for visits from friends, hugs, short walks, playing, wooshing, eating, and bed jumping (sounds like a dating profile). They are all reasons for her to wag her short tail and enjoy the moment. To Best Dog, it never mattered how long, that's a human point of view. 

It's been 44 days since her diagnosis, She continues to do well and weighs 83 lbs. She eats and sleeps well, goes outside, hangs out in the sun and plays with her ball. Her leg is very lame. Yesterday, she shredded a foam soccer ball, took a short walk, got lots of hugs, had a cheese party, laid in the sun, played with her kids and slept all night in the middle of the bed. Not a bad day. We're planning on a follow-up visit with Dr Chris after the holidays.