Am I supposed to begin this blog with some words of profound uniqueness that will produce interest to those who read it, so that they will return here daily? Sorry, I just can't wite that well. The real reason I decided to start this blog, was to document the journey my greyhound, Zoomer, is taking in his battle against osteosarcoma (bone cancer). I began recording updates on my pbase photography website, but soon realized that the format wasn't condusive to a lot of text. So to start off, I will invite you to read the beginning entries on that website, and return to this blog for everything afterward:
http://www.pbase.com/marke/zoomerFrom this date on, all updates will be posted here.
Today, December 16, 2008 continues to show promise for Zoomer's victory over any residual cancer in his body, although followup lung x-rays should provide a more concrete sign of that. Those x-rays will probably be taken in about 7 or 8 weeks, sometime after his third chemotherapy session. For now, Zoomer's zest for life has returned. When I got home from work today, I took him out in the front yard, where we played fetch the stick, including some tug-of-war. It surprises me how strong he can pull with only one rear leg. And the way he jumps and twists around makes me think he doesn't realise he is actually missing a leg! After our playtime, we went for nearly a 3/4 mile walk around the neighborhood in the beautiful, freshly fallen snow.
This past Saturday, we attended a greyhound Meet & Greet, sponsored by the Greyhound Pets of America -Wisconsin chapter. The picture you see above is a group shot taken at that meet by my wife. Zoomer and I are on the far left. Now, Zoomer hasn't been to one of these in over five years, so I had no idea how he would behave. But I figured that there would only be 1 or 2 other greyhounds there, maybe three at the most. Well, when my wife Linda, Zoomer, and I walked through the doors, we were greeted with 7 other greyhounds! To make a long story short, we were awestruck at the greeting we received, and later how much fun Zoomer had just hanging out with the other greyhounds! He has NEVER been around this many greyhounds before in his life, except for his littermates, and that was over 8 years ago. But he acted like he had been doing these events all these years and knew every dog as an old friend. Needless to say, my wife and I felt blessed by the warm and joyful greeting, and were especially proud of Zoomer that day. With our new marriage, our new home, and Zoomer's recovery from the cancer, this is going to be a Christmas we will never forget.
Well, this is by far, the best Christmas of my life, even though I got food poisoning on Christmas eve. Linda and I took our moms to the Christmas eve service at church, then went out to eat before meeting my brother back at our house to exchange gifts. The evening went well until very late that night, I woke up with what I'm sure was the result of food poisoning from some dish called Chicken Oscar. It really made Christmas day a difficult one, spending it in bed and sleeping most of the time. But my lovely wife sure made it as comfortable as she possibly could. This afternoon, I finally feel like eating again. I think I'll stay away from chicken for a while.
