making the most of whatever time is left...

So as most of you know, our older dog, Cora, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma on June 22nd.

in plain english she has bone cancer in her left shoulder.

she started limping on and off on her front left foot, and I took her in to the vet 2 days after I ran my first marathon. I think it will forever be synonymous that those events occurred at pretty much the same time. One, a huge high. The other? Crushing at best.

Cora is still acting like a normal dog, and if a stranger met her (many did this past weekend!) you'd never know she was sick.



The vet gave her a month to two months on June 22nd.

We're almost to the one month mark, and still? A great dog who isn't acting sick at all sleeps a lot like normal around our house. Yes, she needs the pain meds, and yes, she got very tired this past weekend when we took her on a pre-planned 3 night camping trip to Madeline Island, WI. But we made the most of her still being pretty well, and made some great memories with her. And she? LOVED the trip.




Here's the proof in the photos....so for as long as we have Cora around, and as much as it hurts so much I can't help but cry sometimes to think of her not living forever, we're going to make the most of the time she can adventure with us and know we love her as much as she loves us.






we leave a week from Friday for yet another camping trip. a) pending on how well Cora is doing and b) weather permitting since it's much closer to home. The time in the woods, the time with our girl we've had almost 7 years (she's 9 1/2 by the way, which is not quite old for a greyhound) just time to live each day as it comes. There are no guarantees in life. This we all know in some capacity. So here's to more adventures as they come....as long as they can.

hooray for...

neighbors being back home where they belong.

25 feet from us :) YAY NOLLS! Welcome Home! (they were on a week long road trip to Pittsburgh to visit Stacy's side of the family...)

and just in time for us to leave town for 4 days on Friday for Cora's 'Make-a-Wish' camping trip.

she's still doing pretty okay, but it's evident she needs pain meds. She's definitely not as a-okay without them.

but to a stranger? you'd never know she was sick. so that's good.

off to the Apostle Islands this weekend.

(closest vet number in hand just in case. it's good to be prepared).

never been camping with a dog since about 1982. So this should be very interesting.

but I forsee good times and my god, after today's blurring of some major friendship lines, I'm so glad to get the heck out of dodge. It's tough to be stomped on when you're already down. Some days just go that way.

here's to a better tomorrow. and an awesome weekend with my loved ones.

thanks a huge ton to Ally & her Tri-Guy for taking care of our house (and their own!) while we're away...
~jd

it's okay if most of my world feels this way.

i still found this pretty hilarious.

it's an official friends & family ING New York Marathon tshirt graphic.




happy 4th of july!

been pretty quiet around these parts.

next weekend is camping with cora. that should be interesting. good i hope. i'm making the 'plan b' itinerary in case of super inclement weather. (ie doggy lodging with her people) as we still want to have some kind of family-vacation-that-involves-nothing-to-do-with-singing-or-running.

off to our dear friends place soon to celebrate america's birthday...may all of the friends & family near and far be well!

ps, this is a blog lift from my friend ally. it hits dead on how my race went (except for the very end of her post where she clearly never hit her groove and will hopefully someday be okay with that. or not.)

click here

highest of highs to smashing of lows...

highs...

running a marathon with 4 of your best friends. and finishing with one of them...





lows...

hearing 30 hours later your amazing loving dog has oseteosarcoma in her shoulder.



is there a record for tears shed in a matter of 4 days??

enjoy the good life while you can.

for this week, outside of worrying on the inside often, i have much to tackle at work and have to put the professional face on. so here we go...