Some idle thoughts in no particular order:
We decided after much thought and conversation with the oncologist not to put Catie through the sixth chemo treatment. Catie was tired. We were tired of her being tired and feeling ill for over a week each time. She’s endured enough. Wherever this journey takes us, and however long the road may be, we just couldn’t put her through it any more.
She was also running out of places to shave for the IVs.
Over the last couple of weeks the weather’s been seventy percent lousy and thirty percent good. Lousy meaning we had snow the weekend of May 29th; good meaning days where we had no rain and snow.
Not only does Catie still have a sparsely-feathered tail, she’s lost all but four whiskers. Yes. I counted them.
When I took Catie and Riley for their leash walk on one of the thirty-percent pleasant evenings, a teenager on a bike way too small for him stopped and asked if he could pet my dogs. He asked what happened to Catie’s leg and I said she had cancer. He considered her carefully and told me she looked like she was really strong and she could fight it.
We continue to celebrate each small victory. Since Catie’s amputation she has only tried to go down to the third level television room a few times and only when my son or my future son-in-law were here. Each time, however, we’d have to carry her back up to the main level because she was too petrified to attempt on her own. This past Wednesday evening, she paced and hovered at the top of the stairs and, as if she had simply made up her mind, she tentatively but determinedly worked her way down to the bottom to thunderous applause and happy dances (the dancing would be my husband, not me). Riley thought our behaviour perplexing and ridiculous – after all, he goes up and down all the time so he couldn’t understand the fanfare. He accepted a treat anyways.
Since then, Catie’s taken the stairs down and back up, on her own three legs, on numerous occasions. It goes without saying that each time she makes the trip, my heart hiccups in exactly the same way it did when my kids used to scramble and climb on playground equipment.
I’m really hoping the snow’s gone for good now. And can anyone explain to me why there’s still hockey on television in June?