Regular readers know my job has been a bit of a crazy place the last few months. Well, the end is on the horizon!! I am so happy. I love my job and what I do, but I’ve been doing a bit too much of it lately. It ends with a nice long week in the mountains for me just relaxing in the cool and looking at the leaves’ color change. It’s coming, and I’m counting the days.
I also have some less happy news to share. Two weeks ago my foster dog Riley woke up with a swollen, hot shoulder. He went into the vet and they believed it to be an abscess. After he was shaved they thought there were multiple pockets of pus that needed to be drained so they had to put him under for surgery. The cause of the infection was actually an invasive tumor in his shoulder. Ugh. Cancer.
So, I guess I’m now a three dog house. A senior dog with cancer isn’t exactly adoptable. Riley came out of surgery just fine. Once the infection cleared up it was hard to keep him calm! He had drains and sutures but he didn’t let that stop him! The vet believes he will have anywhere from six months to two years to live. Yep, that was the time range I was given. Riley is acting like his goofy self and isn’t in any obvious pain. He’s still begging for food and chasing the squirrels. So for now, he’s hanging here with me and we’ll just see what happens as time goes on. I can feel right where the tumor is so I’ll monitor it to see how fast it grows.
Now if I could just get him to stop digging holes under the fence! 😀
Riley was such an incredible dog. He was so full of energy, playfulness, and love. He didn’t understand the meaning of stranger-and if you weren’t inclined to say hello he’d let out a deep bay to let you know you were supposed to be paying attention to him. He loved to snuggle on the couch and put his paw in my hand or rest his head on me when I got home from work at night.
