My Mom's Saddest Day
July, 2003

A few days ago was my mom's saddest day.
It was the day she found out that I have
cancer. It is called lymphoma, which our vet said
could make me an angel soon. That day, mom
 hugged me a lot, and we  played ball for a long 
time. She told me that she was sorry for all the 
times I wanted to play ball but she thought 
she was too busy. She took me and Lily
on a very long walk through the woods.
That night it seemed like everyone's eyes
were filled with water.

The day before, mom was scratching me under
my chin and she felt some lumps. She knew they
were new because she scratches me there all 
the time and had never felt them before. She 
knew right then that our lives would probably 
never be the same again.

 Yesterday we took a trip to an animal
hospital where everyone was very nice except they
put a needle in my arm and I had to stay there for four
hours while mom and dad went back to our house.  Later, 
mom told me that Lily spent those hours at our back 
door waiting for me to come home. Now I have to 
go to the hospital every week for a few months and get 
that needle again. It's OK though, because mom said it will 
give us more time to play ball together. She said that she 
wants to play ball with me in the snow this winter 
and next summer too.

I'm not sure why everyone is so sad because
I'm feeling good.

 When I got home from the hospital, we went 
out to look at our flowers, which Lily and 
I helped to plant.

Then Lily and I relaxed for a while.

We've been trying to be extra nice to Lily 
because I've been getting so much 
attention lately.

Our good friend Robin Pressnall  is that nice 
lady in charge of Small Paws Rescue. She
and many other good people work very
hard to find homes for bichons whose 
owners can't take care of them anymore, which 
is how we got Lily.  Robin's dog Nicholas had
lymphoma too, but now he is an angel. Robin
has a website that is all about cancer in dogs, 
called Robin's Canine Cancer Files.  She is 
helping my mom and dad learn about what it is
like if your dog has cancer. Thank you, Robin.

There may be some more sad days to come, but 
right now I am going to keep dropping the ball 
at mom's feet and doing a bichon blitz with Lily.
And when we are all tired out, Lily and I just want
to take a good nap.

Mr. Widget

Graphics courtesy of SMALL PAWS RESCUE