Infectious Happiness

Yesterday, at the vet hospital, another dog guardian was sitting in the waiting room while K and I waited for her blood test results, a required step in our journey. K is a "people-loving dog" who had worked her magic on the other person, first making eye contact, then wagging, then making monkey noises, and finally luring the woman into petting her.

After a while, the vet came out and sat next to me, quietly explaining that K's white blood cell count was low, a common chemotherapy side-effect, and that K needed to go on antibiotics for a while. I wasn't terribly surprised or upset. It was just a blip in the bigger cancer universe.

As the vet and I chatted, I glanced across the room and noticed tears on the face of the other woman in the waiting room and wondered why she was silently weeping.

As I stood up to go the front desk, the woman looked at me and gestured toward K while saying, "She has cancer?". I confirmed. More tears dripped off the woman's cheeks. The woman said "She's so sweet... she doesn't deserve cancer". I agreed and tried to say something, anything, comforting to the woman. It was such an odd feeling. I've cried so many tears for K in the past few weeks... and I found myself unable to find words to comfort the other dog lover who was crying for my best friend.

I tried to tell her that K was still happy and having fun in life, despite the bone tumor and treatments. I think that the woman understood but was just too shocked by K's cancer to stop weeping right away.

Indeed, K is SO happy right now that it's infectious to me. Because K is not snow biking with me right now, we take relaxing hikes through the snow a couple of times a day. We stop and play games. In the photo below, we were playing a game where I balance as many treats on K as I can. She stays still until I release her. As soon as K moves, all the treats fall off, and she gets to eat them. Today, the wind kept blowing the treats off her nose and head so she had only 4 balanced on her.

And, K romps during our hikes, within reason. Here, she tried to convince me to romp with her by using a play bow.

These are precious days. I couldn't cry along with my fellow dog lover at the vet the other day. I'm trying to soak up each and every iota of happiness that K is sharing with me.