Tough Thanksgiving

Well, it is Thanksgiving night, and I should be in a nice turkey-induced coma right about now. Instead, I have snuck away from the ambient noise in the other room, away from the remnants of the third terrible football game today, and find myself in front of the computer in my dad's office.

In Thanksgivings past, I might be thinking about my family, or re-telling the annual tryptophan factoid my cousin repeats every year, or maybe talking about how I really am going to get my shopping done early this year (let it be known, by the way, that I am done shopping already). But this year has been a bit more somber.

When Stacy and I made the trip down to my parents' place to spend our first married Thanksgiving together, we decided we would bring our pup Chloe. She is getting a little long in the tooth, coming up here pretty quickly on her 14th birthday, and we want to spend every bit of time off we have with her.

We pulled into the drive on Saturday night, and things were pretty good. Chloe was at her best, hogging both the middle and both edges of the bed (how can that even be possible?). I must have slept a good 3 hours that night, fighting for covers and trying to keep an ass cheek on the bed. By Sunday night, though, I would have killed to have that battle.

She wasn't eating here food. Now this, in and of itself, is worrisome, but with Chloe, this is tantamount to hemmorhaging openly. Chloe is a voracious eater. She loves food like a fat kid loves cake. So when she refused to eat, we were worried. When she threw up her food, we were terrified. And by the time we had made our way into the emergency vet, we were downright mortified.

Since Sunday, she has spent a couple of nights in urgent care, a couple of days with doctor Mike at the local vet, and very little time with us. Apparently, her albumin levels are low, which basically means her body is starting to succumb to the cancer. I won't labor all the finer details here, but I will say that Stacy and I have found ourselves embracing and remembering, grieving and loving our precious Chloe.

As I type this, Chloe is resting comfortably in the bedroom with Stacy. After a trip to the beach today, she has been eating a bit better, perking her head up a bit more. Indeed, she is way better than earlier in the week. How will it turn out? Hell if I know; I don't even know what tomorrow will bring. But I know she has brought Stacy and I even closer together, and my whole family is now rallying around our sweet little pup of almost 14 years.

I guess if I can share one nugget of wisdom it is this: despite this being the toughest Thanksgiving I can remember, I am more appreciative than ever that we have had Chloe. Just being around what my wife calls "The Wonder Dog" makes me appreciate how much I care about my family and how much I love my wife. Even at her most worn out, she continues to prove that even if you can't teach an old dog new tricks, an old dog can teach us humans a new trick or two.