Life Keeps Playing

My buddy Alana just reminded me that I haven't done a blog post in a long time.  I know, I know.  But Casa de Tribe Atherton has taken some hits, and when I did have time to write, I just didn't have the heart.  Isabel died.  Her brother Paco's health has been declining rapidly.  And then our beloved Max died.  Our big, goofy, happy boxer boy left us, just like that.  The vet said he had ruptured tumors on his spleen, tumors that our mobile vet couldn't even feel a couple months earlier.  We barely even had time to give him medication to make his transition easier before he died.  It was terrible and we miss our boy so much that this is all I'm going to say about it.

We love you, sweet boy.

Since that terrible day, we've watched Paco decline more and more--first the vet said he was blind, then the eye vet said his problems were cognitive, not visual.  The only way to know if he has a brain tumor, which is the most likely diagnosis at this point, is to do an MRI, and then what?  We put our 16 year old cat on chemo/radiation?  No thanks.  So we call Paco "Tiburon" now (spanish for shark) while he paces endlessly around the house, and we give him hugs and kisses, and we wonder if we'll know definitively when the right time is to help him die, or if he'll leave on his own.  

This is life with multiple elderly pets.  I saw it coming when Isabel's tumors showed up, that we could lose 3 of our family members in the span of a few months.  But Jesus, none of us is guaranteed any time on this earth, and I wouldn't give one second back of life with my loved ones to avoid the pain of losing them.  I mean that.  It's the price to pay for joy, the losing of it.  And some time goes by, and the wounds heal a little, and life keeps playing its song, and we keep dancing to its beat.

More joyful posts to follow.

Love,

Julie