the big C

As if those hard, swollen lymph nodes weren't enough of a give away, test results indicate that Miss Birdy does indeed have lymphoma. She doesn't know what that means since, after all, Life is meant to be lived in the now. Now is lovely. Now is the best-ever.

She'll likely have many happy months ahead of her, so our job is to search out the best patch of sun for her with a human who is okay with making difficult end-care decisions. Some call this work 'fospice care,' which we like very much.

Here's what her fospice bio might look like: "Miss Birdy adores all people and life in general. She's ridiculously cheerful and over-the-moon grateful to have your company. She has more spunk than you'd think an older, sick dog should have. She is housetrained (a hint of a former life indoors?). She is polite around dogs but doesn't necessarily have the mind to play with them. Elliot is cautious around her - maybe he just knows that she's not well. She was starved beyond recognition this year and it's likely she ate anything she could get her mouth on - bugs? pigeons? icky things off the cement that no dog should ever eat. For that reason, she needs to be reminded not to graze the ground anymore when out on walks. Her prey drive for cats is rather impressive for an old sick gal.

She's going to live really, really well, and then she's going to pass on and make us all wish we had more time. But that's the joy of doing fospice care -- it slams you face first into the realization that life is short and incredibly precious. Birdy is a gift to all of us. We look forward to seeing her belong to somebody and for somebody to belong to her."