I've been away from YT for more than a year. For a while, there got to be some regular high drama in the forums and I just slowly disappeared.
Well, now I'm back, but it's Ozzie who is slowly disappearing.
He turned 14 last month
and then last Thursday ... he was diagnosed with lymphoma. I don't know how long he has (could be as little as a few weeks, might be months if we're lucky). I think it has taken this whole past week for the inevitable to finally sink in.
I was sitting in my office and I have pictures of him (and of Toby the Cat) all over the place. Suddenly, I found myself in tears. And I've been like that off and on most of the day. How in the hell am I going to manage this?!
For right now, he's doing pretty well. He's on prednisone (low dose 2x day) and it already has the gland in his neck much closer to normal size. I know that's only temporary though. I was warned that the meds will work for a time -- even quite well -- and then they'll stop.
On the plus side, unlike with our first Yorkie, Scruffy, I KNOW we're on borrowed time. So, having him underfoot isn't the pain it normally is. I'm grateful he's there to BE underfoot. And when he gets the loudest squeaky toy imaginable out of his toy bin and goes nuts with it while I'm watching TV, I don't say a word. I'm grateful that he still CAN play and I join him on the floor. If he throws his food all over the place, I'm just happy that he can still eat.
He's had a good long run and I'm SOOOOO grateful. I've seen dozens of others right here on YT who have lost their babies so much sooner. I'm just hoping I get a long goodbye.