Riley's last summer

Once the diagnosis was confirmed, and we realized that this was Riley's last summer, we decided to make it a good one. He got the best food, lots of attention, a spot on Mum and Dad's bed, two walks a day most days, cuddle time on the couch most evenings, whatever he wanted. Our motto was "teach a young dog; spoil an old dog". Clevelanders are known for complaining about the weather, but every day seemed beautiful to me, and I have the pictures to prove it:

June 25th: hospital visitors

June 27th: home again

July 4th: quietly celebrating

July 8th: the doctor said this might be more comfortable than the cone(?)

July 12th: allowed to climb stairs again (one of my fave spots)

July 30th: recuperating from second surgery (wearing cone and donut now)

August 2nd: hangin' with my girl

August 22nd: resting in the shade

September 8th: walking with my boy

September 13th: breakfast in bed

September 17th: sleeping with Mum and Dad

September 18th: if a tree falls...hmmm

September 18th: on the green

September 19th: dinner please

September 20th: back on the green

September 22nd: basking in my sunbeam on the porch

September 28th: we shall now enter the forbidden way

off-leash at Muggleton

playtime

the full armor of canine cancer can't keep me from power napping

October 1st: two old gents out for a stroll

October 3rd: hiding in the woods

October 9th: stopping to smell the flowers

October 21st: circular pats

November 8th, 2011: looking back over a good life

November 11th, 2011: snow falling on green grass

Today we had our first snowfall of the year. Watching that snow pile up on the grass, where Ri and I basked in summerish sunshine just three days ago, makes me think that God made summer last until November this year, just for us.

no little dog

"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father." ~ Matthew 10, verse 29

Riley's last day

I guess he just wanted his last day to be on his own terms: no tube, no cone, no life-preserver.

Ahh...that's better!

Beautiful day; it has to be over 70. How about a romp around Muggleton with Jesse James?

Then maybe we could head up to the green so I can sit in the warm leaves

and rest on the cool path

and on the soft grass

Yeah, this is nice. Think I'll take a little nap while I'm here.

Later on I can take another nap in my sunbeam

and maybe another on the back lawn with Mum

my eyes are getting so sleepy

and the sun feels so nice and warm...don't know why I'm so tired

what's that?

squirrels?

Yay! Dad came home early!

My boy's home too; Walk?

You bet!

Happy Trails Ri,
Love,
~your family

he's gone...

this time
we'll stay
while you go
and when we'll see you
we don't know
but we hope we showed
that we love, love,
love you so

This is how we'll remember you.
Love,
~your family

9/21/2011

September 21st: in the woods after the rain

Riley seems to have leveled off. For awhile he showed some improvement as he began to recover from all of his procedures, surgeries, anaesthesia and hospital stays. He regained his appetite and started to enjoy life again. I still keep looking for him to continue to improve but it's probably a false hope. I get discouraged when I take him to the vet for weight checks only discover that he has dropped a few more ounces. Before his illness he was a trim, well-muscled 25+ pounds. He was always such a vigorous, athletic little dog. In his prime I never saw a dog run faster. Now he is just under 21 pounds and I can feel his little skeleton poking out under his fur. I'm shocked at how frail he looks when I see him in pictures. He has had some trouble with UTI's in the last few weeks but is on antibiotics right now and seems better. He actually seems pretty comfortable most days and is enjoying getting spoiled. He eats well, sleeps well, gets to cuddle lots (has recently gone from sleeping with his college-bound girl to sleeping with Mum and Dad), and enjoys 2 good walks a day. Sometimes he wants to run or play rough but not as often as he used to. He doesn't love getting emptied, but he seems to be figuring out that it helps him since he can only pass a few drops on his own. He threw up this afternoon during a thunderstorm (3 hours after any food or meds). I'm not sure what that was about since storms have never bothered him before and I was sitting right beside him. Maybe we need to switch his NSAID back to Rimadyl from Peroxicam. Overall he seems pretty chipper most days which is better than he would be doing if her were on Chemo. He takes some herbs and supplements, as well. It's about 3 months since his diagnosis and every day with him is a gift. At that time they gave him 6 to 12 months with aggressive treatment (chemo). I'm still glad we didn't go that route.
~Riley's mum