Year Fifteen Begins

Today is Maia's 14th birthday.

I give all three dogs celebratory marrow bones. Maia gets two.

Maia finishes her second birthday marrow bone.

Meadow slowly savors her bone.

Finn finishes first. He does everything with lightning speed.

In January, when Maia became sick with an infection and I learned she also had lymphoma, I wasn't at all sure we'd see this day together. 



It was a rough go for a couple of months - on her, and on me. Chemo was hard, but even worse was her loss of all strength while on prednisone. Today, she remains in remission (so glad I stopped after three chemo treatments rather that do all five as the oncologist recommended); hasn't needed any antibiotics for over a month; maintains her appetite and weight; and still enjoys a daily "patrol of the neighborhood" to make sure our world remains as it should, a daily anti-inflammatory helping with aging joints.

Happy birthday, Maia, my special girl. You rock my world.