Celebratory Beer for Lunch

Celebratory Beer for Lunch

I’m sitting at my desk, drinking a beer (Sam Adams, for my beer friends), and staring a long four-day weekend right in the face.

I don’t usually drink beer for lunch. In fact, I don’t usually drink alcohol during the week at all.

Today is different.

Today is special.

Today Tango got another “all clear.”

About six months ago, I took Tango to the vet for a routine exam because he was drinking a lot of water.

That led to blood work and a urinalysis. Which led to “things are a little off, let’s rule out lymphoma.” Gulp. But the chest x-rays looked great (yay!). All we had to do was get an a-ok on the abdominal ultrasound. That didn’t happen.

In fact, the day of the ultrasound was the day Tango had his spleen (and the nasty growth) removed.

It was an ugly couple of weeks with a roller coaster recovery. Those weeks involved lots of visits back to the veterinarian and even an overnight stay at the emergency veterinary hospital and more than a couple of crying jags for me. It took almost two more months (and what seemed like a million tests) to get the final results: not one, but two (two-two-treats-in-one) forms of cancer.

It looks like we took care of one of the cancers (sarcoma) when the spleen was removed.

The other type (lymphoma) might or might not still be hanging around. Even if it’s there, it might never cause him any trouble. Apparently, some dogs can have it, but never be bothered by it.

So now, Tango needs blood work, an abdominal ultrasound, and chest x-rays every three months to make sure the cancer isn’t back.

A couple of weeks prior to the appointment, I start worrying. Is that cough new? Is he more lethargic now? Does he seem like he’s uncomfortable?

I’m not a worrier normally.

I firmly believe that time spent worrying is time wasted. Worry just takes away from the good times I could be having with Tango. And I stick to that fairly well until it’s time for The Tests. Then I look a little too deeply into every move, every breath, every flinch.

Thankfully, today at least, our news is good.

We’re six months out from the initial surgery and we’re still in the clear.

So, of course, that meant a beer for lunch.