Hi everyone -

Thanks for all of your good thoughts on my last post.  We had a nice vacation...absolutely bittersweet for me, but the dogs were soooo happy.  I was thrilled to watch Clyde enjoy every second.  He played as much as he wanted, we did lots of snuggling, and I took about a million pictures.

We had a vet appt today - we are getting started on the metronomic chemo, so keep your paws crossed that he does well on it.  The vet is still thrilled with his progress...the actual tumor has shrunk a little bit more and his lymph node is much smaller.  I can barely feel it at all...the vet measured it at about 1.5 cm; it was in the 3-4 cm range when we started.  As usual, we are trying to be optimistic without having any expectations.  Mr. Clyde continues to feel well, and very much enjoyed his Flying Dutchman after his appt today!  I LOVED what Catherine and Spirit Scout suggested in my last thread...maybe with Holly having gotten so screwed, Clyde will blow the odds out of the water (she put it more eloquently!).  Sure, there's not a lot of logic behind it, but where is the logic in any of this?

As many folks mentioned, YES, our vet is so so so so wonderful.  I could literally go on for hours about how much I love him.  I have been so happy with him and with everyone there.  They have made this unbearable experience a bit more bearable.  I saw one of the wonderful techs today who I haven't seen since the day before we lost Holly...he came out to the car that day to help us bring her in and suggested that rather than dealing with a gurney or anything, she would be more comfortable if we just carried her in on her bed, which seems so simple, but I wouldn't have thought of it with my brain being so cloudy, and it really was so nice for her to just lie on her bed rather than on the cold floor.  Plus, there was some construction going on next door, and when he realized that the noise was loud, he insisted on moving us to a different room so that she wouldn't get too stressed out...anyway, just seeing him today made me choke up a little bit - it's funny what can trigger it sometimes.  We did get a blow today, though - we found out that our favorite front desk person passed away suddenly...he is literally one of the nicest people I have ever met, and was amazingly sympathetic when we lost Holly.  He also absolutely LOVED Clyde!  He and my husband got to be buddies talking sports over the hours that we spent in that lobby.  The thing that really makes this rough is that he was only 26 years old - and had a 2 year old daughter.  It is just so sad and shocking....please keep his family, especially his daughter, and the wonderful folks at our vet hospital, who are just heartbroken, in your thoughts.

Now, for a little smile, here is Clyde chilling out at the vet.  I think he would just live there if he could.  He loves it!