question: what do me and my dog have in common?

answer:

-were both sweet
-were both neurotic
-were both sick...
...which makes us...
-both expensive

(to all of you non-animal lovers....you can stop reading right now. because you just wont "get it". you just wont.)

i think pretty much everyone knows how i feel about my dog. i love him. i adore him. id give him a kidney if he needed it. he is such an integral part of me. sounds weird, because hes a dog; but its true. before i had dan and hayden...it was just me and willoughby, out in LA. hes been with me thru many phases, and has helped me thru so many things. hes 13. the same age as my niece, who just had her bat mitzvah. when you compare it to a human life...its easier to see just how long weve been together.

one of the things he has seen me thru, is my cancer ordeal. literally being by my side the whole time. so...how can i let him down when hes sick and needs help? it seems like yesterday that i got him. he was 4 months old. but hes 13 now. and i worry about him. every day. ev-err-ee day. i really cant imagine not having him by my side. i know not all people treat their animals like we do ours. most people dont treat their friends and family as well as we treat our pets. and i also realize that most people cant afford to spend the kind of money that we spend on our pets' medical bills. im not saying were financially better off than you, or "hey! were rich, rich, rich!" all im saying; is that if it came down to it...wed choose to spend money on our animals, than...lets say......restaurants or buying clothes or fancy cars or traveling. if i couldnt afford the vet bills...id still do it, and just put the tab on a credit card. im not saying its smart...but its what id do. anyway.....

willoughby has been sick for some time, but has been managed with a special diet and expensive medications. he was hospitalized this past summer with pancreatitus and a gall bladder stone. so, a few days ago, when he wasnt eating, shaking uncontrollably and lethargic...we immediately took him back to the hospital. and hes been there ever since.

now...let me tell you about this hospital. ive seen and been in, my fair share of hospitals. and id be thrilled if any of them compared to the one my dog is in. i feel very confident putting my dog in their hands. but it isnt cheap. with 24 hour care and a plethora of tests he is going thru....it better be top notch! so...hes had a bunch of tests. a bunch. his white blood cell count is really low. but all of the other tests? theyre all normal. which is good. but its also stumping the medical team; because hes really sick. what is causing him to be so sick? they really cant figure it out. hes on IV fluids and antibiotics. hes way too skinny. he wouldnt eat, but after they gave him an appetite stimulant, he started to eat. hes getting nupogen shots, which is a human medicine that raises white blood cell counts. ironically, its the same shot i used to get after my chemo treatments. but if that doesnt work? the only thing left to do is a bone marrow biopsy; because it could be canine leukemia. but they dont even think its that, since his blood work was totally normal 4 days earlier. it is a possibility that it is a weird virus he picked up. tho i cant imagine where!!! this just may be a case for that tv show 'mystery diagnosis", or "house"

so why am i boring you with this? well...i know its not my normal wacky, yet entertaining psycho babble. but i just felt that willoughby deserved a special shout out. we miss him so much and want him home. my bed isnt the same without him cuddling in a ball at the end of it. i even miss him peeing on the carpet.

the picture above was our visit from last night. as sad as he looks here, he looks so much better than he did when we brought him in. we just came home from seeing him tonite...and he looks even better now! he almost seems like himself. we went for a walk, he ate and drank..and even looked happy to see hayden! hopefully hell be home soon.

p.s. i know that my title isnt written in proper english; but "me and my dog" sounds better than "my dog and i". :)