BEWARE OF DOG CANCER
I still remember the day I got her, "Atilla my Hun". She has always been the sweetest, most lovable girl. When she was about 4, it was discovered that she had pancreatitis. It was very scary at first, she had a couple of life threatening attacks. Once I understood her dietary needs and the warning signs, it became a way of life and the flare-ups were more manageable.
She is the biggest cuddle muffin! She gets so jealous if my attention is not strictly on her, to the point that she will sit next to me and press her soft baggy muzzle to my cheek. She is quiet and not very energetic, but does love a couple of walks a day.
In October of 2018, I noticed that she looked bloated. She loves to roll in the grass on her walks, which are usually right after she has eaten, so my first thought was that maybe she had flipped her stomach. In the back of my mind and with a little research on the internet, I knew the affects of a stomach flip would be more sudden. I ended up at The Ohio State University Veterinary Hospital. They looked her over and ran a handful of tests. They informed me that she had Lymphoma. This took me by such surprise! I was watching their mouths form the words, but all I was hearing was Charlie Brown's teacher. This couldn't be happening to such a perfect little girl, she was only six years old.
I chose to start the chemotherapy program. I would have liked to have explored a holistic approach, but since her disease was pretty advanced, I felt it was better to get her help right away. Her life expectancy with the disease and no chemo, would have been a couple of months. With the treatment, seven or eight months. It has been four months now and she has tolerated the chemo very well. She will start a new type of chemo and continue to receive treatments every three weeks. It is hard to believe she even has cancer since she seems so normal, but every three weeks when I take her for treatment, it is my reality check.
CATCHING UP WITH KAT
I met Kat about 10 years ago. She was sweet enough to model for me when I was first experimenting with photography. Lucky for me she is absolutely stunning and it was hard to take a bad picture. She may have given me a false sense of how smoothly a photo shoot could go. She is a natural.
One day I will have to put a collage together of her, but recently she reached out to me to do her maternity photos. Kat had access to the most amazing house in Athens, Oh. The Zenner House built in 1929 and has been tastefully updated and decorated. I lugged a couple of studio lights with me just in case, but never plugged one in. The natural light and shadows were fantastic on their own. I can honestly say that not much processing was needed in the developing of these photographs. Kat makes being eight and a half months pregnant, look like.....