Hudson’s Farewell Month

First off, my apologies for the radio silence the last couple of weeks.

My dog, Hudson, an Old-English Mastiff of 115 pounds, and not even six years old, was diagnosed with bone cancer.

We love our dogs. They’re family. This sad news hit me hard, inhibiting my ill-informed, occasionally coherent scribblings here.

You can read all about bone cancer on the VetMD site. It’s a real bitch of a disease, akin to brutal punishment or torture. For Hudson, it began as a simple sprained wrist with swelling. At least that’s what we thought. But X-rays revealed lesions on the bone indicative of bone cancer, and a blood test confirmed it.

He’s doing well, but time is running out for him. We have to watch him closely for signs of pain or increased limping. Our plan is to move fast to prevent him from experiencing the pain of a sudden broken bone.

According to our vet, we have about a month at most. Maybe less. I’ve already dug his grave in preparation. Now we’re treating him with lots of love and taking him on his Farewell Tour of favorite dog-friendly businesses and cheeseburger joints.

Saying goodbye will be hard, but necessary. The last thing we want to do is selfishly hold on to him for our sake.

In other news, here’s a digital drawing I did of Hudson. I was experimenting with my painting software, Rebelle, and its graphite and charcoal tools.