Chloe!

Hope everyone is having a good week. Can you believe November is right around the corner?! Yikes!

This is Chloe today. She still has her stitches in. They come out Tuesday.
I really hope this is the last time we do this for a very long time. I did find a small bump last week, it's still there, but it seems like it might be going away. I really hope that it is only a bug bite...

I don't know why she's getting these tumors. I know it's not my fault but I wish there was something that I could do to prevent it. I'm currently looking into a grain free diet for her. I've been reading that it has some very positive results...

Well, in other news, it's a beautiful, chilly day here in Portland. The sun is out, the leaves are changing color, and there is a chilly breeze in the air. I've been making a lot of progress on my little paintings, but I'm not ready to share them quite yet!

In Between Things

 Sunday my friends, Nate, and I had a chance to head to Sauvie's Island. We picked out pumpkins, drank some hot cider and ate caramel apples. It was fun. Very fun. Sauvie's Island is about a 20 minute drive from Portland. It's a small island that has nothing but farms on it. In the summer there is lots of berry picking and in the fall it's all pumpkins, hay rides, and corn mazes :)

 In other news, Chloe had surgery to remove her tumor on Tuesday. I came down with a cold the same day, so it's been a sleepy, sick, weekend for us.

She's doing well. I most likely will hear about what stage the tumor is later today. Fingers are crossed that it's only a stage one, in which all of the cancer cells have been removed.

Between taking care of her and myself I haven't gotten much of anything done art wise these past few days. I did manage to get some painting done and I came really close to getting some sketches done!

Next week will have to be much more productive. The images for the show at Tilde are due!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Stage 2

Chloe's vet called me Thursday to give me the results of Chloe's biopsy.

She said that the margins around Chloe's tumor weren't as clean as they had hoped. There was about .3 centimeter between the tumor and her muscle tissue. So, although she did get all the cancer out, there is a slight chance that it could come back. She said that overall it is a very positive outcome and that she thinks that Chloe is going to be just fine!

It wasn't exactly the news that I had hoped for, and I'll admit when she said the words aggressive, stage two, and tumor all in the same sentence, my hand started to shake and I almost dropped my phone.

I've thought a lot about it over the last few days, and I've gotten some very kind words from my friends. My friend Leigh says, "One day at a time. " and my co-worker put it best when she said,"Of course it's scary. It's something you have no control over."

So anywho, I'm taking it one day at a time. Hoping it doesn't come back. Ever.

If there is one positive outcome to this whole ordeal (other than the cancer is pretty much all gone) it's that I have taken a whole new appreciation for my little pup. I've also come to the realization that I'm not alone in this. That there are some really wonderful people in my life that I can count on when things aren't so great.