Another benefit of looking for the good

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my dog's nipple seemed kind of hard. Then I noticed the hair around it seemed to be raised up some. So I started keeping an eye on it and I found that there is a mass growing there and it's growing fairly quickly too. It's now about the size of a lima bean. Today I took him to the vet and had the mass aspirated. At first the vet found fatty fluid and was pleased, thinking it was just a cyst. But under the fatty fluid it was hard. She aspirated the hard part and, under the microscope, it showed "bizarre" cells. She said she doesn't feel very good about it and I have a gut feeling it's not good too. She's sending the samples off to be biopsied. It will be next week before I know anything.

All the way home from the vet's office, I cried and petted him until he finally got annoyed with me and jumped in the back seat. By the time I got home, I was sooooo depressed and drained from crying. I ate some lunch and then crawled into bed and went to sleep. When I woke up, I sat down at my computer and checked my email. I had a comment from Steven, one of my followers. You can read his comment in the comment's section on my post about looking for the good in what you already have. When I read his comment about how I was helping him, I realized that, with his comment today, he was helping me! I was very depressed about the news about my dog, and some other things too but I won't tell about them. But reading Steven's comments got me back on track to trying to find the good in every situation. Thank you very much Steven! Your timing is impeccable! :)

I guess that's how it works, huh? Maybe looking for the good is contagious. Maybe if we all tried to look for the good and tell other people about the good we find, then they will look for the good too. What if that expanded out over the whole globe? I think maybe we'd have peace on earth like we sing about at Christmas. Hmmm

Anyway, back to my dog. I never dreamed I could love a dog like I do Bossy. (His name is Boss but I call him Bossy.) He has stuck with me through some really serious hard times and he has made me get up when I just wanted to wallow in self pity. At times when I just wanted to give up, Bossy wouldn't let me. I love him like my child and I dread the day he leaves. But that's kind of part of the deal when you adopt a pet. Especially when they're already adults when you get them. Bossy is 10 yrs old and I've had him since he was three. Seems like a really short seven years since I got him. And yet I can hardly remember what life was like without him. Oh yeah, I got to eat my cheeseburgers by myself and didn't have to share them. LOL!

No, I'm not going to find anything good about my dog having a tumor and possibly being at the end of his life. What I will do is borrow from the past and think about all the good that has come from having Bossy in my life. I think that focusing on those things while I deal with the tumors and such will make the pain of possibly losing him less intense. I guess you could say that looking for the good is kind of like an emotional pain killer.

PS I just checked out Steven's blog and what a great artist he is! Check it out! http://stevenwdunn.blogspot.com/