It has been a somewhat crazy week for me here in Dar. I started out with all sorts of good intentions about getting stuck into 215800 and making some time for me and things I enjoy doing. And it did start well. The weekend was social, I exercised, I tried some yoga and I did some writing in my journal that definitely counted towards my 800 words a day. James was out of town so I had ample time to myself to just “be”.

Monday evening I came home from work to the news that one of our dogs still wasn’t eating properly. This had been going on since Friday and while he’s usually a voracious eater I thought he was just being picky. However, we agreed that if he hadn’t eaten properly on Monday I’d make a vet appointment. I duly did so and spent the evening tucked away in a corner of the house tapping away at my laptop by candle-light with a little Green and Black’s Maya-Gold encouragement.

Tuesday, I took poor Tiger to the vet. The vet looked very unhappy and diagnosed swollen lymph nodes. She took blood and said to call her in the morning. I took the dog home where he seemed remarkably bouncy so I tried to wipe the worry from my mind. One text later to my brother, who just happens to be a vet, and I was worried again. He said lymphoma or one of the other lymph cancers was most likely in an old dog like Tiger. Needless to say I was not happy to hear that. After a day or two of uncertainty and tests and vet visits each afternoon we are almost 100% positive it is cancer. There aren’t the facilities in this country to complete the final test but with or without a final diagnosis about what stage he’s at the treatment is the same. There is no chemo available for dogs here and at any rate both my brother and the vet said it just makes them very sick and doesn’t extend their life for long.

The vet did say he could live for up to six months more which is great news because the idea that he might only have 2 months left on this earth made me feel sick to my stomach. Between that, rushing home to get to vet’s appointments, the trauma of force feeding Tiger his first steroids this morning and planning my parents’ trip to Tanzania for them (did I mention they arrive in less than two weeks. I am excited!) I have been less than productive in work. My mind, it does not focus well when slammed by multiple problems in real life.

Thankfully James get’s back into town today so I can start to share some of the worry! The ironic thing is I never really cared for dogs before meeting these two.