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<font style="font-size:12pt" face="Verdana" size="3">Well, it turns out that Flash has a calcified disc between his second and third vertebrae. I dunno about you, but whenever I look at xrays I can't see anything--even the usual bits and pieces look nebulous. But the calcification was glaringly obvious and out of place, even to me.<br><br>Dr. MacDonald explained the gravity of Flash's condition and said that there would come a day--no one can predict when--that Flash will simply be unable to get up. That will be the day that he will be euthanized and we pray, of course, that it will not be for a long, long time. Forever and a day, if we can make it so. Yes, Flash could have surgery but we have opted out of that and the vet has concurred. We are to give Flashy a Deramaxx every day, or every other day, half a pill one day, a full pill the next--you get the idea: We'll have to play around with the dosage until we reach the place where, hopefully, the pain can be non-existent. <br><br>You know, we all say to ourselves that life is a gift. But, and I can only speak for myself here, in the dailiness of it all we act as though life is simply there for the taking, rather ho-hummish and blase. But I see now and feel now that life really *is* a gift. And now, even though he is still a terrible dog (his latest drive-me-nuts campaign is when he licks up his own pee) I know I love him with a fierceness that ignites.<br><br>Thank you all so much for your well-wishes. As you all know, seeing your dog in pain makes you feel helpless, as though you've been cast adrift on an ice floe and it's breaking up around you. You've been a wonderful--beyond wonderful--group to turn to. You're the best, all you Basset cases.<br><br><br>Veronica Woodruff<br><br><br>(Stillwater Lake, Nova Scotia)<br><br> <br id="ecxFontBreak"></font><br><br><font style="" color="#7030a0">"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Viktor E. Frankl<br></font> </div></body>
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