excerpt
His voice was clear and stern. She knew that his argument was
probably right, but the convenience of the ready-made food was hard
to replace.
They decided to follow the first vet’s advice: put their pet on a
daily medication and pray for the best. They started Elvis on his daily
regimen, just like himself being on a daily dose of pills since his heart
attack almost twenty years earlier, when one of his coronaries was
occluded. However, he was lucky it was only one coronary, and he’s
still around to tell the story. The beautiful animal got used to his medication
to the point that every time after lunch he would say “Elvis,
time for your medication” The little dog stood ready to be picked up
by mom, to be taken close to the kitchen counter close to dad who was
holding the tube with the daily dose of medication in his fingers and
when he touched the side of his pet’s mouth and said, “your mouth”
Elvis half opened his mouth to take the little squirt of medication
which was followed by his treat.
Days went by, months, a year, and almost a second year. They
realized that their decision not to put their pet on chemo was the
best one. And their Elvis gave them many days of laughter, against all
odds and the doctors’ prognostications. Until two weeks before the
second anniversary of the prognosis, while petting him, he noticed
the dog was tender on his right hind leg over the area of his surgery
years ago.
He mentioned it to his wife. Concern spread in her eyes. They
promised to keep an eye on him. Two days went by. The situation
worsened. They called the vet, who suggested that perhaps the cancer
metastasized from his bladder to his bones, as it was statistically the
case in most of these dogs. They searched online, and they froze when
they realized cancer metastasizes to the animal’s pelvis 90 % of the
time. His pelvis was his weak point. True enough, as the days passed,
Elvis worsened. He couldn’t go up and down the stairs anymore. She
carried him up and down and outside to pee, and to his plate to eat,
until the last day when he didn’t touch his food and stayed on his blanket
all day. They exchanged glances numerous times. It was time.
Manolis Aligizakis 