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October 3, 2012

I’ve always taken a lot of photos of Lilly, but now that I accept that our time may be short, I feel more pressure to capture her essence and read the messages in her eyes that I might miss in the hubbub of her round-the-clock care. Here are a few recent favorite photos of our intrepid canine heroine.

I’ve always liked dogs with a certain edge to them. And, while I’m pleased with Lilly’s recovery overall, I cannot help but see a certain “roundness” (lack of edge) and blankness in her eyes and face.

best dog blog, copyright champion of my heart, close-up photo of border collie's face

I’m so glad when Lilly rests comfortably because I know her body is doing the hard work of healing itself, but it’s still hard to see her like this for hours and hours at a time.

best dog blog, copyright champion of my heart, border collie resting in the grass

I took this photo about halfway through her most recent series of cytarabine injections. She is such a happy girl. It cracks me up. I learned recently that the boney-looking skull caused by muscle wasting from steroids is called “pred head,” named after a common steroid prednisone. Since Lilly takes dexamethasone (which is 10 x stronger then prednisone), I suppose we would call her pterodactyl look “dex head.”

best dog blog, copyright champion of my heart, smiling border collie

No matter what, thanks to her playful spirit and never-ending, steroid-induced HUNGER, Lilly is happy to play with food-stuffed toys. It slays me how cute she is with her nose scrunched up.

best dog blog, copyright champion of my heart, border collie playing with kong

During our last round of cytarabine injections, we learned that TWO other brain patients died the day before this photo was taken. One had a brain tumor. The other intractable seizures. So, we were extra grateful for Lilly’s ongoing survival. To try and cheer up our neuro team, Lilly wore her neurology bandana. We joked, “We’ve got spirit. Yes, we do! We’ve got spirit. How ’bout you?!”

best dog blog, copyright champion of my heart, smiling border collie

Have a happy Wednesday! Hug ’em if you’ve got ’em!

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. I envy you. Our thirteen-year-old rescue border collie Chelsea will not permit us to take her picture. She knows the sound of Velcro on the camera case, the start-up sound, etc. It’s frustrating because, like you, we are doing our best–and failing–to get ready for the inevitable.

      1. I happen to think taking note of how people respond to dogs is a good way to learn about those people. It’s just one way, but a good way. What you have to say about Lilly, I mean the choices you make as a writer–not to mention your loving, unconditional approach to her serious health problems–speaks volumes about you. My wife and I are also sharing life with a dog we will probably lose sooner rather than later. It doesn’t work well enough, but we do our best to keep mindful of how diminished life would have been these past eight years, had we not enjoyed the privilege of living them with Chelsea.

  2. Photos are priceless. We have thousands of both the boys, and everyone (even the ones that don’t make the blog) are gems to us.

    Sam

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