The board was down for so long, all I could do was imagine what you guys were all doing. Guess I got carried away.

Wombat, you asshole, quit imagining such adventurous weeks for me!

New Dept. Head quit, means I'll have to keep doing my job and his for the foreseeable future.
I was so mad I set up two interviews with other companies.
Uncle Don died. We've been looking out for him since Aunt Connie and his son died with 90 days of each other several years back.
We took Spouse out to dinner for her b-day and it turned out pretty enjoyable.
Got advised a requisition was being opened for a new Dept. Head and my senior director, who is the hiring manager on it, told me to apply for it.

So I guess still keep the two interviews next week, but what a dang whipsaw.

Perfect timing. I was just wondering how Inev's dog was doing, like literally a couple of hours ago.

That's nice, good to see you encouraged by some breakthroughs.

Took the St. Bernard camping and he did pretty awesome. After we'd climb a rock or something he'd drink a bunch of water and crash out in the middle of camp and snooze, so pretty laid back.

Arlo has made a ton of progress! He was very good for the dog sitter— she said she shed a tear when she said bye to him (she was not a professional, she is a friend who walks dogs for extra cash). He is learning a lot of tricks. Still crazy on walks, but improving.

The big news is we inadvertently let him meet a big group of dogs at the park (we let him greet one other dog and a play group from across the field walked over to us) and he was pretty well behaved. He got a little hyper but everyone was having a fun time. We led him away after just a few minutes… we figure a little at a time is best.

Thanks Ash, that's helpful to hear.

Much Love, miles, I know what you're going through.

My two pennies: I've always chosen quality over quantity for my animals. Pretty much for the reasons wombles stated.

Thanks wombat, that's really helpful. I think I arrived there but I'm just craving like, validation or absolution or something.

We're going to talk to the oncologist again tomorrow. At this point it's just whether we want to get additional time with her and whether that's worth any risks.

It is absolutely reasonable to not do the surgery. Animals can't think about whether they have four months left or a year left so they don't suffer knowing their time is shorter. They just know if they're happy or in pain right now. Less time left but with less pain and stress is absolutely fair to her.

Is it reasonable to not want to put her through the surgery? Recovery might be really difficult, she has a heart murmur so the risk of putting her under anesthesia is at least a bit more difficult, and they said they won't be able to get all the cancer so it'll either spread or come back. Is it fair to her to just opt for chemo or palliative care? We're struggling with the decision.