So it’s been a while, but Marjah’s been very busy since moving here to Texas. There are lots of places around town that are dog-friendly, and she gets to go discover them almost weekly. She’s been taking Jeep rides all over the place, and has come to school with me a few times. All this is on top of her continuing chemotherapy treatments and almost daily visits to one of the many dog parks nearby. A few days ago, she got to ride over to the park where she met Hank, a 5 month old tripawd who was only two weeks post-amputation and running around like the energetic little puppy he is!
Last week she got to go to a day of training over at the WWP TRACK facility again, and my classmates were happy to see her as always. Kevin was especially glad to see her, getting down out of his wheelchair and trying for about twenty minutes to get a good selfie with Marjah. I think he was pleased with the results, even if she barely kept still in her excitement and tail-wagging joy!
This past Saturday, I took her with me for a full day of volunteering locally with homeless veterans. Being the new guy, it should have taken me a while to start some conversations with the people I was there to help and earn some of their trust. Since I had the little rock star on her leash there, it wound up being a little easier to make the connection with people I was there to help. She sat there for most of the day acting mopey in the A/C, but she also got plenty of loving and a few treats from folks she had just met. She even kissed a couple of them, which was a great icebreaker.
We also had our last visit to the oncologist for a few weeks. After her testing and chemo treatment on Thursday, the nurse gave me some GREAT news when I picked her up: after arriving here at New Year’s with Stage V Lymphoma and a mass in her chest, Marjah is now CANCER FREE after just ten weeks’ treatment (out of twenty-five)! I’m really thrilled to hear it, and I know there is still a good bit of treatment ahead, but we get to celebrate a bit with four weeks until the next IV round. It’s really looking more and more like Marjah gets to be my sidekick for years to come.
We’ll post more later, probably with some great stories to tell. This month has a couple of baseball games in store as well as a concert and maybe a Jeep trail ride or two, and she’ll probably be along for at least a couple of those events.
