Sammy

Bill Bastas is now working on his fourth The Smile Never Fades book which focuses on pets. This photo was taken May 17, 2010 at Pease Park. It was close to 100 degrees but Sammy was a champ. Look back at it, Sammy and I have come a long way since Bill's first book. Check out my hair!

I now owe Bill a story about Sammy. Here's my first draft:

Dogs are such loving creatures. They live for the moment and cherish life to the fullest with many tail wags. Their happy go lucky persona is very contagious. They are also very smart and in tune with those that they love. These are just a few of the reasons why I love dogs so much.

My current baby is my chocolate lab, Sammy. He’s in his senior years now and he continues to bring me great joy. Ironically Sammy and I both have had our fair shares of surgeries and health concerns. My private joke with him is whether or not he is trying to catch up with me on the numbers of surgeries I have had.

Sammy was my chemo dog. He helped me get through chemotherapy, especially on the days that I did not feel well. He laid with me when I was tired and gave me constant attention when I was home. People always talk about a chemo smell and I honestly believe Sammy knew I was going through treatment and needed extra TLC from him. There were many moments that I cried with him, used him as a pillow and simply existed with him. I was able to be vulnerable with him.

Big dogs are known from their fatty lumps and Sammy was no exception. I was almost done with chemo when I found a suspicious lump on him. It was suspicious to me because it felt like my lump. My lump ended up being a 1.2cm invasive tumor. His aspiration showed inconclusive results that made the vets push forth on surgery. Sammy had a lumpectomy and his scar was a long scar on his right side. Earlier that year I had a mastectomy with a long scar on my right breast. The vets found suspicious precancerous cells in Sammy but felt the lumpectomy did the trick. Phew! Great news for the both of us! The summer of 2006 was the summer that Sammy and I both walked around with our right scar. Many people told me that Sammy took some of my cancer to make my journey easier. I don’t know what to believe but I know that he is an amazing dog.

He was also diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis where his airway was compromised just a few years ago. I had to make a choice of whether or not to do a laryngeal tieback surgery for him. Without the surgery he would be limited to little activities and be limited to mainly the house. He has slowed down in his older years but he still enjoys his walks. Of course there are always chances of complications like with any surgery. He was an older dog and he would always have to be monitored for aspirated pneumonia. Since it boiled down to quality of life I chose surgery for him. Fortunately he recovered well from it and surprisingly the seizures he had all his life were better maintained.

He has given me so much joy that I can only hope that I was able to return half of that back to him. My eyes are tearing up as I write this because of all the loving moments and memories I have had with him.