Sometimes you just need a photo...

or several to best express what you're trying to articulate.

Brother and sister reunited. Lab lovers and dog owners alike will understand by the expressions in their soulful brown eyes and happily panting faces right down to their nearly identical matching black birthmarks on their tongues.

Meet Koufax and Doc, a brother-sister reunion at its best.

Canine Connections

I love the first day of a new month because it's a chance to start over and set new goals for the next 30 or 31 days. It's also a reminder to slow down, reassess and ponder this existence called life. Like Forrest Gump once professed, some days you just don't know what you're going to get.

Today was one of those such days.

The encouragement of a friend led me to enter a canine contest describing my dog's inner self in 100 words or less with an accompanying photo for a chance to win a photo session. Hey what did I have to lose? After all, I've penned many a thought about my 10 1/2 year old yellow lab, Koufax. I've been taking more photos of him than unusal ever since his diabetes diagnosis six weeks ago to capture, well the obvious.

So entered away I did.

Jaime, the contest sponsor followed up with an email noting how she was a lab mom as well and the uncanny resemblance of her dog to Koufax. Of course, hers was also 10 1/2 and wow, wouldn't that be weird of her Doc and my Koufax were from the same breeder.

Nah. What would be the chances?

Well that led to a flurry of emails inquiring about the exact location of breeder, Doc and Koufax's birthdates, shared health ailments...

I sensed a huge discovery just moments away from being revealed. I was giddy with excitement over the prospect that Koufax had a long lost sister he could reunite with.

We both unearthed the pedigree paper trail we'd held on to all these years.

The flurry of back and forth emails continued.

Would you believe, they both in fact had the same breeder.

Mismatched mother's names though.

Jaime emailed back, "So close."

Wait. Hold on.

Sire.

Rascal.

A playing-the-field-busy rascal indeed.

BINGO!

We have a half-sibling match.

And a ten and a half year reunion in the making already planned.

Doggone It

Doggone it.

I'm reeling from another devastating diagnosis. Ten years ago it was my own--a meningioma brain tumor. Now it's my dog's. My firstborn. Koufax my crutch. The yellow lab who cheered me on and encouraged me during my brain surgery recoveries. He nudged me to get off the couch. Always reassuring me that I wouldn't be alone on this journey.

Three days ago I sat in the vet's waiting room doing that agonizing wait thing associated with all waiting rooms. Waiting for what? My world to collapse again.

The gut just knows when something's not right. Been there, done that too many times. With myself, my kids, now Koufax.

The long face.

Weight loss.

Insatiable thirst. In winter?

Such a sudden onset too.

I lost track of how many times I swallowed my heart. Eyes welling up over and over again preparing myself for the worst case scenario.


One word.

Diabetes.

Followed by another language I'm quickly crash coursing-- blood glucose curves, insulin, ketones....

What was that?

Needles?

Twice a day?

It's manageable.

So many questions. The answers are carefully explained, but I can't retain what I know I need to know. To remember.

How does a healthy eating and active dog get diabetes?

More common than you'd think.

For Koufax, simply a case of bad luck. That's the thing with Koufax and me, it's always been that way.

Meningioma.
Epilepsy.
Lipomas.
Thyroid.
Diabetes.

We'll stop now, thank you very much.

Now it's my turn to be Koufax's crutch.