Bad news and The Plan
April’s arthrosis got worse during the past months, she suffered especially from painful swelling in her right front leg. Several days ago we took her to the vet again and insisted on an x-ray. Unfortunately the results were not good. The pain and swelling are caused by an aggressive bone tumor (osteosarcoma) and it seems like the cancer is spreading into other parts of her body already. Without going into much details, the facts are devastating. She probably only has weeks to live. Except for some pain management, there is nothing we can do for her. No words to describe how we feel. There is a lot of quiet moments, tears and hugging. The good thing (as long as there is a good thing about this situation) is that the pain killers seem to work quite well and April is all happy and vital.
Yesterday evening I took V for a run along the river. I thought it would do us good to go outside together for a change. It was a nice quiet evening and as we were running, without much thinking V said that she would like to run a race with me and The Plan was born: we registered for the 1/2M in our home town.
It is a crazy idea – except for V’s tennis competition and my biathlon races 20 years ago, we have no experience with races. We never even ran 21 km in one go! But somehow, yesterday evening out there, thinking about us, the dog and all important things in life, we formed the AprilRuns Team that will participate in the Leiden Half Marathon on May 20.
Does it make any sense?
April Runs 
oh, it makes perfect sense. what awful news. I’m so sorry.
Chris
“It came to me that every time I lose a dog, they take a piece of my heart with them.
And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart.
If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are.”
~ Cheryl Zuccaro
Thanks Chris. April is our first dog and although we knew what the life expectancy was, it still hits hard. Happy running – and racing!
I am sorry to hear about April. Every dog owner out there feels your pain.
Its not a crazy idea to go for a race. There is more than enough time to train. Good luck.
Thanks! As you can imagine, we are predetermined to finish off the race one way or another.
I am so sorry to hear about April, i hope you enjoy the last few weeks (or however long) you have left with her. Both Papi & I send our thoughts & love.
The AprilRuns team sounds like a fantastic idea…and a very, very good plan 🙂 xx
Thank you so much for your support. The more I think about it, the more I realise how good idea it was to name this blog after her. As I wrote before, she was never much of a runner but ever since she came to my life she has always been by my side. Somehow I took it for granted…
Well always pity to hear bad news about friendly dogs around. Especially April. well not much to say, only that April team is an excellent idea to overcome difficult time and enjoy it as as you can. Always crossing my fingers! Cheers, 12 and his Derivative!
Thanks. I placed your Deri on our team already :-).
So sorry to hear your news, I hope you have some fun and happy times with her whilst she is still here.
The plan sounds like a great idea – I’m sure you’ll both do really well. Good Luck.
Thank you. We sure try to make her days fun :-).