Wed., March 16, 2011 - Hardee's birthday

On Saturday, March 12th, our sweet boy turned 6.  It was one of the most memorable days of my life.  Sounds corny, I know, but it was.  Hardee means the whole world to us, and it was such a wonderful day.

Jim had to work out of town for HH's birthday, so we arranged for a friend to run Hardee in agility for the weekend.  We wanted Hardee to be able to do one of his favorite sports on his special day.  We didn't care if they qualified or not, just that HH got to run and have fun.  Susan and Hardee have never practiced together before, but they still managed to qualify in 2 runs!  It was fabulous!  It proves again how much Hardee loves agility, that he will run for the joy of running with anyone, though he does really love Susan.  She has the best treats!  We are so appreciative of Susan, and the fondness she has for our boy.

And just in case that wasn't enough greatness for one day, Susan also threw Hardee a surprise birthday party.  There were decorations adorning our set-up at agility, birthday plates, napkins, and tablecloth (which I kept as momentos), lunch, dessert, dog party favors, dog treats, presents and cards for Hardee, and best yet, friends and their PWDs.  It caught me off guard, and it truly was a surprise.  It was so very nice, and it sent me into the ugly cry the whole drive back to the hotel, which was about 70 miles away.

On Monday, Hardee had to go for chemo.  His original appointment was for last Thursday, but I didn't want him to get chemo before his birthday.  We tried a different chemo this time, Mitoxantrone.  It is a replacement for doxorubicin, the bad chemo.  Usually the side effects are minimal with most dogs, they say, so we aren't expecting any side effects as long as I keep HH on all his anti-side effect meds.  So far, so good.  We spent an extra night in SoCal just in case before we headed home.

Hardee's hair is starting to grow back....well, some of it.  Most of his brown is growing back in, as is the white on his belly.  The white on his neck and chest is still missing though, except for one small patch of white on his chest that he never lost.  His brown hair is darker brown now.  I don't know if that is a color change from chemo or the fact that the white hairs intermixed with the brown have fallen out with his loss of white hair.  Either way, he is still our handsome boy. 

He still sneezes, both eyes water and drain, and both sides of his nose drain now, though it mostly drains from his right side.  He's been having problems with his allergies lately.  It is that time of year, and he has no hair on parts of his body to protect him from the allergens, so he is really itchy right now.  I've started him back on the Claritin to help a little with his allergies.

No matter what Hardee has been through, he is still our happy, handsome boy, thus the HHH now or H3.  We would like to add a fourth H, for healthy, and we are still fighting for that.  Odds are not in our favor though, nor is the oncologists prognosis of not curable, but we fight on.  We don't know any other way.  Our boy deserves every chance we can give him, as long as his quality of life is still there.  Keep your fingers and paws crossed for us, your positive vibes coming our way, and/or your prayers.  We'll need them.  We would sure love to celebrate a 7th birthday with him.

Thank you, all, who attended Hardee's party and made our day so wonderful.  A special thank you to Susan for giving us such a memorable weekend.  We had a fabulous time with loads of fun.  You all mean the world to us!

As usual, it is all about joy and all about Hardee!