Hound Dog.

Someone noticed that Sutton had not been mentioned here recently and asked about him...

Sutton and I have always been a team. Rarely seen apart. The compare and contrast jokes started in a Christmas letter last century...

"We have a new pet – a black and tan coonhound named Sutton. Only the length of his ears surpasses the length of his nose. Judy worries about the resemblance between dogs and their owners as she highlights Sutton’s long slender legs, big chest and beautiful brown eyes. No need to dwell on his flabby chin and dumber than dirt expression."

Sutton and I have walked in parallel lives for all of his years. We look out for each other and have amicable competitions... we each had skin biopsies on the same day... both pathology reports returned in unison... he being the over achiever won with melanoma... our surgeries were a day apart. We share a pill box... since he never forgets his pills which I smear with peanut butter... my multi-vitamin tags along. We each pull stubbornly at our end of the leash... but always manage to make it back home together.

Unfortunately, Sutton took the competition too far when he got very sick just before the new year. It was no longer a laughing matter. He was bleeding into his stomach and even emergency surgery at NC State vet hospital did not find the cause. He almost died twice in one day and essentially had all of his blood replaced by transfusions. He spent a week in the ICU, lost his appetite and sense of smell, rendering him something less than a dog. The diagnosis was Gastrinoma, a rare form of pancreatic cancer. He was given an arsenal of medications and slowly improved, began eating and was discharged. After a week at home Sutton was back to normal-- drinking out of the toilet and grabbing food off the countertops.

Today, Sutton is living a dog's life but blue. (This time the painter diagnosed his condition... always curious, his ear and nose had become walking samples of the new front door color -Lucerne.) His fur is finally starting to grow back after the ICU's hack grooming-- he looks like he is part hound and part poodle wannabe. Meanwhile, I have colored marks on my front-side and he politely pretends not to notice. We are still a good team, competing in napping races mainly, but one of us always insists on going outside everyday. He knows where he wants to go and I let him pick the path more often than not. Every day is a gift. Most days are an adventure.

Three more radiation treatments... the end is in sight!