As this year comes to a close, it’s easy to want to fall back on the standard year-in-review type of missive. But after sitting with that possibility I thought it more worth both of our time to share something much more personal. Were it not ultimately a message of hope then I might have fallen back on that more reliable “here’s what happened this year," so here goes...

In this MUSEletter:

• The story of this year's greatest gift
• A Special Announcment!

There are less than a handful of you reading that already know this; but some others may have noticed the slipping in my messaging and planning. You may recall, sometime over the spring, my mention of a sequel to February’s Kickstart.aTigersTale.com crowdfunding campaign. It was tentatively planned for the summer. Come the end of that summer scheduling moved to a potential autumnal event; plan B. But fall landed like a 500 lb. cat and as October drifted into November and now December, I’ve moved down that metaphorical alphabet, residing now, somewhere around plan “M” – the reason: more significant that the dog eating my homework.

You see, throughout that window of time The Milo was behaving different that usual. His energy was dropping in unexpected ways. Over his 9 years we'd never seen him act like this. Pet owners will know Covid has had its impact on veterinary care and up until that time, fatty tissue which formed lumps had been routinely checked. Their accumulation is not uncommon among larger dogs, as they age. While we'd often wondered if that daily marrow bone was a factor, vets said “not to worry.” But over the summer things had noticeably changed.

Was running out of energy?

Was his life running out?

Part of what humanizes us, is that knowledge of mortality. Especially when it extends beyond our own and recognizes that such a beautiful being has no concept for it. The dog is present at all times, until it’s not. As autumn approached Milo seemed to be entering that liminal space.

We sought out a specialist who could, for certain, determine what was troubling our companion and if anything could be done for him. Detecting a tumor in a dog with such prodigious amounts of fur is not easy, cell samples were taken to differentiate benign fatty growths from potentially cancerous ones. A mass on his shoulder was causing some concern.

The consideration of his mortality verses the available procedures left us in a profound quandary. Putting aside the expense, though these are not cheap procedures, we honestly did not know if any of us would be up for the challenge. Not just the surgery but the actual recovery. Our Doctor believed we were underestimating Milo and ourselves.

On November 9th Milo’s Surgeon expertly removed the 12cm x 10cm tumor WITHOUT having to amputate a limb. It had grown 2cm in the three weeks between scanning and removal. In its place, a 15cm vertical incision reached from his armpit to his spine.

There's an alternate reality out there where we would be considering euthanasia, rather than celebrating his 10th birthday six days later. The week’s that followed exist as a dimly lit fugue of camping in the living room and giving meds every four hours. As time progressed and his recovery continued the hope for putting more and more time (years) between the reality of Milo’s mortality and the current moment grew.

With each bandage change (November 14th and 17th) Milo’s strength returned. The amount and frequency of  medication given was reduced from every 4 hours to every 8, then 12, and finally once a day. While we’d missed our doctor’s call, a voicemail, while vague, gave us enough to be thankful for over those days when everyone else was visiting family and feasting.

His sutures were removed on November 23rd, his donut-collar was on for a single night and his body-suit came off five days later. They shaved, one arm, half of one side and his glorious shark fin of fur, but that will grow back in time and for the moment, we have 1/4 of a short-haired dog.

At 33 days since that life saving surgery Milo has returned in full force; eager to hunt and ready to climb mountains - he did some of that at day 26.

More importantly, we  finally had that conversation with our doctor who was pleased with how Milo had healed; the wound lays flat. Plus, after examining the healthy margins of the mass removal and consulting the oncologist, they estimate a less than 10% chance of any recurrence being discovered in a chest X-Ray after 6 month. So we reside in the hope that Milo will live an even longer and more glorious life; there’s no greater gift I can think of as this year comes to its close.

I really aught to go into detail about this in another email. But if you’ve been generous enough read this far then I should at least offer you an update on the art front; as that’s what you signed up for (plus Milo pics - but you might need a break after these). I’ve decided that the best time to launch a Kickstarter campaign for A TIGER’s TALE volume 2 is, once again, the Lunar New Year. I had hoped to get copies into people’s hands before the year of the Black Water Tiger left us, but as you now know, life had other plans. So, mark your calendar and prepare to celebrate the first day of the Lunar New Year with our Kickstart.aTigersTale.com launch party!

Details to follow!

Whew! Thanks for sticking with me on this one, it was a lot more personal than I usually go for, but I’ve grown to trust you.

More soon: promise.

PLUGO