“Is your dog relaxing or in distress?”asked the receptionist, prompting Akemi and I to swing a look over to the shiba inu sprawled out on the floor by a row of seats at the back.
“Relaxing,”replied her owner. “She hasn’t eaten in five days.”
Five days?!!! If any of my dogs skipped a single meal, it would be enough to set off the alarm bells that would send me off to the vet.
“Oncology triage to the front, please,”we heard the receptionist call over the P.A.
It was 9:45 a.m. and we were at the clinic, taking advantage of a late cancellation to get Bubba seen. His cough, and the outlook, were looking progressively worse. He’d had blood work done the previous night and this ultrasound would presumably confirm the worst.
And, this afternoon, when the results came in, they did. The biopsy all but confirmed the cancer diagnosis and its advancement, between the results of the ultrasound and the x-rays taken the other day, suggested it was aggressive. The doctor prescribed some cough suppressants to make Bubba more comfortable. Tomorrow, we go in to see an oncologist to discuss our options.
I realize that fourteen and a half years is great for a pug and it’s almost two and a half years more than Maximus had, but about two years less than Jelly had. Still, it’s hard and I had a great talk about this with Anthony Lemke this afternoon, all about family, relationships, and tough decisions. Not sure how much time we’re going to have with the little guy, but we’re going to make the most of the time we have left.
Because of this morning’s appointment, my two awesome lieutenants were on set to cover for me as usual – Co-Executive Producer Ivon Bartok was on second unit, while Co-Executive Producer Lawren Bancroft-Wilson was on main. I thank them for stepping up
Some Dark Matter-related goodies…
Emperor Ryo Ishida (Alex Mallari Jr.) and his man Ash (Michael Reventar) – photo c/o Michael Reventar.
Finish him!
Security drone c/o VFX Supervisor Lawren Bancroft-Wilson (concept design by Henry Fong, modelling by Ethereal Assets, shots by CVD VFX)
