The Long and Winding Road - Two years later

Rilley - Two years since his first seizure.

I hope Sir Paul McCartney doesn't mind me taking a title from his songbook, but today, August 10th, marks the second anniversary of Rilley's first grand mal seizure.  An event that put him onto the long and winding road that has been his battle with a brain tumour.  It has become a bit of a tradition around our house that Rilley gets a special treat on milestone days like this.  Elizabeth and I took him to the local Pet Valu where she picked out a Ladypaw for him.  (Ladypaw is apparently the canine equivalent to a Ladyfinger chocolate treat...according to the Dictionary of Elizabeth...sounds good so I'll just go with it.)

A well deserved dog treat!

While we were in the store, I picked up yet another bag of Greenie's Pill Pockets.  The girl behind the counter made small talk and I mentioned how many of these we go through and Elizabeth mentioned the significance of the day.  That, of course, led to the girl bestowing a lot of special attention to Rilley.  Not only did she get down and start petting him, commenting on how gentle he is, she also fell victim to his charms.  This then led to Rilley's favourite side effect of being so darn cute...a bag of treats appeared from behind the counter of which he was treated to more than just one.  I think he made a new friend.

Once we arrived home, Rilley eagerly awaited his treat.  Once it was in his possession, he gladly demonstrated his Olympic-esque speed and agility in devouring it before I had a chance to snap a picture.  (Sorry I had to tie in the Games of the 30th Olympiad some how!)  As you can see from the image below the treat was gone in no more than a few seconds.

Ever see the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds"?
Well, Rilley would NEVER let a treat survive that long!

The next significant milestone:  September 10th...two years to the day of diagnosis, coincidentally it was also the very day we heard from Dr. Ohlfest telling us that his clinical trial would accept out-of-country dogs.