Category: The Blog

Shayna and “Katie Bug”

Shayna and “Katie Bug”

April 1, 2013 | By | Add a Comment

One recent warm afternoon, Shayna and I were sitting on the patio at Panera, when along came an acquaintance of ours and her niece, Katie, who’s all of three years old. Katie (nickname: “Katie Bug”) and Shayna instantly fell in love, and is just as sweet as you can see in these pictures. She brought […]

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12Mar13: “Celebrating 4 months plus 1, 2, 3, 4…”

12Mar13: “Celebrating 4 months plus 1, 2, 3, 4…”

March 12, 2013 | By | Add a Comment

Summary: Shayna is doing amazingly well.  We are very, very fortunate, especially for those who’ve donated to Shayna’s Health Fund, which helps enable me to continue providing her with the array of medicines and supplements that, so far, are keeping her in such amazing health. Previously: See our February 8 update, which contains a detailed […]

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20Feb13: Day trip to UVa; glowing Shayna

20Feb13: Day trip to UVa; glowing Shayna

February 22, 2013 | By | Add a Comment

As I describe on this site and elsewhere, the University of Virginia, and particularly the Rotunda, is one of my and Shayna’s favorite places to visit.  For me, it’s where my spiritual journey to rebuild my life after 9/11 began – and to ask for help to find the “right” first dog for me.  For […]

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08Feb13 Update on Shayna: Great news!!!

08Feb13 Update on Shayna: Great news!!!

February 8, 2013 | By | Add a Comment

It gives me great pleasure to report some really great news, to Shayna’s friends and donors to her Health Fund! On Monday, February 4, we had our long-awaited follow-up exam and ultrasound with our wonderful holistic veterinarian, Dr. Janice Raab.  Aside from evaluating Shayna’s overall health, the key question was whether the tumor on her heart (hemangiosarcoma) […]

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24Jan13: “Sidelight Shayna”

24Jan13: “Sidelight Shayna”

January 25, 2013 | By | Add a Comment

Several of the people who are closest to us have commented about how Shayna seems to “glow,” physically and spiritually. But trying to photograph a black dog can be tricky, even if she does glow. The other night, however, the lamp on the end table happened to be positioned perfectly to catch her physical glow […]

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19Jan13 – Toy training at Albemarle High School

19Jan13 – Toy training at Albemarle High School

January 20, 2013 | By | Add a Comment

It was a relatively warm day today (low 50s), so we did our after-lunch toy retrieval training at Albemarle High School. I comment in the video that she’s gotta be one of the smartest females I’ve ever met – which I guess either (a) means that she’s as brilliant as I think, or (b) doesn’t […]

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18Jan13: Drive to and walk through McIntire Park

18Jan13: Drive to and walk through McIntire Park

January 18, 2013 | By | Add a Comment

We’ve had a pretty rough last 11 days, since Shayna developed a new medical problem, nothing serious, but terrifying nonetheless given her underlying diagnosis, which is devastating.  The good news is that she is rapidly mending from her current malady, and was very amenable to going out for a ride this very cold morning, to […]

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03Jan13: An amazing gift from one of Shayna’s friends

03Jan13: An amazing gift from one of Shayna’s friends

January 5, 2013 | By | Add a Comment

An amazing gift for Shayna, from an amazing fabric artist, that came completely out of the blue.

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08Dec12: A walk around UVa, and visiting with Mr. Jefferson

08Dec12: A walk around UVa, and visiting with Mr. Jefferson

December 9, 2012 | By | Add a Comment

On this warm December day, we took another long walk around UVa, Shayna chased her ball, and we visited our “sacred ground” in front of the Rotunda, where I began my quest for renewal – and to ask for help in finding the “right” first dog for me – eleven years ago. I took this […]

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09Dec12: Update on Shayna’s medical condition

09Dec12: Update on Shayna’s medical condition

December 9, 2012 | By | Add a Comment

(Note: This is going to be a document that will evolve over time; check back for updates)     Catching up: Our life from Sept. 5 through Oct. 28, 2012 For the seven weeks after Shayna’s liver surgery on Sept. 4, life for us was pretty awesome.  As I describe here, she recovered very quickly, […]

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