Today's My First Blog...

Hi, my name is WorldWideWillie, most often called Willie, Willard or Will and sometimes Ben, the name of my deceased brother (by my aging human parents who experience many verbal slips these days).  I am an 11 year old Australian Terrier, a less common breed of terriers, known as being "a sturdy little dog" with a passion for hunting rodents and small burrowing critters. 

I am very smart for a dog (every human says that about their dog. hehehehe), I know the spelling of many words, know names of family and friends, recognize many cars and SUVs, scale fish before eating them, and know how to communicate very well with my loving Mom (aka MomMomMom) and Dad (aka DadDadDad). 

My life has been great.  I have roamed freely in our lakeshore yard on a private road, enjoyed the companionship of many other dogs over the years whom have gone to heaven and I greatly miss:  my BFF Penny, my brother BenBenBen who passed 3 years ago, my old neighbors LuLu, Indie (from Holland, lived here part time) and Reggie & Murray. Currently my favorites are my big nephews Zoey and Bear and my dear pug nephew Mont DeWillyDeHonk who lives in Las Vegas and snorts a lot, my new neighbor Max and oddly vicious-to-me but adorable neighbors Bella and Buster.  My friend Rocky lives up north in the winter but will be back in May only 4 doors away.  Hopefully, in May I will still be here.

Darn, last week that pesky Vet who's always prodding and picking on me, told my Mom that I have a huge tumor in my chest, most likely matastatic cancer, a result of a cancer in my adrenal gland due to Cushing's Disease.  My Mom and Dad noticed I was coughing, especially at night and decided a trip to the doc was necessary.  Good grief, he took an X-ray that showed the mass in my chest pressing on my lungs and heart.

I had hoped I would have a few more years on this earth to enjoy my life, my homemade food, my treats from Costco, my walks to Poop Park each day and fishing for sunnies and crappies another summer or two.  But, it looks like I'll be catching a fast ride to Doggy Heaven a lot sooner than I had planned.  I  sad to have to go but know my parents will take good care of me and not let me suffer. 

My MMM and DDD are sad too, so much so that last night when I coughed all night long, they sat up with me while we waited for the pill inside the piece of braunchweiger to take effect (hahaha...they think I don't know that the pill is in there!).  When it finally worked I got a little shaky but the coughing stopped for a few hours and we were all able to sleep, me cuddled up to my MMM as I always do. 

Tomorrow we will hear from the oncology vet from the U of M as to my treatment and how long before I catch that fateful ride.  I will keep you updated as I go through this.  I am a little scared but will accept my fate with the same dignity we saw when my BenBenBen lost his battle with Cushing's on June 30, 2008.  I will see him soon which is nice.