Everyone thinks they have the best dog in the world

Everyone is wrong

Their dogs may be wonderful but there’s only one Max.

I took him for a check of a lump because Golden Retrievers get lumps and sometimes they’re cancer and most often they’re not.   This one was not.    But the vet found a nasty, weird thing in his mouth.   Surgery was scheduled for the next morning.   It looked bad, and the vet was very concerned, he loves Max almost as much as I do.   We picked Max up after the surgery, met with the vet to discuss what he did and what he thought.   He was trying to be positive but I could tell he thought it was bad.   He sent samples out for biopsy and we would know in a few days.

Two days of barely breathing, two days of trying not to cry, two days of worry.    Secretly planning, what will we do if we hear that word?   Praying that if it was bad, it would at least be fast.   Never wanting to see my baby boy suffer, but not ready to lose him, not yet, he’s too young, he’s too much the center of my life, I can’t be without him, not yet.   But I will suffer so he doesn’t.   I will take the pain so he won’t feel it.

And then the call.   The biopsy was back.
Broken tooth, bad infection, no sign of cancer.   None.   Not a single one.