I’ve been busy with classwork for my master’s in
creative writing and decided to take a break. I’ve been thinking about my next
blog post. My husband wanting to get two horses helped me decide what to write
about, the day Sheena had her surgery to remove the two mammary tumors and spay
her. Deciding on having this surgery was left up to me, either do or don’t do. Do it and any other little cancer cells in Sheena’s body
may go hog wild and kill her in a few short months, or do it and if there’s no
more cancer in her, she’ll live a long time. Don’t do it and the main tumors
will keep the other cancers at bay and she may live a long time, or not, it may
kill her just as quickly. Weighing the options, I decided to take the bit
higher chance of success the vet gave me with having the main tumors removed
because it appeared she had no other cancer cells in important systems in her
body. I went with “getting rid of the main tumors would rid her of the scourge.”
On June 2nd, we drove to the vet after her not having any breakfast
and I said goodbye to her and gave her leash to the vet tech.
They asked me if I wanted to wait in the office
but I declined. My van was my destination. The secretary said if I needed
anything to come in. As the morning progressed, I watched people come and go
with their sick and well animals and worked on finishing a book I was writing, The Diamond Road. By noon, I noticed it
was hot and I was hungry so I went to McDonald’s and got lunch, especially a
big iced tea to last all afternoon. When I returned, the vet was putting stacks
of hay in the small fenced-in animal pen next to his parking lot. I parked
close and waited to see what kind of animals came out. Barred rock and Rhode Island
Red chickens had run around in that area all morning pecking and scratching in
the used hay, giving me an amusing show when they ran helter-skelter away and
came back when people drove up the vet’s driveway.
As the vet spread the hay in a round metal rack,
horses began coming out of a small gray barn behind me. One all white adult,
one all-white foal, one appaloosa brown and white adult, and one appaloosa brown
and white foal. My first thoughts were of a beautiful family and how much they
looked alike, of course, those thoughts were mixed with ones of Sheena’s future
and what I’d do if I lost her. As I watched the horses move around the pen and
eat I relaxed, living in the moment as I watched the sun glint off their sleek
bodies while they ate the hay and looked around for more. They soon came close
to my van and I took pictures. Imagine my shock when I realized that the foals
weren’t foals. They were adult miniature horses! How the vet got those four
horses to look so much alike is a puzzle I’ll leave unsolved. All I cared about
was the relaxed way the big horses cared for the little ones, letting them walk
under their legs to eat, making sure not to step on them. The two hours I
watched them enjoy just being alive energized me that day for what was
to happen that night and the next day. Bringing Sheena home and helping her
recover, and hope that the best was yet to come. The beautiful pictures from an old cell phone I took as the adult horses shaded the miniatures form the scalding heat of that day are also another gift from God, I think. Cell phone pictures don't usually turn out this clear..
