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When she did, I went through a battery of tests and met up with Mom, Dad and her an hour later. Okay, I was a bit chubby, but that wasn't the problem. My bad tooth turned out to be three bad teeth, spread out on both sides of my mouth. An even bigger concern were the growing sore spots on my left flank. Large cysts with the potential to be something far worse, the doctor said, and they needed to come out. Surgery was scheduled for five o'clock that night, and Mom and Dad would return the next day at lunchtime to bring me home.
So, for that second time that day, a nurse whisked me away from my parents to the back room. I hate that. Where am I going? is the thought that overwhelms me. Seeing both Mom and Dad look at me while I move away from them is not my idea of a good time! Before surgery, I spent several hours alone in a small plastic house, getting my lunch intravenously and resting, before they put me out and brought me to the prep room. You'll see in a couple of the photos that my left side is completely shaved. Later, as a bonus parting gift, the surgeon gave me five sets of stitches. The three in my mouth eventually dissolved, but the two sets on my side stayed in for two whole weeks. Twice a day every day, Mom changed the dressings and fed me my medicine. When I went outside, Dad watched me like a hawk to match sure I didn't scratch the incisions with my rear leg or roll around on the ground.
Half a year has passed since my surgery and I'm happy to report it was a resounding success.👏 Eating was painful for the first week, but, as you can see in the photo, I still cleaned my bowl. The good news is I still have enough molars left to enjoy my meals and an occasional crunchy treat. Even better, the cysts were harmless and the pain in my left flank is gone, Also, since February, I've lost 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) following a diet Mom discovered on a Korean vet's YouTube website. Auntie thinks I've got a lot of new muscles, too. The kibble Mom found tastes great, and she prepares it for me two ways, dry and crunchy and wet and chewy. When I snack, I eat only chicken breast and, on occasion, my beloved sliced chicken gizzards. Dad's goal is for me to get down to 5.3 kilograms, so I still have a way to go. But's he's confident I'll hit the target when the cooler weather of fall arrives and we can take more walks.
A few weeks after the surgery things were back to normal. In March, for the second time in my life, I took a train ride. We went to Daejeon for the day to meet Mom's oldest brother and his wife for a Papa Johns pizza picnic🍕 , and rode in a special car found on many Korean trains. One of the photos shows the layout. Open floorplan. Bench seats and window tables. Outlets everywhere for laptops. The target is folks from the MZ generation (born between 1981 and 2005), but most of the passengers were men from Dad's era, plugged in and wearing ear pods, genuine hipsters in their own way. I rode the entire way in my carrier and on the window-side table, which gave me a great view of the Korean countryside.
In Daejeon, on our way to meet Mom's family, we stopped at Sungshimdang, a famous Daejeon bakery. That's me eyeing and sniffing the goods from across the street while Dad shopped inside. It was cherry blossom season and after our picnic, we posed for photos near Big Samchun's apartment and in a nearby park.
Spring's return meant it was time to begin my routine again, with me at my outdoor station watching the world for incoming monsters. In 2023, though, I did my duty alone. Little Samchun and Ddori had moved away and joined Auntie in Tongyeong, a city in the southeastern corner of Korea, where the winters are warmer, the summers cooler and life is much better for Ddori, who's battling old age and heart disease.
The days passed quickly and soon the weather warmed. Mom's beautiful garden bloomed and Dad tended to the grass. Starting in July, it became too hot to go for walks on our normal schedule. So Dad got up every morning at 6am or earlier to take me for my daily long walk. Mom worries about me walking in the heat even at that early hour, but Dad found a route that's mostly covered by the shade from peach trees and usually free of trucks, farm implements and rotting fruit. Sometimes a nice scent lures me out of the shade and into the direct sunlight. But Dad's always there for me, projecting his shadow on me to keep me cool.
I hope you enjoyed this tale. There's another one coming soon, and until then, thanks for reading my blog.
Tango 🐾
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