Post — Word On The Curb DC

Friday, October 6, 2017

“You will never know you have faith, until you’re in a good fight”... Words from my youth that apply now. With Arthur’s permission, this is our testimony and praise report from the last two weeks: Because of a tumorous mass on his liver, Arthur’s health had been in rapid decline. After visits with two different vets and finally a holistic veterinarian, we were hopeful that her remedies would be effective. Well, they weren’t for the first few days. Then last Thursday, Arthur gave me a look suggesting he was exhausted from treatments and trying; and I conceded in that moment to making him happy, and began making plans for his transition this past Monday at 4:00 pm.

After a Sunday sermon entitled “A God of Justice,” in which the preacher called out murder as a sin and an injustice, I came home to tell Arthur that he would have to go on his own, but that I thought he should “live.” Well, that night he turned a corner and began eating. I cooked organic foods and puréed it all to feed to him (albeit by spoon-feeding), and the medicines took effect. At 4:00 pm Monday, we were on a long walk around NOMA!...

All this, and after a visit last week to a friend’s mom in an assisted-living facility, I was reminded that people and animals get old. Things change, and so should their diets and routines. You wouldn’t put your grandmother down, would you (I do understand extenuating circumstances)? Arthur wanted me to extend “attentive and special care” to him, if I wanted him to stick around. It has worked!... Ask more questions of aged friends. And, don’t give up on them!