It starts

My friend is dying. Not without a fight, though - he has already lived a week beyond the 2-week window the vet gave him on that black afternoon he calmly informed me and my best friend that my cat has renal lymphoma, inoperable and incurable. To let him die without a fight was unthinkable, so we opted for the recommended treatment of steroid injections and chemotherapy capsules, not knowing if he would be around for a second round of treatment. But he is with us still, his voracious appetite for observing life from our front porch and devouring plates of cat food garnished with bonito flakes belying the cancer that is growing inside him. And so, to honor his spirit, and to chronicle this last phase of our life together, I am writing this blog. Perhaps I will learn a bit more about loss, death - and life - along the way.