Lucas’s Weekend Adventure: From Miles of Hiking to Fast Food Discoveries

That Dylan Thomas poem has been swirling around in my head for weeks now. The first stanza, anyway:

Lucas has been having a ball. He is absolutely raging. Heck, last weekend he went for a mile hike with his bestie, Cady. That’s the longest distance he’s gone in one shot since March!

We followed it up with a trip to Sonic… in fact, he’s becoming a bit of a fast food connoisseur. So far he’s had cheeseburgers and fries from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and now Sonic. We’ve added Steak ‘n Shake, White Castle, and Dairy Queen to his To Do List.

He will not go gentle.

The thing about Lucas, though, is that all the adventures Emmett went on, Lucas would HATE. He hates the beach. He’s afraid of water. He can’t swim. He doesn’t want to go to festivals or coffee shops or Mexican restaurants. That’s just not him.

So, he’s eating and hiking his way through the dying of the light.

And chewing sticks with his brothers, one of his all-time favorite evening activities.

He is raging, raging, even while his x-rays show that the cancer is, too. He had another round this morning, and they showed at least three additional tumors but maybe more–he was wiggling too much for one of the angles to really be able to tell. So, 6 or 8 tumors now. It hit home for me when our beloved vet gave her cell number for middle of the night/just in case.

But today he’s good. Better than good. The vet’s office was a circus. Dogs everywhere! And he did marvelously. John and I kept shaking our heads and saying, “Can you imagine trying to sit here with him a few years ago? Incredible.”

He came home and clobbered the crud out of Cooper, then he ran into Newt’s room and snatched up her teddy bear. He will not go gentle.

Nothing but good, nothing but fun. His favorite toys, his favorite treats, his favorite hikes, all of it.

My sweet Lucas.