still a big deal

chad and i took murphy to a trainer so we could learn the best way to work with him since he is deaf. i felt like we were sitting down with our child and a social worker--a sense of relief but slight embarassment at my own incompetence. she is great. if she were a dog, she would be a young but very competent and well-trained border collie.

recovery dog's new trainer has breast cancer. (if this were a novel, it would be a bad novel.) she asked me during our training session if she could ask me a personal question, and then asked if i was "in treatment." she told me that she has "stage one, early breast cancer," that she "found it early," that she "had an oncotype score of 13" and apologetically said that she "felt very fortunate not to have to have chemo." she said she was "doing fine."

i noticed that her hands trembled, a side effect i had from radiation. i told her that it was still a big deal and she needed to take care of herself.  it's still a big deal.