As much as we sometimes wish our lives were 24x7 DIY (with the frequent vacation thrown in), this obviously isn't a reality. We split our time between the hobbies we love, the downtime we enjoy, taking care of ourselves and our four legged children, the work and chores we must do, and spending time with friends and loved ones as much as possible. It's a busy schedule, sure, but when I really look at it, this somewhat healthy breakdown of our lives is a good balance that helps to both keep us sane and stimulated. However, at times, we must skew more heavily in one direction of the split or another when the situation either allows or requires.

Lately, we've been putting quite a bit of time and energy into taking care of our wonderful little Ori-Pei, Lulu, in her quest to beat cancer.

A few weeks back we told you all about the identification of her second mast cell tumor and resulting surgery in early January. We also filled you in on the fact that she'd require continued treatment after the surgery because we weren't able to achieve good margins on the tumor's removal. Well, the last few weeks have been "Operation Warrior Princess" in our house, where we're all actively fighting off these a-hole cancer cells and working for Lulu to make a complete recovery.

We wanted to take this opportunity to give you all an update and a little insight into this whole process. Whether you've experienced something similar with your loved ones and can commiserate (Lulu's process is very similar to human radiation too), or are just interested to hear about how they tackle this sort of thing in dogs, we hope our experience not only cures Lulu, but that it also helps others learn about options and possibilities in cancer treatment.

Our latest journey towards beating cancer all started a little over two weeks ago when Lulu began going to the first of her 15 daily radiation treatments. The plan was straight forward, but very intimidating. We'd need to bring Lulu every morning, Monday through Friday, for three weeks, for a total of 15 sessions. During these sessions the oncology staff would need to lightly anesthetize and intubate her (radiation requires complete calm and stillness, not a strength of Lulu's), then perform the radiation treatment on Lulu's right arm. We were warned of the possibility of a localized burn on the area where the radiation was being given, missing fur, and the resulting scar tissue or white spot. Going into it without any prior experience on the subject was very intimidating, to say the least.