This week my dad started his second round of chemo only to get stopped amid that fun and admitted to the hospital because his kidneys were failing. As of today, his kidneys have rebounded but his heart flutters now and again and doctors say it’s not just because he loves his wife.
Meanwhile, Little Buddha, who’d survived a nasty golf-ball sized tumor recently, stopped coming to the side of the cage last Sunday for his daily bit of food.
- Little Buddha looking like a little Buddha, circa summer 2011.
By Tuesday, Little Buddha didn’t come to get the tissues he loved to shred and use in his bed.
On Tuesday I could reach in to pet Little Buddha for the first time, without getting bit. By Wednesday, Little Buddha had gone off to Hamster Heaven.
- Little Buddha.
Little Buddha was just the cutest little hampy. He was also very curious.
And he liked exploring when we were cleaning his cage.
He liked raspberries, blueberries, grapes and all sorts of dry foods. Like all hamsters, he hoarded food, but amongst our 11 hamsters, Little Buddha was the only one that kept his perishables in one place and the corn, crackers and other longer lasting foods in another place.
The other thing that separated Little Buddha from the others was that he bit the hand that fed him. In fact, we had to distract him with a tissue on one side of his cage in order to put food on the other side of the cage. Still, he was faster than Mark and me and we both got to feel his fangs.
Still, he was always there to greet me in the morning . . . which is why I find it quite amazing that when we replaced the empty spot on our kitchen counter, we chose to bring Blackie in from the front entryway. And it turns out, Blackie now comes over to the top of his cage every time I walk into the kitchen to see what I might have, too. There won’t be another hamster like Little Buddha, but somehow Blackie coming over to see me makes Little Buddha’s passing a little bit easier.
