Yahoo Groups

This is one of my favorite pictures of Addie - taken right after she had her daily cottage cheese. We call it Cheese Face :-)

I subscribe to several Yahoo groups focused around dogs with cancer. I get an email every day from all of them with questions, answers, and stories. At first I read everyone one word for word. But what I realized after some time, is that although they provide a wealth of helpful information, they can get so depressing. It seems every day a member of the group posts that their companion, the one they were trying to save, didn't make it. They passed over the Rainbow Bridge as they say. I now find that I often skim the titles and try to avoid any with the word 'bridge' in them. I know others are pouring their hearts out after doing everything they possibly could, but after 2 1/2 years, it just makes me feel so bad.

Recently, someone posted and asked those that had "miracle dogs" - those that had dogs that have lived long past their Dr. diagnosed date, to give some feedback in a survey. I was happy to help and it was good to have something to work towards. What if hundreds of people contribute to the survey and we find a trend? Maybe not likely, but the hope that is for new people joining the group, they will have one place to go to see all the various treatments people have tried and what successes/losses have occurred. It may not save all the dogs, but I am eager to help out in something positive - something hopefully will help others who unfortunately find themselves subscribing to various Yahoo groups as I did 2 1/2 years ago feeling overwhelmed.

Maybe someday all these groups can be discontinued as we will no longer need it as there will be a cure... maybe someday.