Our family dog, Napoleon (my mom’s a Francophile), had been sick for a couple months with a fibrosarcoma in his neck. He died on Thursday. It’s weird reading “intro to neoplasms” and actually finally knowing what a fibrosarcoma *is*.

We’re also learning microbiology (the study of bacteria, viruses–stuff that makes you sick), which has given me quite an interesting contrast. It’s amazing how resilient our bodies are–we inhale something like 10,000 bacteria every *day* and don’t usually get sick. Our body’s immune systems work 24 hours a day, and their efforts largely go unnoticed.

But on the flip side, it’s amazing how _fragile_ our bodies are, too. How your body’s always performing a balancing act, keeping you at the same temperature, keeping your heart pumping at the right speed for your level of activity (or inactivity), keeping your blood going where it needs to go. Remove one of those pieces, and everything falls apart so quickly. Napoleon’s tumor may have metastacized to his lungs, affecting his breathing. But since the lungs are where you get oxygen, it affected his behavior, too, I’m told. He was slower. Quieter.

And when you decrease the lung activity too much, your body doesn’t get oxygen, and it deteriorates so rapidly. All the pieces are so interdependent. It’s like we’re constantly walking a tightrope on stilts. One little goof and we come crashing down.

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