Griffin's Journey

Today’s update is a tale of two parks.  While most people think of NYC as being skyscrapers and subways, we live in Inwood, the northernmost neighborhood of Manhattan, which is very residential and has a lot of green space.  Griffin has lived here his whole life and I’ve been a resident since 1994.

Sitting pretty among the cherry blossom petals!

This morning we went to our local vet for a blood test to check Griffin’s complete blood count (CBC) 2 weeks after chemo to ensure his red/white blood cells and blood platelets levels have not dropped (they were fine when checked last week but can change in week 2 after chemo).  It was raining lightly when we left and then it poured during our 5 block walk to the clinic.  The technician was super fast with Griffin and we were out within 5 minutes!  It had stopped raining while we were in the clinic and a few minutes after heading back home, the skies opened up again.  Since we were already wet, we took a detour on the way home through Inwood Hill Park.  In the video below, you can see Griffin navigating in the rain.  Listen until the end – Griffin is totally the boy who would make rude noises in class to make his friends laugh and get away with it because he is so cute!

This afternoon, we headed to Fort Tryon Park.  It was pretty windy and Griffin didn’t seem too interested in walking/exploring.  He did pose under a cherry blossom tree where the rain/wind created a carpet of petals.  He also practiced walking down stairs.  He walks down the 4 steps in our lobby pretty easily and can walk up a full flight of stairs, but until today, he had not walked down a full flight of stairs.  While we were at the park, Griffin practiced on two different sets of stairs which were deeper than the ones in my apartment building, leaving more room for his back legs to step down while his front leg is still on the stair.  The video below shows an enormous flight of steps up to the Cloisters – Griffin only practiced on the last section.  Clearly I was more excited than he was!

xoxo Stacy

Griffin’s smile belies his annoyance with me for asking him to lay down under the cherry blossom tree!