Can you pray for our dog?

 

I'm sitting here in part shock, part numbness... a lot of heart ache...

If you don't know us well, our dogs are our world.  They are my children...

& Sydney hurt her leg this past weekend. She was limping & it wasn't getting better

So we took Sydney to the vet last night... got her in for the late appointment - 9:00

We were all so tired & ready for bed, but we knew Sydney was still limping pretty good & didn't want to put it off.  Had to see what we could do to help our old girl... Got up & just throw on some warm sweats for this cold weather, got her in the car & headed to the vet.

They took X-rays & then we waited... & waited..

& then they called us to come back to the X-ray room.  You know its never good when they call you back to another room.

They wanted to show us the x-ray of her leg... & point out the tumor that is on it...

& we were given the diagnosis of why Sydney is limping.

She has cancer.  Osteosarcoma.  Which is an aggressive cancer.

You could have punched both Ricky & I in the gut & knocked all the air out of us & that would have been better then how we felt.

We were presented with options...

1. amputation... but they would have to check to make sure it hasn't already spread to the chest area.  But we were reminded her age & that she has such bad hips, as Aussie's are prone to do, & the arthiritis in her joints already...

2. radiation... but they don't offer it around here.  It would have to be a trip to Ohio, which is the closest, & it would be a week long treatment.  But again was reminded of her age & that it doesn't always help & chemo would be needed afterwards, causing her to be sick for awhile... not something great for a 13 yr old dog.

3. Surgery to remove the tumor.... but the only place that offers that is in some place like Colorado... seriously?!?!?!?  Why even tell us about that option?

So we went with our last option

4. Medicine... they gave us a prescription I have to go get today that is supposed to help her with any pain she is having & there is a possibility that it can slow down the cancer growth.

THIS is what we're praying for... what we ask for you to pray with us for... to just slow it down.



We're not living in an unrealistic bubble.  We know Sydney is getting old.  We know we're thankful that we've had her for 13 years so far... but we just want her to be comfortable... to give us a little bit of time.  Not just a hurt leg that we thought was a sprain & a few days or months later, she's gone...

The doctor said if its very aggressive, she could possibly be gone by 3 months...

I want to vomit.

BUT!!!!  She said she has seen dogs react well to this medicine & they last anywhere from 12 months to 18 months, which is the highest length of time she's seen.  We'd be happy if she made it to November - her 14th birthday....

but we also want her happy.. & not in pain...

We woke up at 2:30 to carry her outside to go potty & when Ricky nudged me to ask me to open the door for them, I for a second thought, "oh wow, that was just a dream"... & then watched Ricky pick her up to carry her outside & then realized it was reality...

I asked the doctor why we've had 2 dogs with cancer in just the past 6 months... she said that just means we've taken such good care of our dogs that they've made it to old age & then their bodies just tend to fail at fighting things... a compliment in there, but it doesn't ease my heart.

WHY?  I hate stupid cancer...

always have... always will...

We have to be very careful with Sydney now.  She explained that her bones are very frail.  A small jump could cause her arm to break & crumble.  Her bones are being eaten from the inside out with cancer...

No more trips down the steps... no more jumping off couches... & the hard one, keeping the puppy we have from jumping on her & trying to get her to play... Harvey won't understand that one...

Whew...

You just never know when you're going to get news that turns your world upside down on its ears...