Here we go again. Besides Chris, we have 2 other dogs, Domino, a deaf Dalmatian & Dolly, a 9 1/2 year old female Weim who has been with us the longest of any dog we have now. Dolly's date of birth is 4/1/91. She was a rescue also from Friends for Pets (www.friendsforpets.org) where we have gotten all of our dogs in the last 10 years. We have had five from FFP including the 3 we have now, Dolly, Domino, & Diesel.
Dolly has been the example of good health, no gas, no ear infections, no skin problems, no anything. After Chris went to the bridge, we took her in for a check up. A few years ago we had worried about her heart as she was always panting but it was her weight. Our love caused her to be 30 lbs. overweight. She lost that in a year and has been svelte ever since. We thought she might have been gaining weight. She wasn't :-) but the vet noticed that she had a bad tooth. He treated it with antibiotics for a week but it did need to be pulled. At the same time we had him do some "cosmetic" work and had him take off a few of the skin tags & moles the her mature age brought her.
Over last weekend, I noticed under her chin a small, hard lump during the many times I was checking her tooth. It was hard to find but we showed it to the Dr. and he said that he would take that out too. He didn't think that it was anything...probably a benign granuloma. We told them no biopsy then but when he saw it he suggested we should do it as it was really weird looking even though he thought it was still nothing. We appreciate his conservativeness on tests, medicines, & procedures so when he said that he thought we should do it, we did.
Well, the results came back yesterday...undetermined, malignant neoplasm. I cried but now I am just plain MAD. She has always been my quiet support, never straying from my side more than 3 or 4 steps. She is our couch potato whose favorite time is mealtime. She is contented to have a full belly, a chewy after dinner, and being with us watching TV. When she barks, you had better check things out as it isn't a needless communication. She was so understanding while Chris was sick, NEVER showing jealousy with the time we dealt with him. So you can see she is truly our "rock" of support.
She is going in on Monday for another surgery to take more tissue for biopsy and possible diagnosis if after a thorough check of her salivary & lymph glands don't show anything bad. We will be treating her the same way we did Chris, the alternative, holistic, & homeopathic way. I now wonder if it is something that we are doing or if it is in the water. I am just at a loss.
After Chris going to the bridge one month to the day before Dolly's diagnosis (9/11/00), we are not ready to do this again but of course we will. The 7 1/2 months that Chris had with us after diagnosis was not enough. We want Dolly here a few more years.
Click here to write to Dolly's Family
