Cancer Really?
The phone rang and it was the veterinarian, who told me that he had bad news, our boy Brody had two tumors that caused his limp.
Pinching his nerve in his leg was nerve root tumor and a nerve sheath tumor down his leg impaired the feeling in his leg.
A heat sensation came over me, my stomach started to burn and I felt numb as if some one had just stabbed me.
Shock set in my mind was racing, cancer really he was only 6? What does that mean how long would he live?
Oncologist suggested treatment
We were scheduled to meet with a Oncologist, during the meeting it seemed the primary topic was money which made me ask what do I get for 10K.
Unsettling news the oncologist walked us through what would happen:
- Amputate his leg to avoid further spreading and or damage
- Hollow out his spine to create room for the tumor to grow
- Radiation to slow the tumor
- You will have a few months with your buddy is what he said
Supporting his fight and quality of life
None of that sounded good, we opted to support his health with the best foods, walks when possible and clean spring water.
Our Veterinarian agreed and would check on him to make sure he would not suffer.
At this stage Brody would hardly walk and we fed him laying down.
We tossed the kibble and started feeding him organic beef liver, wild salmon and organic chicken.
Within 2 days he got back up and joined us on hikes up to 4 miles long.
I felt joy to see the improvements and hopeful that he may be with us for a while.
Quality of life was good he lived like a king and we loved on him as much as possible, everyday felt like a victory.
Unfortunately a year later the tissue around the tumor became severely inflamed and our Veterinarian informed us the time has come to say good bye.
He was in pain and exhausted from his fight against cancer.
We love him dearly but we could not be selfish and let him suffer for our desire to have him around.
It was tough to agree but it had to be done. There was tremendous sadness when he left us but also some relief that my boy was not hurting anymore.
We miss him every day. Writing this makes me relive the moment and tears stream down my face, hopefully this allows us to process our loss and find comfort.
Everyone says their dog is special and everyone is right.
