Wow, things went south quickly. I’m not going to speculate about how we got here, too much potential for “If only…”or “Why didn’t we…” and I just will not go there. This is all going according to God’s plan, whether I like it or not (and I don’t. And He knows it.)
So we learned a couple days ago that Tate’s cancer has spread all throughout his abdomen and it is so extensive there is nothing that can be done. (Although we had decided ahead of time that we weren’t going to do anything, we decided Tate’s had enough. It really bothered me that he went through x-rays and ultrasound to diagnose this but he’s done with all that now.) We had no indication anything was seriously wrong; we just noticed he was drinking a lot and then he woke me up a couple times during the night to go out. Really, I thought it was a side effect of the metronomics, they’d adjust and we’d move on. His appetite and energy have been fine, everything has been so normally normal you couldn’t get any more normal. Well, I did notice then that his remaining rear leg was swollen, I probed all around it and he didn’t flinch but I just thought “That’s odd”. Of course, when the vet examined him, red flags went up everywhere and off Tate went for tests and more tests. The swelling is edema, the vet explained the mechanism but I don’t remember it. But the point was, there was nothing in any of Tate’s blood work to indicate a cause and so it must be…a malignancy. Which ultrasound confirmed.
We found all this out one day before we were leaving for TN and KY. Yep, we were going to visit ET Gayle. Rent a cabin on a lake, explore a new part of the country and visit some friends in KY on the way back. At first, we thought we’d shift gears and go to our own cabin instead but decided the drive might be too much for Tate. If we could be magically transported there, well, then. That would be another story.
We also decided on a home euthanasia. That’s because we really do want to keep Tate out of the vet’s office.
So here we are. Tate is doing well. He likes being spoiled, last night he looked at me over his shoulder: “Time for my belly rub, Mom.” Today, he turned his nose up at kibble, “You don’t really expect me to eat this, do you?” : ) He ran a bit with Sam this morning – she wants to play with him so bad but is cutting a wide path around him (thankfully). He tires easily but we’ve figured out the pain meds and no adverse side effects. The edema is worrisome but the vet tech assured us that as uncomfortable as it looks, the pain meds are taking care of that.
I can’t tell you how much all your responses to my forum question have helped. This is such a crummy path to travel but I feel like I have you all holding me up, literally holding me up under the arms like you do with a little kid learning to walk. This is not a walk I want to learn. Can’t we just go to the Grand Canyon instead?