DOG CANCER

Oh, hello there. I know I haven't written here quite some time, and I apologize for that. But here I am now. So...what's new? Probably lots and I'll get to that later. Moving on to the most important thing going on in my life right now:

If you know me, then you know I LOVE my dog. She is my best friend. We have been through a lot together and I appreciate her for being such a loyal companion.

 In May, I took Day-Z to a nearby vet because she was shaking her head a lot and I knew that meant something was bothering her. I thought it could possibly be a foxtail. She had one get caught in her ear last year around this time and the same vet removed it for us. There was nothing her ear. I had recently noticed a bump on the side of her face so I asked if that could be what was bothering her. We went back to this bet a couple times and they offered to take a sample and send it to a lab for a biopsy to see exactly what the bump on her face happens to be.

 I wasn't very happy with the speed of service from the veterinarian office, but they finally got back to me two weeks later and the vet said it wasn't a big deal and I should let it be. He told me sometimes dogs just get bumps that are benign and this was one.

It has been 4 months since that visit and the bump is bigger. I scheduled an appointment for Dayz's eye checkup. I mentioned the bump and the doctor immediately looked concerned and asked if she could ask the oncologist in the building to take a look. The doctor also contacted the previous vet and asked them to send their biopsy results over. It took a few minutes, but the first vet emailed the results. The eye doctor told me that just looking at those results it said soft tissue sarcoma (STS) which means it is cancerous. The oncologist from offered to see Day-Z that afternoon and took some x-rays.

Turns out the first vet lied and the bump is cancerous. It has grown so much that it has busted a little bit of the bone in her face (seen on the right side). It has possibly spread so much that surgery to remove it might not be an option without seriously disfiguring her face. The next option? Radiation treatment with specialized machines at Colorado State University. What does this mean? It means a 7 hour road trip with my dog, pet friendly hotel stay, a rather expensive radiation treatment, and lots of prayers that this helps stop the cancer from spreading. 

Do I love my dog and wouldn't think twice about doing something to help her? You bet! She really is my best friend. I am not very good at letting others in my super personal life or asking for help, but we sure could use it right now. So if you know anyone who might want to help out...maybe has hotel/car rental points that are going to expire that they can donate or something to help ease the monetary sting of our next phase in treatment. Thank you. Whether you can help out, offer a kind word, send love to Day-Z, or just took the time to read this whole post....I want to say thank you and I appreciate you. So much love.