This was a truly difficult blog to write but I felt behoved to provide a bit of a background on what we are going through with our beloved Max and this is also a bit of an appreciation for everybody’s kind words and thoughts as expressed on Facebook.
At this point we really don’t know what is happening with him, but we are bracing ourselves for what might be an ominous prognosis. People we love get sick and die, and so do our pets. And it matters not a whit how wonderful the person or pet might be. I mean, I know that, but it doesn’t make it easier. I’ve been going through my stages of grief even though he is very much still with us.
Two weeks ago he was right as rain. Then he came in from his pee foray early in the morning and he wasn’t right. His legs were shaky and he had no energy at all and was severely depressed looking. We took him to the vet, but by then he had perked up. They checked him over and found nothing amiss. He came home and was happy and his energy was great. So, false alarm – we thought. He’d had a physical a few months ago and checked out right-as-rain for a dog of his age 9-10. He was a rescue so we don’t know for sure how old he is.
Anyway, a few days later he went way down again so we took him in immediately. His blood count was competely different from that earlier check a few days earlier.
So, to cut to the chase, he has been bleeding internally, and when he perks up is when his body has reabsorbed the blood. And as for cause, they suspect a sarcoma (as in cancer) of the spleen. So, they would like to do surgery. But – and this is the big ‘but’ that is agonizing, if it is malignant and has spread there is no point to the surgery because he is, sadly so, on his way to the ‘rainbow bridge’ and it’ll be just a matter of time. He’s slated for a further ultrasound this afternoon and that should tell us more – for good or for bad.
So, it’s tough as hell but I wanted to fill people in on the matter.
And I can honestly say that since we rescued him we have never, ever, had a bad moment with this wonderful dog – this Max whom we love without qualification.
And I still think so 