Bad News

This morning, we took Dresden (the family dog) to the vet for his annual shots. While we were there, we pointed out that the hacking cough he'd had 6 months ago was getting worse. And thankfully, he even demonstrated for them, so they could hear it for themselves. They didn't hear any heart murmurs or anything like that, but they wanted to take an X-ray. Unfortunately, the X-ray revealed a large mass in his lungs. They couldn't say definitely what it was, so we had to pay extra to have the X-ray sent to a radiologist for interpretation. We got a call back this afternoon saying it looked like cancer, but a definitive diagnosis would require we either take him to Gainesville to the Florida University Vet school, or a big vet hospital in Tampa. But the radiologist had seen several smaller lumps as well as the large mass, so s/he was fairly certain it was cancer. There's no telling how long the poor guy might have left, but so far he's eating and drinking normally, and he hasn't lost any weight.

I knew it was bad when the vet said she'd give him some of his annual shots, but not the one for kennel cough (which he'll need when we put him in a local kennel to go on our Dr Who cruise. I had to explain to John that she (the vet) was saying he might not be around in 5 weeks to need that shot. If he's still doing okay by then, we can always take him in for it.

I did not handle the news very well, even before we got the radiologist's report. I mean, a big mass in the lungs can't be a good thing. I managed to hold it together for the ride home (I was driving, and probably shouldn't have been), but I've been having crying spells ever since. And I've gotten very little work done today.

Dresden just acts like he's getting old. He's uncertain about jumping up into his chair or onto the couch any more, and sometimes he's reluctant to jump back down. And he's got this old man hacking cough. But we'll enjoy his company while we still have him.

Excuse me. I need another tissue.