I had begun the last post a few weeks ago, and I had started thinking that this blog was coming to a completion. That aside from a few other things I wanted to write about, there wasn't much more to do than provide updates on the girls. It was a nice feeling to imagine I'd finally caught up on this project.
Thinking like that is what gets me in trouble. I should know by now to never let my guard down. On Tuesday, January 31, we found out Lucky now has lymphoma.
It started about a month ago when I noticed her lymph nodes were swollen. I took her to the vet and he recommended a round of antibiotics to rule out infection. After two weeks the lymph nodes had shown a little response so he put her back on another round. We thought they might be continuing to go down but suddenly they popped back up, bigger than ever.
We took her back to the vet and he suggested taking a lymph node to have it biopsied. She had surgery and on the 31st we got the results. We were devastated. I immediately called Carolina Veterinary Specialists and got an appointment with an oncologist the next day.
Again, we started on this emotional roller coaster. You'd think we'd be used to it by now, but again the feelings of panic and disbelief set in. How in the world could this be happening AGAIN? How could Lucky now have 2 different types of cancer and Abby another completely different type of cancer? What were the odds? Why did we deserve this?
The oncology appointment the next day went better than expected. We discussed our options including different types of chemo and were told that with chemo, dogs typically have a pretty significant increase in life span. It is still fatal and is very rarely cured. It didn't take us even a minute to decide. When the vet closed the door to let us discuss it, my husband looked at me and said, "Let's do it," and off we are again.
We elected to do the CHOPS protocol which is a mix of various different chemo drugs given over a 19 week period. She will get chemo for 4 weeks, get a week off, and then repeat the same cycle until the end of the treatment. We decided not to wait and start treatment that same day.
Of course, we found ourselves making another difficult financial decision. So much of our lives has been guided by our dogs. We have been looking for a house for a year and ironically have found one. However, after all this with Abby and the financial pit we dug ourselves, what we wanted in a house had to change, drastically.
We knew we wanted some land and privacy and that it had to be far off the road for the dogs. We originally thought we could afford somewhere in the 150K range, yet it quickly became clear that this was no longer and option. We started looking at foreclosures and found a home that is far from our dream home, but will allow us to have lower mortgage payments than what we pay in rent, and hopefully slowly start paying down some of these massive credit card and loan bills.
Of course we are now adding to the debt, but how can we not? God knows we love these dogs more than words can express, and we have to give Lucky the same chance as Abby. God willing Abby has been cured and there is a 3% chance that Lucky could be too. I have to hold on to that 3% chance. We did what everyone else told us was impossible with Abby. Why not Lucky too? If our odds with fate are such that we have two dogs who between them have now had 3 different types of cancer, we've got crazy luck anyways. We're just hoping that it can work in both directions.
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