About two weeks ago, we noticed our lovable lab's appetite decrease. We always considered her our canine vacuum and she would wait patiently under the dinner table for any scraps she could find. When we started noticing her not eat her food, we knew we might have a problem.
One Wednesday, I took Chimi in to see the vet. She had recently been in to see him in January so we were shocked to find out that she had lost 12 pounds in that short period of time. Between the weight loss and some very swollen lymph nodes, the doctor was pretty sure he knew what was going on. He pulled some fluid from one of the lymph nodes, and sure enough....it was lymphoma. My heart immediately sank. The dog that we had hoped would be our children's childhood companion was not going to make it more then a few months. He began talking about some chemo options, but the word "chemo" and "dog" seemed so foreign to me, so I told him we were not going to pursue that route. He sent us home with some steroids to help her regain her energy and appetite and said it would buy her a few months, and I took her home.
After the news settled in, we started feeling like we should at least know all our options. Chimi is an AMAZING family dog and she is worth us considering her options. I was able to get some insight on a dog forum as well as speaking with the vet again. We knew it would be a gamble, but again, she is worth it. So with the vet's reassurance, we decided to pursue the chemo.
Yesterday, Chimi had her first treatment. Most people cringe at the thought of chemo. (I know I did.) However, there are really no major side effects like there are in humans. One of the main things they have to watch out for is chance of infection. The vet also told us that early on into the 16 weeks of treatments, we will know if her lymphoma is responding. If it isn't, we are able to stop the treatments and just focus on the time we have left with her.
Here are a few pics of this lovable dog and her golden personality. She was such a cute puppy. She was born into a batch of chocolate lab pups, but was the only yellow lab in the litter. (We thought that made her extra special.) She sure did her damage on our house and my shoes in those days
Over the years, Chimi has also taken on the role of "adoptive mommy" to a handful of kittens. She would get so frantic whenever they were hungry.
She has endured horseback rides from Nate and Tessa.....
...and even an occasion feline.
One of her favorite places is swimming in the river up at the Blue. We are hoping to take a trip up there soon so that we can make sure we get at least one more trip with her.
We are crossing our fingers and toes that this treatment works and that we get to enjoy our Chimi-Chimichanga a few more years. We will keep you posted.
1 comment:
Sweet Chimi! What a wonderful dog you have been for your family! One word of caution- did the vet say anything about possible chemo absorption for the humans in the house, especially the kids? From your oncology sister- in humans chemo is excreted through body fluids and waste products are considered toxic hazard waste. Something to think about and ask the vet about, if you need to take extra precautions cleaning up after her.
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