But, She Is Only 9 and 1/2 Years Old...

“But, she is only 9 and ½ years old… how can this happen?” Those were my words this past Saturday in response to the doctor while staring at the X-rays at the Veterinary office. I spent the entire afternoon trying to understand how my beloved dog, Berkeley could get bone cancer… It all started a little over a month ago when Berkeley started limping when she walked and was visibly favoring that right front leg almost every day. My mom told me about it shortly after she started doing it… I made the trip home for a visit and checked it out for myself… I could not see any cuts or bruising, no swelling, and she did not really wince when I touched her joint above her paw. But, she definitely did not want me to squeeze her leg… we decided to wait and see if it got worse and tried to help with aspirin… my mom kept reminding me about it… and then I finally made the appointment for today actually. Well, on Friday night my mom decided to take her to the Vet’s office on Saturday morning bright and early to see if she could them to work her into their busy schedule… eventually they did… they would take her in for X-rays so my mom left her in their hands. I get the call from my mom around 12:30pm… “you need to go to the Vet’s office and talk to the doctor”… “Why? What’s wrong?” I ask… Silence on the other end of line… more silence… and then I hear her loudly inhale and respond in that tearful voice (you know the one that I have always hated to hear from my mother's mouth for years)… “they think she has cancer in her leg”… The tears are now welling in FULL force from my eyes… I am devastated… I meet her there and the doctor shows us the X-rays and explains the situation… NOT good all the way around… It has progressed both directions from that joint… it the fast-spreading type of boney cancer that occurs mostly in large dogs… we take her home with a week’s worth of medicine that might or might not help… We get her home and I watch her walk… she does not move around well AT ALL. I must have cried the entire time I was with her there… she could only walk so many feet and then have to stop and rest… it just broke my heart! I just could not watch her in that condition…
I am heading back down there tomorrow to assess her progress and talk with the doctor about it… so we shall see what happens… tears are forming… gotta go.