From Vacation to a sad reality....

I've been avoiding this post like the plague. But, I also wanted to share it with all of my friends. When I returned home from my "lovely" colonoscopy X's 2, I noticed that Charlie's left hind leg was really, really swollen. He was also limping more than normal. (He has bad hips, so he always has a bit of a limp.) I called the vet and got him in right away. Charlie has a lot of fatty lumps all over his body so Rod and I both assumed that he just had another fat lump growing in that muscle. The vet wasn't so sure and ended up doing an x-ray and took some fluid from the area to try to figure out what was going on. She didn't get any definitive answers so we had to keep "The Big Guy" overnight so they could do a biopsy in the morning. The vet was not happy with what she saw. But, we had to wait for the results from the biopsy that had to be sent to the specialist in Colorado. Anyway, the results are back and Charlie has an aggressive form of cancer in his left hind leg. This type of cancer usually goes to the lungs. They tell us he probably has 6-9 months. The only thing we can do is keep him comfortable with pain meds. When it goes to his lungs and he starts coughing and/or he is unable to walk we'll have to tell him goodbye. Right now he's comfortable. He's eating well and is generally his happy, normal self. He spends 90% of his time on the couch (much like his mother!) and is still able to get out and about to "do his thing." So, anyway, such is life.
Thanks for reading.

Annette (and Charlie)