Still doing great!!

Tucker is still doing great. I took him to the vet earlier this evening to have his staples removed. They said that his incision is healing well. I also picked up his x-rays to take to the oncologist. We were supposed to meet with the oncologist (Dr. Fulton at MedVet) tomorrow, but I got a call from the office today. They said that Dr. Foster had to go out of town for a family emergency, so we had to reschedule. The new appointment is next Thursday (8/7). So, hopefully we will have another good week and all will be uneventful until the appointment. Not much else to report. We are just enjoying every minute with our boy and giving him lots and lots of love. I will update again soon.

What I love about Tucker ...

A very kind man who recently lost his beloved Tucker to hemangiosarcoma recommended that I write down everything I love about Tucker, while he is still with us. So, while I can't possibly think of every single thing I love about him right now, I thought I would start with just a few things that come to mind. Here goes:

What I love about Tucker:

*his soft kisses on my cheek
*the way he always has to have something in his mouth (sock, toy, anything) when Brian or I get home
*the way he smells after he has been out in the sun
*the way his paws smell (like Fritos!)
*the way he rolls on his back in the grass and lets us scratch/rub his soft tummy
*I can put a plate of food on the coffee table, right next to where he is sitting, leave the room, and he won't do anything but look at the food and drool
*the snoring-type sound he makes when I scratch under his chin and he is really content
*the way his tongue hangs out of his mouth when he watches us eat
*the way his eyebrows move when I talk to him
*the way he barks at the TV when he sees dogs or other animals on the screen
*the way the whole back half of his body wags when he is happy
*his beautiful paws
*his full, fluffy bib that makes him look like a lion
*the way he looks like Falkor (from the Neverending Story) when he lays with his chin resting on the floor between his front paws
*the pure joy on his face when he gets to stick his head out the window and feel the wind on a car ride
*the pure joy on his face when he gets to go swimming - he is such a water dog!!
*the pure, unconditional love and adoration he has for Brian and me
*the way he has been there for me, every minute of every day of the last 8 years and 8 months, living to make me happy

OK, I guess that's enough for now. I'm sure I'll come up with a whole new list sometime soon.

The news we never wanted to hear ...

We got the dreaded phone call from our vet late yesterday (Monday) afternoon. As soon as I saw the number on caller ID, I just had a sinking feeling in my stomach. As I feared, our sweet boy has hemangiosarcoma, an extremely aggressive cancer of the lining of the blood vessels. Since we have blood vessels throughout our bodies, this means that the cancer can spread anywhere. The vet said that the pathology report confirmed that the splenic tumor was low to intermediate grade, but we don't know yet if the cancer has spread anywhere else. We can only hope that it hasn't. The vet said that we probably only have a matter of months left with our boy, depending on how much the cancer has spread. The vet recommended that we meet with an oncologist to find out how advanced the cancer is, and figure out where to go from here. I have also had several recommendations -from folks who have lost their furbabies to this terrible cancer - to look into meeting with a holistic vet, who will work in conjunction with our oncologist. All of this is very overwhelming, and we feel like we're spinning in circles right now.

The most important thing is that Tucker does not know (and never will know) what hemangiosarcoma is, and he has no idea that he is sick. He is just a happy boy who seems to be feeling great right now. He has had such a good week since the surgery last Monday. He has renewed energy that we haven't seen in months, his appetite is fantastic, and, despite our efforts to keep his activity level at a minimum (to allow him to heal from surgery), he has been running around the backyard and rolling in the grass like a puppy. It is wonderful to see him like this, but it makes it seem so unreal that this ugly cancer beast is wreaking havoc inside his beautiful body. I hate this helpless feeling that there is nothing I can do to stop the cancer. We just need to keep him feeling good for as long as we can, and that's where the oncologist (and holistic vet, maybe) will come in.

We are going to continue enjoying every minute with our boy, and we will take this a day at a time. I will update again soon, after we meet with the oncologist.

Another diversion ... beautiful flowers :)

I know that these pictures are not of Tucker, but this is my only blog, and I thought they were so pretty that I had to share them. These are my most favorite thing in our whole yard ... huge, bright orange daylilies. They are in full bloom right now, and each morning I get to enjoy several new blooms.

A boy and his monkey

My wonderful sister (Tucker's Aunt Heather) bought Tucker this adorable stuffed monkey when we found out about his splenic tumor. This is by far the biggest toy he has ever owned, and he carries it around everywhere. He even got to have it with him when he spent the night at the vet's the night of his surgery (Monday). Hopefully it comforted him while he was there. Enjoy the pictures! :)

A funny diversion ...

I love the guys at JibJab ... they are so creative! This will make you laugh out loud no matter what side of the political fence you are on!

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Tucker is home!!

So, our boy is home. Brian picked him up this afternoon, and he is resting comfortably now. When I got home from clinicals tonight, Tucker greeted me at the door with his big monkey toy (picture to follow in the next few days) in his mouth, wagging the whole back half of his body. So sweet. It was so good to see him again and bury my head in his fur when I hugged him. He is sleepy tonight, because his pain medicine makes him tired. But, he seems to be feeling good other than that. He has a huge incision on his abdomen, which looks very painful. It's sad to see his belly shaved. So now, we just wait for the pathology reports to come back, and then we will take it one day at a time from there.

Our boy did great today!

Tucker made it through surgery just fine. Dr. Halliday said that the surgery turned out to be much more complicated than he had originally anticipated, and it also took about an hour longer than he expected it to. Apparently, every time Tucker had an "episode" (a total of 4 times), as well as any number of times that he didn't have an "episode", his splenic tumor would bleed and his body would respond by creating a fibrous protective "shell" around the spleen (complete with its own set of fragile blood vessels) to contain the blood in that area. Pretty interesting. So, Dr. Halliday said that it was very tedious having to cut through all of that "shell" and blood vessels. But, when I talked to Dr. Halliday tonight, he said that Tucker was recovering well and was sitting there giving him the evil eye because he had to put the dreaded plastic "cone" on Tucker's head (he kept trying to chew out his urinary catheter ... yikes!!!). We will be able to pick him up tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon and bring him home.

Unfortunately, Dr. Halliday didn't like what he found when he got to Tucker's spleen. He saw the main fist-sized mass, but also saw several other smaller masses in the spleen. He also saw some nodules in the liver, which really concerns me. I have a sinking feeling that the pathology report is going to show cancer (specifically, hemangiosarcoma, the really bad cancer), but Dr. Halliday wouldn't speculate before seeing the reports. We should hear back on that in about a week. So, for the time being, we are going to love on our sweet boy and keep him comfortable, so he can heal. Thanks for reading our blog and caring about us. I will post an update and pictures sometime tomorrow night.

What's going on ...

We decided to start this blog to keep family and friends updated on Tucker's health issues. He is scheduled to have his spleen (along with the softball-sized mass residing in or on his spleen) removed on Monday, 7/14. Our vet, Dr. Halliday, told us that this is a relatively easy surgery (in the grand scheme of surgeries), and he doesn't anticipate any complications (knock on wood). Dr. Halliday will also be looking at Tucker's liver for any signs of metastasis. He is also going to check out Tucker's pancreas, as there is a tumor called insulinoma that exhibits symptoms that are similar to the ones Tucker has been experiencing. Based on the appearance of the splenic tumor, liver, and surrounding tissues, Dr. Halliday will probably have a good idea on Monday whether the splenic mass is malignant (cancerous) or benign. Our biggest fear is a diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma, which is a very aggressive canine cancer. We won't have a definitive answer until the pathology reports come back in a couple weeks. Click here for some good information on splenic masses. Rochelle Lesser, founder of Land of Pure Gold Foundation and fellow golden retriever lover, posted some information about Tucker on her blog.

Please think good thoughts for our boy as he goes into surgery on Monday. I will post an update sometime on Monday evening.