Our battle with Bosco's hemangiosarcoma came to an end yesterday. He had been feeling ill with a fever of 106° F over the weekend. Their normal temperature is 101° to 102.5°F. So I went to work and raided the place of every antibiotic you can think of, IV fluids, IV catheter... It NEVER occurred to me to grab the euthanasia solution! He got IV fluids through the weekend and a whole pharmacy of medications. His gums returned to a nice healthy pink rather than the ghastly white that had been. He even started to eat baby food that comes in a jar, some ice cream and played with his squeaky ball. He even got up and was walking around. :-) His improvement was apparently his "last hurrah" which I have seen numerous times in terminal patients thoughtout the years. His gums were white yesterday morning and was not breathing normally. I got him into the car by myself. (Amazing what the body can do in an emergency situation.) We took only one radiograph of his chest ... just to see ... :-( About 95% of his chest cavity was tumors. At least five were larger than the size of my fist! There was so much cancer that his heart could not be seen because of all of the tumours. Maybe some involved his heart too. There was a tiny area of his lungs one inch square that appeared cancer free. Certainly that is not enough for a 100 pound dog! I believe that his cancer also infiltrated the intestines because he had black diarrhea yesterday morning. Black is an indication of severe bleeding and the blood has been digested before exiting the body. His type of cancer stems from the cells of blood vessels and there are blood vessels everywhere. He could have had a rupture of a tumor anywhere in his body. That Bosco's gums turned white again was a sign that his tumors were bleeding. That was another painful thing for him plus it made it even harder for him to breathe. Maybe his back pain was the cancer in the spine? Everything was so nice and normal just 3 weeks ago (radiographs and blood work). We even had a check up with his oncologist in August and he was more than delighted how well Bosco was doing! But ... one needs to have at least one billion cells change before the first change is seen on a radiograph. The hemangiosarcoma is also the fastest growing cancer in a dog. :-( I could not see him suffering any more although he never complained about anything I did for him! I called my Mom and told her what was going on and she too did not want this sweet dog to be in needless pain any longer. He was on a thick soft blanket, I gave him a kiss for every family member, told him I was sorry that it came to this. He got an anesthetic through his IV catheter. He still had the one I placed on the weekend. He didn't even need to get poked again. He went to sleep and then I gave him the injection to stop his heart. The guy I work with asked if I wanted him to put Bosco down. No. I needed to perform this final act of love and mercy for our dearest Bosco. Bosco was so trusting and he let me know through the look in his sweet eyes that it was OK and he was ready to leave his pain. :-( The dose is 1cc per 10 pounds of body weight. He died after he got a dose for someone only weighing 20 pounds. I did give him the full dose but for sure he was ready to go. Bosco will be cremated and we will get his ashes back in a few days. I e mailed Mike/Ima_Celery about what was going on and again yesterday what had happened. I don't think he has had time to check his e mails yet. The Internet situation in S. America can be iffy at times. Mike will be back in early October. Daisy is looking for Bosco. Bruno the cat, Bosco's best friend, knows something bad has happened and is lying on Bosco's bed all day. None of the cats had eaten yesterday either! We got his spleen out last September and while 80% of dogs die within one to two months of diagnosis, we were lucky ... did the 12 weeks of chemo and got to have another 11 months with him! About 6 years ago Bosco fathered a litter of 7 puppies. ALL have his loving friendly personality. We were so delighted with his puppies we put some of his "representatives" into a sperm bank. Perhaps later if we find a nice female GSD, she might have some Bosco puppies and his line will endure. That is far down in the future. We need to cope, somehow, with this totally unexpected turn of events. I gave myself a mega headache from crying yesterday and today. Drugs have dulled it a bit but not totally. My sincerest thanks to Semper, Heather and Bihai for their compassion and care during this ordeal! What wonderful people they are, and the rest of you Pond people, for such concern for someone you have never even met! Time to cry some more. :-( Chickadeedeedee

Hi, Kay. Yes, she is going through all of the paperwork, and she is getting a bit overwhelmed. My dad left everything to her, and my sister-in-law, who is an accountant, is the executor of the will. She is doing most of the work, but they are waiting on the official death certificate before the house can be put in my mom's name. She can't sell until that is done. She also has to get rid of the car, since she doesn't drive, but one of my brothers needs a trade-in, and he is going to buy the car from her ( at a fair market price, of course). My dad did have his affairs in order, and all of the investments were in my mom's name anyhow, so she doesn't have too much to do. Right now she is slowly going through the house getting rid of things she won't need in an apartment. They lived in the same place for 44 years, so it's quite a big job, although in recent years they did begin to clear out a lot of junk. The biggest job is already done. My dad was into model trains, and had a huge set-up in two rooms in the basement. He had literally hundreds of cars, plus little villages, etc. He kept all of the boxes, but it still took us the better part of a week to dismantle the whole thing. The trains are going to be divided up between my brothers, and my mom didn't have to do a thing. We have been very fortunate that there have been absolutely NO arguements over money or disposing of posessions. I have heard so many stories about how a death in the family can bring out the absolute worst in people, but this is not the case for us. All of my brothers and I just want our mom to have as smooth a move as possible, and to end up with as much money as she can get. She is anxious to sell, she finds there are just too many memories in the house, and she wants a fresh start. Hopefully, she can be settled in her new place before the winter weather begins.

I also somehow missed that she was sent home on painkillers. While I agree that pain control is most likely needed, keep in mind that some pain medications depend on the liver to be metabolized, and when an animal has significant liver disease the drugs are not properly excreted. This can lead to a dangerous accumulation of the drug in the bloodstream. What medication was your dog put on for pain? There are options that do not require the liver and they work just as well for pain control. I attached an article that explains some of the laboratory workup for liver disease. Right now, because your dog is jaundiced, the bile acids test results are not accurate- we know her serum bile acids are elevated because she is yellow (assuming she isn't suffering from a hemolyzing anemia). I also somehow forgot that Dobies are a breed that commonly get copper storage disease. A liver biopsy is the only way to confirm that, but it is also a good way to confirm other diseases (idiopathic hepatitis, neoplasia, cirrhosis, etc). Ultrasound can also be useful to see if the structure of the liver is normal and to evaluate the gall bladder and bile ducts. It can also show abnormal nodules and help direct aspirates to get a better sample. Ultrasound would also help evaluate the rest of the abdomen, in case there is a mass elsewhere as well as in the liver, and can be done with little risk to the patient compared to exploratory surgery. I would strongly suggest at least ultrasound and guided aspirates if indicated to diagnose her specific disease. "Old age or cancer" is not a diagnosis- it's a wild guess and may be completely off-base, but there is no way to know unless further diagnostics are done. Unless your dog's labwork showed certain indicators of liver failure such as low albumin, low glucose, low BUN, low cholesterol, or decreased clotting function, then liver function was not truly evaluated. These findings suggest 80% or greater loss of liver function and can be described as hepatic failure or end-stage liver. But I've seen dogs do fairly well for at least several months with proper management even when they are at this stage. I've seen others not do so well. It depends on the underlying disease and what, if anything, can be done about it. True end-stage liver disease with significant cirrhosis is irreversible, but other diseases are manageable or even curable if treated properly before significant damage is done. Also the liver is a wonderfully regenerative organ, so acute damage that is stopped quickly allows the liver to heal itself to a point. I hope this article helps explain some of the common tests we use for liver disease, and also shows the need for more information. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: article on liver chemistry panel changes, bile acids

Quilly... the first time DH was referred immediately to the Plastic Surgeon by our Family Doctor. I wondered at that time why not an Oncologist. The Oncologist he DID see was for another matter, he was in there for follow up for a blood issue, and asked about the skin cancer,that Oncologist really didn't say much.. just said to go back to the Plastic Surgeon. So your answer: " Even when DH diagnoses skin cancer he refers them to a dermatologist or plastic surgeon because oncologists don't routinely perform those procedures." ..now i understand. SunnyDJ thanks for telling me about your DH's experience with MOHS. WmbsgJane...thanks for the kind thoughts. Everyone has been so helpful, I feel so much better today. It is very encouraging to have the KT members to talk to. You all have a lovely day. I have been mowing and doing yard work. We had a cold front here in Central VA. Instead of the 98 degree days we have been having, today is a cool 84!!