Friday, March 24, 2006

Why I Hate Ultrasounds - by Sandy

The last time I was in a room with an ultrasound machine, I was told that my baby had died.
Tonight I was in another room with an ultrasound machine and I was told that my dawg is going to die.
My big Newfie dawg has lymphoma. It has spread to his spleen and liver. We could treat with chemo. The chemo and associated treatments would take about four months of weekly poking, prodding and would be fairly invasive - not to mention expensive for a dog his size.
Or we can treat with prednozone, which will reduce the swelling in the masses we found tonight, will help to stop the diarhhea, and will give him some quality of life for the next four to six months.
But it won't take away the cancer.
And he will either die or we will have to put him down in the next four to six months.
I hate ultrasounds.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh damn.....damn, damn, damn

Cricket said...

Go ahead and take it one step further. Hate all kinds of doctors. They always have bad news.

I am so sorry about your pooch and for you to have this thrust upon you as your new blogging subject.

Anonymous said...

Oh Sandy I'm so sorry. I had to put my Dippy down last year and it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

My thoughts are with you *hugs*

Anonymous said...

There is so much animal grief in the blog community right now. It makes me sad. And I don't even know any of these people. I'm a lurker, but needed to add my two cents. So sorry about your dawg. Life is unfair.

Tiff said...

Oh hell. I am so sorry. I can't even tell you how sorry. I will say though that I have seen the pred. work wonders. My friends kitty was dxed almost a year ago and has been taking pred. and is still doing fine.
((HUGS)) to you and to your puppy dog.

Donna said...

Damn it. Another shot of bad news from the universe. What a difficult decision, my heart is with you.

Anonymous said...

Oh No! I am so sorry Sandy. So very sorry.

DinosaurD said...

Sandy, I'm so sorry. It's Barkley isn't it? (I remember the picture you posted - he's such a beautiful dawg).
I wish there was something I could do or say that would help. (Our dawgs were always "family" and not "just like family".)
Take care
DinoD

x said...

Instantly, my eye's are filled with tears and I am crying. I am so sorry. Damn, I am so sorry. I love your Dawg, he is the sweetest looking guy. I am sending {{{hugs}}}.

Anonymous said...

You have my complete sympathies.

I'm glad that my journal of my Newfie's last months was useful to you. Yeah. I cried a lot then, too.

Take care of yourself, enjoy your pup as much as you can, and I hope that you know when the right time is the way I finally figured it out. Hard, very hard, but it was right.

Shinny said...

So sorry about your dawg. There is never an easy decision in a case like this. I always hoped that my furbabies would just go in their sleep. 3 dogs later to the vet, perhaps my cats will get that luxury.
Love and enjoy him while you still have him, yes I state the obvious, ALOT. You will know when it is time to let him go. It won't be easy but you will know that you did all you could to make his last days happy ones and that you did not let him suffer unnecessarily. That is all a good pet owner can do, until "they" figure out how to interpret animal talk we need to follow our best guess.

Unknown said...

I hate ultrasounds too. Sorry about your sweet dog.

butterflies said...

I can sympathise with you.My blue heeler was diagnosed with lymphoma when she was 10 and my husband also has lymphoma! It was devastating! Gracie was helped greatly by being on prednisone and lived happily for another 6mths.She died gently in her sleep.My husband continues to live with lymphoma after being told 2 yrs ago that he had 3mths to live.I never believe doctors anymore and I hate them all(except for the pain management ones)