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So, in a doubly cruel twist of fate, I am having another horrible day.
I woke up this morning to my mom telling me that Nash, our 7 year old German Shepherd, was acting weird. He was really lethargic and didn't really show an interest in the things he usually does. Normally if she says 'feed the birds' or 'go get Colby' he'll get all excited. Today? Nothing. He was just moping around and breathing kinda funny. So, I got up and we went to the vet - the Emergency Vet, actually, as our usual vet inexplicably had no doctors in the office today. Nash hates cars, he usually whines and barks the whole way, but today he laid down in the backseat, and that was after struggling to get him into the car in the first place. Also noticed his gums were really pale. They took him back, did and x-ray and within five minutes, they knew what it was. In those five minutes, I had googled symptoms and come up with the same answer.
Hemangiosarcoma. It's a relatively common cancer found in dogs, but even more so in German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers. You almost never know your dog has it until this happens. It can effect a couple different organs - the skin, and the heart are popular ones, but so is the spleen. That's what Nash had. A tumor on his spleen had ruptured, and since HSA is a cancer of the blood vessels, the rupture means that cancer cells have potentially just spread everywhere. They could have done a splenectomy and tried to stop the bleeding, but if they'd found it in other places while they were in there, that would have been it. Even still, unless it was completely benign, a very very small chance, the surgery would have only given him a couple of months of intense chemotherapy. So, we had to take the other option. We both lost it about halfway through the whole talk with the vet.
I stayed at the vet while Mom went home to inform/get my dad and my brother. My dad works night shift and he was asleep when mom got back. Nash is his baby, his best friend, like Buddy was mine. Mom said he completely lost it when she told him. Can't blame him at all. He just watched his Mom die on Monday, after a week of sleeping at the hospice with her.
They brought Nash in the room with me and left me be. He was on painkillers then, at least, but he still seemed really uncomfortable. His belly was really swollen, and by then I'd asked to see the x-ray. The mass was huge. Like, the size of two softballs, maybe? He was really cold, too, and a couple times I thought he was going to die while we were waiting, the way he was breathing.
Mom finally showed up with Zach and Dad. Did not help at all that there was a seriously cute GSD in the lobby. Dad and Zach were both in tears when they walked in. Dad lost it some more, and then, when we were as ready as we were gonna get, we called the vet in.
It was so quick.
With Buddy, he was older, and we'd known it was coming for a while. Not that that made it any easier, but at least we had warning. The day we took him, he could barely stand up without falling over. This... this just... last night Nash was scarfing down his dinner and mooing and playing with Colby. And now he's just gone.
Dad's taking it the hardest. Everything reminds him of Nash. Everything reminds all of us of Nash. I gave Colby a treat and he started sobbing. His computer desktop is a picture of Nash and when he saw that he broke down again. He gave Colby one of his and Nash's favorite treats and again. We even decided not to tell anybody because we've got the viewing tomorrow and the funeral Friday, cause none of us would be able to stand it. I don't even know how he'll make it through even without people knowing. Here's hoping no one asks how the dogs are doing...
Nash, you were a great dog. You were the first puppy we had, and we loved you with your cow noises and your inexplicable fear of walking on tile floors and your obsession with milkbones. We didn't have you nearly long enough and we'll miss you.
I hope you're with Buddy and Grandmom and everyone else we've lost, of both the two and four legged varieties.
NASH
12/16/2006-10/23/2013
I woke up this morning to my mom telling me that Nash, our 7 year old German Shepherd, was acting weird. He was really lethargic and didn't really show an interest in the things he usually does. Normally if she says 'feed the birds' or 'go get Colby' he'll get all excited. Today? Nothing. He was just moping around and breathing kinda funny. So, I got up and we went to the vet - the Emergency Vet, actually, as our usual vet inexplicably had no doctors in the office today. Nash hates cars, he usually whines and barks the whole way, but today he laid down in the backseat, and that was after struggling to get him into the car in the first place. Also noticed his gums were really pale. They took him back, did and x-ray and within five minutes, they knew what it was. In those five minutes, I had googled symptoms and come up with the same answer.
Hemangiosarcoma. It's a relatively common cancer found in dogs, but even more so in German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers. You almost never know your dog has it until this happens. It can effect a couple different organs - the skin, and the heart are popular ones, but so is the spleen. That's what Nash had. A tumor on his spleen had ruptured, and since HSA is a cancer of the blood vessels, the rupture means that cancer cells have potentially just spread everywhere. They could have done a splenectomy and tried to stop the bleeding, but if they'd found it in other places while they were in there, that would have been it. Even still, unless it was completely benign, a very very small chance, the surgery would have only given him a couple of months of intense chemotherapy. So, we had to take the other option. We both lost it about halfway through the whole talk with the vet.
I stayed at the vet while Mom went home to inform/get my dad and my brother. My dad works night shift and he was asleep when mom got back. Nash is his baby, his best friend, like Buddy was mine. Mom said he completely lost it when she told him. Can't blame him at all. He just watched his Mom die on Monday, after a week of sleeping at the hospice with her.
They brought Nash in the room with me and left me be. He was on painkillers then, at least, but he still seemed really uncomfortable. His belly was really swollen, and by then I'd asked to see the x-ray. The mass was huge. Like, the size of two softballs, maybe? He was really cold, too, and a couple times I thought he was going to die while we were waiting, the way he was breathing.
Mom finally showed up with Zach and Dad. Did not help at all that there was a seriously cute GSD in the lobby. Dad and Zach were both in tears when they walked in. Dad lost it some more, and then, when we were as ready as we were gonna get, we called the vet in.
It was so quick.
With Buddy, he was older, and we'd known it was coming for a while. Not that that made it any easier, but at least we had warning. The day we took him, he could barely stand up without falling over. This... this just... last night Nash was scarfing down his dinner and mooing and playing with Colby. And now he's just gone.
Dad's taking it the hardest. Everything reminds him of Nash. Everything reminds all of us of Nash. I gave Colby a treat and he started sobbing. His computer desktop is a picture of Nash and when he saw that he broke down again. He gave Colby one of his and Nash's favorite treats and again. We even decided not to tell anybody because we've got the viewing tomorrow and the funeral Friday, cause none of us would be able to stand it. I don't even know how he'll make it through even without people knowing. Here's hoping no one asks how the dogs are doing...
Nash, you were a great dog. You were the first puppy we had, and we loved you with your cow noises and your inexplicable fear of walking on tile floors and your obsession with milkbones. We didn't have you nearly long enough and we'll miss you.
I hope you're with Buddy and Grandmom and everyone else we've lost, of both the two and four legged varieties.
NASH
12/16/2006-10/23/2013
