and dexter is having trouble breathing at rest. i had him to the vets when he first came in cuz i was concerned that he became so short of breath with exertion and thought maybe the cancer had spread into his lungs. the vet said no, his lungs were clear but labs do have this weird progressive autoimmune disease that causes paralysis first on one side of the larynx and then the other. like i cared, cuz progressive diseases will likely not progress as fast as his cancer anyway. except maybe it is progressing faster. he is going to the vets on friday for sedation and a quick look in there to rule out any funky tumours...but if the vet is right, we have 2 choices, an expensive major surgery with a specialist (and i don't care about the expensive part) or euthanasia. ok, sooo...dexter has a massive malignant tumour on his hip, he certainly does not want anyone goofing around cutting his throat open and making him feel like crap while he heals, he is old and already not healthy.....but, he is not near done playing with his balls or goofing in the freaking pond yet either. grhhhh, geez dex, what am i supposed to do?
well...we will see what the vet finds on friday, if it is a tumour, we have some time yet for ponds, pizza and tennis balls...if it is the other...and if we decide not to treat, we will have to euth fairly quickly because a sudden, without warning, total paralysis means he will not be able to breathe at all and i am not about to watch him go that way, that is too harsh and unkind...dex is such a great, great dog, we'll figure it out for him the best that we can. it just sucks cuz he is still having fun.