Last Tuesday was an unexpectedly hard day for our household, and it is something we are still sort of in the
middle of.
What started off as a fantastic weekend camping with friends (where
our extra-grouchy dog was the most chill she has ever been and got lots
of love) ended with Sophie being terribly sick.
Daniel took her to the vet
first thing Tuesday and we learned through x-rays that she has a significant growth
that appears to be pressing on all of her organs and does not seem to be allowing her to digest
food properly.
There's a good chance it is cancer.
Her bloodwork showed she had possible liver
damage and the overall prognosis wasn’t good. After seeing the bloodwork, the vet specifically told us she had a 10% chance of recovery.
The vet gave her fluids for
dehydration and anti-nausea medicine, then sent her home with us so we
could love on her and spoil her for at least 24 hours.
Daniel brought her home and we
immediately cancelled all
plans for Tuesday and Wednesday and decided to take a spontaneous drive
to the mountains to
hike as a family. Daniel rode in the very back with her while I drove us up to Huckleberry Knob on the Cherohala Skyway outside of Tellico Plains.
Our Sophie loves to hike with us. She loves to stop and smell the roses (really any flower in her path). She loves to run free on the open balds. So we let her do all of these things.
The four of us talked about all of our good memories with Sophie over the last
eleven years and just took the time to enjoy being with her, not getting home until
midnight that night.
We were actually supposed to start school last Wednesday but decided
to wait since everything felt a bit upside down. For five nights Sophie
got me up every couple of hours. It was exhausting and emotional.
Sophie
didn't (and doesn’t) appear to be in pain and is still enjoying long daily walks with
Daniel at Green Gorge. We talked about end of life plans, but couldn’t quite bear to make the call that seemed
to be on the horizon.
That was last week. Friday night she finally pooped and all of her energy bounced back. She quit waking us (me) up at all hours and is eating again. We have no idea what to expect in the future, but for now she is doing leaps and bounds better.
We have been walking through joy and sorrow and the knowledge that her time with us is limited, but are also incredibly grateful for this gift of extra time with our thirteen-year-old girl who still seems so much like a puppy.