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Bad News..

2K views 12 replies 13 participants last post by  Deetles 
#1 ·
Hello,

I am new here. I just found out my 10.5 year old GSD Maggie either has lymphoma or some kind of mast cell cancer. Maggie lives with my mom in Canada and I live in California. When we got the dog, I was living at home for the first 3 years of her life and developed a very strong amazing bond with her. It was like she always knew how I was feeling. I've had other breeds of dogs in my life, but this was my first GSD and I've never experienced a bond like this. I'm sure you all know. She never forgot me when I came home to visit, the bond never changed no matter how long I was gone and she always recognized my voice over the phone. The last few years when I would come home to visit, we would always have a hard time when I had to leave. Maggie didn't want to leave my side and she would cry when I left. One time, my mom told me she actually picked up a picture of me in a frame that was on a ledge with a bunch of other pictures and carried it around the house. These dogs are amazing..

The last few weeks have been rough. Maggie has had some chronic health issues over the last year (hip arthritis and epi) that have been managed with medication. Other than that, she has been relatively healthy with a good appetite. I had this bad feeling one morning when I woke up and felt the need to call my mom and see how she was doing. My mom told me she was lethargic and not eating all her food. I immediately knew something ominous was going on. My biggest fear was cancer of course, specifically hemangiosarcoma which takes so many GSD's. After many trips to the vets over the last week we were first told it was a respiratory infection and she was given antibiotics. Deep down, I knew this was not the right diagnosis and something more serious was going on. After 3 days of antibiotics with no improvement, she went in for a chest and abdominal xray and they found something that looked like a mass on the pancreas. My worst fear was confirmed. I was devastated. As the xray does not show a whole lot, it was hard for the vet to say what it was without doing an ultrasound. Her labs were pretty good except that her blood sugar was low and the vet was suspicious of a tumor called an insulinoma that secretes insulin and drops blood sugar which explains why she was lethargic. She went home and the vet wanted her to get corn syrup to keep her blood sugar levels up while we waited to get her in for an ultrasound. She started improving and eating all her food and seemed much more like herself. It gave me hope that what ever we were dealing with was something that could possibly be treated surgically or medically and give us a little more time with Maggie. Last week she had the ultrasound and we were told by her main vet that it looked like a small tumor and it had not infiltrated her liver, but the results were being sent to another specialist in another city to find out more about the tumor. I was so happy and really thought that she could just have surgery. Maggie still continued to improve with the corn syrup and extra meals to keep her blood sugar up. Yesterday, we finally received the news that it is not a tumor on her pancreas and that it is her spleen and liver which are abnormal and the vet is saying it is consistent with lymphoma or mast cell cancer and the only way to know for sure would be a biopsy. A biopsy would be very risky and at this point and it would not really have a purpose unless she was to undergo chemo which we don't want to do. So this is it.. It is comfort care and end of life care now. I really don't know how much time we have. The vet said we could have weeks, months or possibly up to a year. I guess I should just feel lucky knowing that I have some time.

I really had no idea how hard this would be. I remember the first week when I got Maggie, I went to a pet store and had a conversation with the cashier who himself had a GSD dog and he told me you wont ever regret getting a GSD, but when you have to let them go it is going to be the hardest thing you will ever go through. He was right.

Thank you all for reading. This is going to be very difficult and I'm glad I have found this forum.

Jen
 
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#10 ·
So sorry that you or anyone has to go through this. So many people reading your post has been in the situation including myself and wishing for words that can take the pain away. I do sometimes thinks how many years I will have with mine and is way to short and know I will not be the same. There is such a huge void and quietness when someone you love leaves this world- they also take a part of you with them. All I can say the memories will always live on. Cherish and hold onto your good times together.
 
#11 ·
She sounds like an incredibly special girl, and what a great bond you have. I hope her remaining time is comfortable.
 
#13 ·
I'm very sorry to hear about your wonderful dog. I've been there ..it is never easy. I hope you can get home to be with her. Is there any way you can take her to CA with you? I'm sure she would love to be with you for her last days.

I don't know if it would help or not but I saw this supplement online when researching for my own dogs issue...it's called BioPeperation for pets by Bio Age....some people with cancerous dogs have had luck with it....you would need the F3 formula I believe.....you can google it.....amazon used to have it. I have not used it maybe there is info in this forum about it.
 
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