Originally Posted by
Tuffgirl 
*SIGH* It's official. My dog, ****, has t cell lymphoma, the aggressive kind.
You wouldn't know it by looking at her, that her time here now has an expiration date.
I came home from the vet and fed her bacon. Shoot, she can even get up on the couch now. Never mind that she weighs 70 pounds. When you are dying, you get to do whatever the heck you want...short of being destructive.
It reminds me to live in the moment. To savor right now, not wallow and obsess about things I didn't do or get to have my own way. Acceptance of what is, and what control I do have over it all (bacon I can control, cancer I cannot)
Thanks, SR friends, for helping me change my perspectives over the last year. Now all the lessons learned are going to be tested as I prepare to lose my long time companion.
Now - go hug your animals and tell them you love them! ; )
Peace,
~T
Hugs coming to you and **** from Link and I, TG.
I've been down that road with my dear, departed beagle Buttons. She had osteo sarcoma and like ****, was a big girl (beagle-wise), which the vet told me helped to prolong her life. We had pet insurance which covered about 90% of these costs - not that it mattered, the money would have come from somewhere.
Took her to a veterinary teaching hospital, they treated all of us so kindly and with so much compassion, having to break the news that there was nothing that could be done. We did the same thing, made her quality of life the best we could, no boundaries when it came to food or anything else.
We kept her comfortable, gave her extra hugs until the end. It was hard on us, but peaceful in retrospect. Taught me (pre-Al-Anon) about letting go, about control, but mostly taught me about living in the moment and how fleeting time is.
Buttons brought Link into my life-it was when I took some dog food to the ASPCA that had been hers and I was introduced to Link, who adopted me on the spot. I kept the name Link for that very reason, as he was the "link" between Buttons and I. Her loss brought Link and I together (she is our guardian angel) and the rest, as they say, is history, as Link has been my sanity during some pretty insane times.
Cherish your time with your animals. Hug them, love them, give them an extra piece of bacon or whatever........