Paw Prints Crossing the Rainbow Bridge

Another one of our beloved pets passed away today. Not Sampson, he's still a bouncy puppy bringing filthy and stinky toys onto my bed, but instead one our family dogs Lance.

Lance was a beautiful (stunning really) 3.5 year old collie that my family has had since he was just a bitty 10 week old puppy. What started out as a seemingly benign case of GI upset escalated to neurologic symptoms, an MRI, a devastating diagnosis, and an unsuccessful attempt to give him a little more time to enjoy a carefree life with his family and his sister.

Much to our shock and despair, Lance was diagnosed with multiple suspected choroid plexus tumors throughout his ventricular system in his brain on Tuesday. This had lead to a build up of fluid around his brain and spinal cord causing tissue compression and his clinical signs. We were faced with a tough decision: continue trying to treat with immunosuppressive doses of steroids or give it our all and try to fight back.

At three years old, Lance deserved a chance to fight. He deserved a chance to spend more time with his family. More time for his favorite treats. More time to go for walks and bark like a nut at the garbage truck. More time to play chase with our other family dog. More time to play keep-away with his toys. He was already going to be robbed of so many years of happiness, so he deserved to get at least some of that time back.

Unfortunately that's not what was in store for him. The procedure that absolutely should have made him feel better didn't help him. The disease process was more aggressive more quickly than what medicine could do for him. He got to spend one more night being loved unconditionally by the people who would do anything for him before meeting a peaceful end this morning.

My heart is broken. There is something about this week that must be curse. It's midterms time for terms 1-5 (term 6 doesn't have to endure that misery). Monday marked the 5 month anniversary of Lucy's death and today the 5th termers took their large animal surgery exam. The same exam that I took before my world fell to pieces. What the heck, universe?

Three year old dogs are not supposed to get horrible and extremely rare brain tumors. Six year old dogs aren't supposed to die suddenly less than a year after finding their forever homes. Life is simply not fair sometimes, and definitely not so to those who are so innocent and loving.

 

Update: We got the results of the CSF analysis submitted on Wednesday. A rare algael organism, Prototheca, was seen in the fluid. Lance did not succumb to a brain tumor but to an extremely rare cerebral form of protothecosis. I feel a little bit better knowing this. I don't think we could have made a difference for him, but we at least got a definitive answer. Unfortunately, this disease which more commonly presents as a GI disease, carriers a very poor prognosis in general. The treatment is a rather toxic drug that can do serious damage to the kidneys, and takes many months of administration. It doesn't change the end result though, and it doesn't make me wish any less that he could have had a long and full life, or at least more time with those who loved him dearly. We love you Lance, please keep Lucy good company now. I hope you get to play chase and keep away to your hearts' content!