8.15.05
Rainbow Bridge Gets Another Occupant

Our stump count is now down to two again as last night our 10 year old Rottie, Jael, died in her sleep. She was diagnosed in early July with hemangiosarcoma in her spleen. Before her diagnosis her energy level had decreased, but that's to be expected with a dog that's a decade old. It wasn't until she didn't eat one night and her abdomen was distended, that we knew something was wrong. I had feared it might be bloat, but it wasn't. A tumor in her spleen had ruptured, which caused the swelling in her stomach and caused her to be anemic. Based upon Jael's condition, our vet determined that the cancer was probably widespread throughout her system, and he recommended that we take Jael home and keep her comfortable until her time came.

He prescribed Prednisone for her to take twice daily. During the research I did, I also discovered that artemisinin had been found helpful in fighting cancer, so we started her on that twice daily as well. I'm not sure if that helped or not, but we did get about 6 good weeks for Jael. Based on my research dogs who had a splenectomy to remove the tumor usually had 19-65 days. We got 41 days without surgery, and they were for the most part 41 good days.

Jael's appetite was pretty good when we switched to canned food, but over this weekend, it dropped off. She also had some vomiting, and Sunday night she collapsed when she came in from going potty. I knew by the look on her face that she was ready to go. That night as I got ready for bed, I braced myself for something I knew I was going to have to do on Monday. It's always easy to tell other people that their dog will let them know when it's time to go, and that they should do the right thing by the dog. But it's quite another when you're faced with making that trip yourself. Jael had always been a people pleaser, and Sunday night she did one more thing that she must have known I wanted. She made the trip across the bridge alone.