I wanted you to know...

Dixie here...

Well I haven't posted anything here for over 2 years - I have been using Facebook as my platform of social media! 

I wasn’t sure whether to mention this or not but I decided you all have given me your attention and support through all of my antics over the years, so I want you all to know.  I have been drinking more and peeing more lately.  Not really cause for alarm, after all it was winter, the wood stove was going and it is a little dry in the house. 

My mom noticed my belly was a little swollen last week – not sure if I was gaining weight or if something was wrong.  Dad said my urine looked too clear – like Blue’s when she had kidney failure.  So mom moved my check-up at the vet from Thursday to Monday this week.   (Last Thursday I had stolen a 2 lb. pork roast out of the crock pot while mom was outside with the horses… she had just put it in to cook and it was still a bit frozen… but it was tasty.  I got mustard all over the kitchen, bathroom and her studio floors and rugs! But I digress…) Mom thought perhaps the bloating increased with the pork roast I ate. 

Anyway, I went on Monday to see my new vet.  Mom got a urine sample – I was wondering what she was doing with that container under my butt in the morning.  First thing the vet said was the pee sample was ‘dilute,’ not so many waste products as there should be.

When she did my physical exam, she found my liver was enlarged.  After X-rays and lab work it turns out the worst of it is that I have an enlarged spleen.  A couple of my labs are a little off, too.  So the vet suggested an ultrasound at another vet hospital to see if it is a tumor and then probably surgery with possible blood transfusions, chemotherapy, more tests…

I guess tumors on the spleen cause the spleen to rupture and dogs bleed out and it is an emergency situation.  If it is cancer, and there is a 45% chance that the tumor could be, even with surgery and chemo, I would only live 3-6 months.  Not very good odds at all. If it isn’t cancerous, and things go well, I could live longer.  But who knows?  

I don’t want to suffer, and I don’t want to be in a strange place with tubes and stitches and pain, having to take medicine that makes me nauseous or gives me diarrhea during the last days of my life.  I’d rather take my chances without surgery.  

My mom did a lot of reading online and is very overwhelmed and sad, but I’m not.  Seems that 1 in 5 golden retrievers develop this.  Of course I am a Treeing Walker Coonhound!

Back to my story… 

I don’t want more tests to determine if it is cancer (hemangiosarcoma), and no exploratory surgery, or surgery at all.  My mom says I have so much dignity and I am so proud.  This would knock me down, and I don’t want that.  I want to live the rest of my life at home, playing with Biscuit, lazing around, scouting the kitchen for unguarded foodstuffs, cuddling with my folks, and lying by the fire or sunbathing on my deck.  That’s the good life!  

I have a great appetite right now, I have lots of energy, I am peeing, pooping and have no pain.  Mom asked the vet how long would I have before I got worse – got to that point where my spleen could rupture. Sometimes it just happens without symptoms so it is difficult to pinpoint, but because I have some signs and symptoms now, my vet felt I would have more symptoms, lose my appetite and become really tired.  So the vet put me on 2 antibiotics that treat chronic liver disease.  Hopefully that will help, too. 

I really love to eat, so when I won’t eat anymore that will be a sign for my folks that it’s time to get me help to cross the rainbow bridge.  Blue will be waiting for me, and she will bring her other friends that were part of this family before I was.  I guess there will be Flossie, Sheba, Sandi, Hobo, and Gretchie, too!  I can’t wait to meet them all, but I will miss my folks, and Biskey.  I have a great home, the best any retired, fence-climbing, hunting coonhound could ask for. I have only had one family in my life, and I came here when I was around 2 ½.  I will be 10 in October.

So with luck and prayers, my vet said I could live a couple of months or even a couple of years before I deteriorate. I am good with that!  Mom and dad watch me carefully, and I love the extra attention!  I have now coerced Biscuit into letting me cuddle with mom on the couch at night in his place. Of course dad feels bad because I used to snuggle with him! 

Nothing is urgent right now, but I wanted everyone to know.  So send me your good wishes and prayers, no tears please… be happy for my good life!  I will post some pictures of myself, and keep you posted on my condition.  I love you all,

Dixie