Yeah, My Dog’s Name is Pig – Part 2

I received a call from the hospital around 2 pm on Wednesday. She said he did well with the ultrasound. They did have to give him a mild sedative but they were comfortable with it since they had a good understanding of where he was at with his heart and lungs.

She said they were fairly positive that the fluid they found in his lungs came from CPR and not from a heart disease. This was confirmed by a heart doctor.

But they did find that he had a large mast in his intestines which was being tested but she was sure it was cancer. Later the tests came back and showed that it was in fact lymphoma.

We were given three options

Option one – surgery, however he was not really a candidate since he should not be put under. Also, since the cancer is right where his large and small intestines meet the surgery is very often attempted and then aborted due to complications. That one was out.

Option two – Chemo. We just went through that with Daisy and we knew Pig would not handle that well. All it would do is shrink the tumor, not kill it, and his quality of life during chemo would be very poor.

Option three – take him home, give him a steroid twice a day, and let him life out the rest of his days at home.

We went with option three.

The doctor wanted to keep him one more night but we wanted him to come home so she discharged him to us and he came home on Wednesday night.

When the doctor was explaining his at home care she mentioned that he would be taking a steroid twice a day. I asked if it was important for her to know that he had been on and off steroids for the last two years due to his extreme seasonal allergies. She said that it was important and they were probably inadvertently shrinking the tumor for some time now.

The first night home was a little scary since even though he was off the oxygen for most of the day he still had not eaten or taken any medicine in a pill form. That was something we would have to do.

I figured if he made it through the night we would be in good shape for the next few weeks.

And he did make it through the night. And he is still making it.

They gave us a “few days to three months” life expectancy and we will do everything we can to make him happy and comfortable during that time.

He is extra thirsty but he is going outside normally so that’s great.

He is eating a bland diet so I cook him chicken and rice. This kills Daisy who thinks he is getting treats and she is getting dog food!

I will post updates if things change but otherwise we are now a hospice center for dogs with Cancer.