Kinda has been my most loyal, and sometimes only, companion for over a decade and it saddens me to see her starting to take on the burdens of age. Besides some
hip dysplasia and ocular degeneration (
Pannus), she was recently showing signed of a tumorous growth. When Mam's looked at her Sunday, she said that it would be quite important to get the growth removed as soon as possible. I'm more concerned with quality of life than taking expensive extraordinary measures that might not even work just to stretch out life a bit too long. I trust my friend implicitly so I took Monday off to drive to Orlando to bring Kinda to her clinic. I was out the door around 6AM and was there by 7:30 or so to get her prepped for surgery. I went off to get a drink and breakfast for a while after signing her in, but when I got back Mams invited me into the back to check out the place and hang around for the day. I got to stay back office, read my trail hiking guides of Yosemite and Grand Teton, and talk to her and the staff throughout the day and even stay for the surgery.
I must admit it was tough seeing my dog completely knocked out with eyes rolled back and tongue completely limp while tied down to a surgical table, but I knew it was something had to be done. The surgery itself really didn't bother me at all and thought the process of cutting the skin open and digging out the tumor was quite interesting. It was a fairly bloody process and took quite a while, but in the end a tumor mass that was the diameter of a banana and as long and hard as a potato was removed from the abdomen along with some mammary glands and a fair amount of skin. I am sure I could have, but for once, I really didn't think of bringing out the camera and taking a lot of pictures, though I wish I had now so I could post them for you all (so I'll just have to post some various old shots)!
After she was done and taken to the post-op area I also got to watch a cat being spayed as well and learn about all the surgical processes. We went to a nice Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch while Kinda was recovering with an IV drip to replace a lot of the fluids that she lost due to the massive blood loss. Over the next day or two, she was really lethargic and slow to move around as I could tell she would inevitable be in a lot of pain and quite sore; poor girl. I took half of Tuesday off to make sure that discharges were normal and that there was not any additional seepage. Mammaries called me Thursday night with the unfortunate results of the biopsy of the tumor. Apparently it is indeed an aggressive cancer. While few things are absolute, the likely scenario is that the tumor could crop up again elsewhere in another few months, if not the same spot. Considering the old age and previous surgeries (when she was spayed a couple of years ago apparently a tumorous mass was discovered in the ovaries), I don't think she'll be able to take a lot more, nor would I want to put her through additional pain.
It'll be sad to see her go and I'm sure it'll be a while before I get another animal, mainly because I am not around often enough to care for a new dog, but it has been a great run. Everyone that has ever met her has commented on how well behaved she is. Hopefully things will turn out well and she'll go on for a while comfortably, but these things happen in the circle of life and at some point it'll be time to let her go and move on.
Kinda has been my most loyal, and sometimes only, companion for over a decade and it saddens me to see her starting to take on the burdens of age. Besides some hip dysplasia and ocular degeneration (Pannus), she was recently showing signed of a tumorous growth. When Mam's looked at her Sunday, she said that it would be quite important to get the growth removed as soon as possible. I'm more concerned with quality of life than taking expensive extraordinary measures that might not even work just to stretch out life a bit too long. I trust my friend implicitly so I took Monday off to drive to Orlando to bring Kinda to her clinic. I was out the door around 6AM and was there by 7:30 or so to get her prepped for surgery. I went off to get a drink and breakfast for a while after signing her in, but when I got back Mams invited me into the back to check out the place and hang around for the day. I got to stay back office, read my trail hiking guides of Yosemite and Grand Teton, and talk to her and the staff throughout the day and even stay for the surgery.
I must admit it was tough seeing my dog completely knocked out with eyes rolled back and tongue completely limp while tied down to a surgical table, but I knew it was something had to be done. The surgery itself really didn't bother me at all and thought the process of cutting the skin open and digging out the tumor was quite interesting. It was a fairly bloody process and took quite a while, but in the end a tumor mass that was the diameter of a banana and as long and hard as a potato was removed from the abdomen along with some mammary glands and a fair amount of skin. I am sure I could have, but for once, I really didn't think of bringing out the camera and taking a lot of pictures, though I wish I had now so I could post them for you all (so I'll just have to post some various old shots)!
After she was done and taken to the post-op area I also got to watch a cat being spayed as well and learn about all the surgical processes. We went to a nice Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch while Kinda was recovering with an IV drip to replace a lot of the fluids that she lost due to the massive blood loss. Over the next day or two, she was really lethargic and slow to move around as I could tell she would inevitable be in a lot of pain and quite sore; poor girl. I took half of Tuesday off to make sure that discharges were normal and that there was not any additional seepage. Mammaries called me Thursday night with the unfortunate results of the biopsy of the tumor. Apparently it is indeed an aggressive cancer. While few things are absolute, the likely scenario is that the tumor could crop up again elsewhere in another few months, if not the same spot. Considering the old age and previous surgeries (when she was spayed a couple of years ago apparently a tumorous mass was discovered in the ovaries), I don't think she'll be able to take a lot more, nor would I want to put her through additional pain. 
It'll be sad to see her go and I'm sure it'll be a while before I get another animal, mainly because I am not around often enough to care for a new dog, but it has been a great run. Everyone that has ever met her has commented on how well behaved she is. Hopefully things will turn out well and she'll go on for a while comfortably, but these things happen in the circle of life and at some point it'll be time to let her go and move on.
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