Tiff's Turn

Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life. As I said Monday night, Gus started slowing down and feeling yucky Sunday. Aria and I cuddled on the floor with him. He was hurting, but I thought all he needed was a little TLC. Thinking back to that night, though, deep down I knew. I was just in denial. I even knew to ask Levi to take our picture- which would be the last picture we ever take of Gus. Monday night came, and Gus was a completely different dog. We let him out front to potty and he just stood there, back legs shaking, his nose against the spindles of the front porch. I asked Levi, " Why is he so weak off all the sudden?" "That's what cancer does to you," he said. That sentence threw me out of my denial. We were going to have to let Gus go. Tuesday, I came home and Gus seemed even worse. He barely lifted his head up off the floor when I walked up the stairs and greeted him with my usual, "Hi Gussy Wussy!" I called Le...

Saturday I noticed Gus was having some problems when he went to go potty. His urine was just coming out in little drops and it was taking forever  for him to go. When I called the vet, she wanted him to come in right away. They X-Rayed his bladder and did a couple tests. She couldn't find any stones or anything else wrong, so she gave me a drug used for bladder cancer and a very expensive bill then sent us on our way. A couple days later, Gus hadn't gotten better plus he was vomiting quite a bit. We went back in to see the vet for more tests. The doc still couldn't find a reason why he was having this problem. We switched to a new drug that would help his bladder muscles work better. She said we can't rule out some kind of untraceable cancer, or the fact that this could possibly be linked to his osteosarcoma (the cancer that caused him to lose a leg) but the good news is the osteosarcoma has not spread to his lungs! Yes! The downside to the new drug wa...