April 3, 2009

It's been a long time since I've had the inclination or the energy to post. From the middle of November 2008 to the middle of January 2009 I suffered many losses in my fur family. I lost 3 of my rabbits and 5 of my cats. As I have written before it is never easy to lose them, never mind having to make the decision to send them to the "Bridge". Some of my losses were expected, both Nemo and TC had cancer and I knew they were living on borrowed time. Mr. Marley, a 16 or 17 year old diabetic that had started out as a boarder but became an adoptee when his owner died, was sudden but with his age things can be expected. Hobo was sudden, but oral cancers tend to happen in that way and there is never much that can be done with that. But Wolsey, that was so hard and it still hurts to this day. I knew with his laryngeal lymphoma it was only a matter of time but having gone through all the chemo and done so well with the chemo, I really thought he had a chance at a decent remission time. Unfortunately that was not to be, not even 2 months after his last treatment the cancer was back with a vengeance in his abdomen. Exploratory surgery revealed 3 larger masses and a dozen smaller ones. There was absolutely nothing that could have been done. I want to thank the vets at NorthPaws, Dr. Mark Paradise and Dr. David Bergmann for all their support and the excellent treatment they gave Wolsey. I also want to thank all the techs for their kindness and support with an extra special thanks to Cara (who was Wolsey's chemo nurse). Without Cara's loving care I don't think either Wolsey or I would have made it through. Also an extra thanks to Dave Bergmann, who supported me with his kind emails. He helped me to see things rationally when I was too overwhelmed to see things for myself. NorthPaws Veterinary has a really great group of people there.