The honor of growing old

When I brought Peaches home nearly two year ago, we already knew she had cancer.  I didn't know anything about mammary tumors in dogs at the time, and I didn't know what to expect.  I never expected her to be with me longer than a few months because I thought she'd get treatment and then go to her forever home. When I took her to the vet a couple of weeks later and they found evidence on her chest x-ray that the cancer had already spread to her lungs, I was told at that time that there was no treatment and that she probably had at most two years to live.  Two years can seem like a really long time in some cases, but when you're talking about only having two years left to live for a dog who was at the time only 6 years old, it seems like such short period of time.

Due to her prognosis, it was decided that she'd stay with me for whatever time she had left and I jumped into planning how we'd make the most of her remaining time.  I started her Instagram page and her bucket list and I was determined to make sure she didn't miss out on anything!  I wanted to share with her all of the places I loved, but she also inspired me to find some new things to do and new places to visit.  We've completed nearly everything on her bucket list now, but the most important item on the list was for her to live a great life, and I think we've accomplished that.

While not knowing how much time she had was scary, in reality, none of us know how long we'll be here.  Since she came to me already "sick", I actually worried less about things, and her enthusiasm and zest for life made me smile every day.  It is infectious and it's hard to spend time with her and not feel happy.  As we near the two year anniversary of Peaches coming into my life, she's still doing great and making the most of each and every day.  I've seen no signs of her slowing down or of the cancer affecting her.  I honestly never thought we'd be where we are right now...I never really thought I'd get two full years and more with her.

Because she is doing so well, last week I scheduled Peaches to have surgery to remove a large lump that has been growing on her right hip.  It had gotten pretty big, and while it didn't seem to bother her, it was starting to bother me.  While she was at the vet, I requested that they also do her chest x-ray-we've been having them done every 6 months since I got her in order to track the progress of her cancer, and she was nearly due for the next one.  Since her original x-ray, we haven't seen any progression of her cancer and I was interested to know what we'd find this time.  What we did find was completely unexpected.

I received the call from the vet after her surgery that everything had gone well with her surgery.  The lump he removed was a cyst, not a fatty tumor like I had expected, but it didn't appear to be anything to worry about, which was excellent news.  And then came the big surprise.  Upon examination of Peaches' chest x-rays, he told me that he could find no signs of metastatic cancer tumors in her lungs.  The two spots we had seen in the previous two x-rays they had done were not there.  He even compared her current x-rays to the old ones.  Her chest x-ray this time was clear!

I couldn't believe what I was hearing and was anxious to get out to the vet's office to discuss further what this meant for Peaches and her future.  My discussion with the vet was so informative and interesting.  While he can't be sure what caused the spots that we had seen previously in her x-rays, we now don't believe that the cancer has metastasized at all.   He explained that mammary tumors are benign 50% of the time and a majority of the time in mammary cancer, if a malignant tumor is removed, that it will get rid of the cancer...and that there is a good chance that the other, smaller tumors she has along her mammary chain are most likely benign since we haven't seen any growth in any of them in two years.

So what does this mean for Peaches and her future? Well, first, we no longer need to take her in for semi-annual-x-rays.  At this point, I have no reason to worry about her cancer and, unless I see changes in her health, I don't have to worry about her having cancer at all.  Dr. Jason even told me he wouldn't be surprised if I had another 6 years with Peaches in my life.  While I understand there are no guarantees, this was some pretty great news!

When I brought Peaches home with me as a foster two years ago, she was like every other foster I had brought home.  I only expected her to be a temporary resident.  After we got her terminal cancer diagnosis and decided she would stay with us, her time with me was still limited.  While she has become a big part of my life and one of my girls, I never pictured her growing old here.  I felt sad for her at times, knowing that as her cancer progressed she'd go from this lively, vibrant, energetic girl full of life to a shell of herself, but mostly I felt sad because she'd never have the honor of growing old.  But now I am so happy for her and so hopeful for the future and so honored that she will get the chance to spend the rest of her life with me and some day, if all goes well, she'll get the chance to be one of my sweet little old ladies.  What a marvelous Christmas miracle!