The Old Lady *Update*

I’ve been putting this entry off for several days now, because if I write this entry, it all becomes real and I don’t want it to be real.  The title of this entry refers to Maxie, our older dog. For several years now, we’ve called her the Old Lady, as she’s now almost 13 (pretty old for a golden). Oh where to start….a few months ago now, we took her to the vet as her appetite was decreasing and she just wasn’t acting like herself. The vet ran some blood tests, didn’t find anything to be terribly concerned with, and said the next step was x-rays.  At that point, we decided not to go there.  A few weeks ago, she went for her yearly vet visit and we talked to the vet about her not getting around as well anymore and generally starting to REALLY show her age.  The vet suggested to keep giving her bufferin as long as she tolerated it, and that we should get her in for x-rays to see if it was her back or hips that were causing problems.  A week or so later, Maxie didn’t make it up the stairs that night for bed (she sleeps upstairs with my parents).  At that point, my mom took her in to the vet (that was the Tuesday before my parents went to New York).  At that point, the vet did some basic x-rays of her body.  At that point, they discovered her hips were in bad shape, gave her a pretty good pain med and anti-inflammatory to help her.  However, that wasn’t all the vet found.  The vet found a mass in her throat.  This last Thursday, she went back into the vet for the biopsy and more extensive x-rays of her hips and back (ones she needed to be sedated for so the vet could get a clear picture for).  We’ve yet to get the results of the biopsy back yet, but given her age, and the fact that we can tell she’s in some pain (shaking, etc)…and still having issues getting upstairs…..The day when we’ll have to put her down is quickly approaching.  I’m really going to miss her.

*Update*

We got the test results back from the vet.  Apparently the test came back negative for cancer. However, the vet is convinced it’s cancer, so they’re doing a second biopsy on Thursday of this week.  According to the vet, the first test was "inconclusive."  *sigh*