Another Love is Leaving us

I have not written much lately as so much sadness has been in our lives. I find writing is the best way to deal with things but, we Never imagined in our worst dreams that our last visit to the River would be Megan's last as she loves it so much there.

We knew losing her daughter, ”my grandog Ally " which I posted about in early April blog here would make the trip very different and she was missed as she lived at the river and also loved it daily.

Well, Megan, Jordan, and Maggie did enjoy the river missing their best friend and daughter every moment.

Megan became sick at the river and we had to seek ER treatment for her as she on Wednesday evening, she just became comatose. NO movement at all, no eye twitches, no tail wags, no dinner, no ice, nothing interested her at all. We contacted a vet in Murphy, NC, Dr Van Horn and he met us at 10PM at his clinic and gave her intensive treatment. We thought maybe she got into something like poison as all this came on so sudden. He checked for antifreeze but test was negative. He ran EKG, many diagnostics and everything looked ok, except blood cells. She stayed overnight with a drip and was better the next morning. If fact, she was up and walking again (we had to carry her to our car the night before in a blanket as she would not help us move her), even ate a little canned dog food. RELIEF! He sent a CBC test to MS. by Fed Ex and we went back for results on Monday. Most of the RX was for her Liver as that seemed to be involved and Dr Van Horn recommended when we returned home to get eastern medicine for Megan. (Acupuncture, and Chinese Herbs)

We got to take her back to the river house and she just took it easy for the next two days. She was up and in the river again every day and seemed to be getting better each day, although still very tired and rested and napped a lot. We just let her do that, as that is why we were there in the first place. To relax and dog-sit Maggie, our adopted grandog!

We took her back to Dr. Van Horn twice more while there and faxed everything to the vet (Dr. Amy Tate) back in AL., that had treated Ally at Riverview Clinic. She said she could even see Megan when we came back home on Sunday, which she did. She repeated several tests to compare results and asked us to return in several days after another round of Antibiotics.

Megan was acting very slow and. seemed really tired so we returned on Saturday Afternoon before our Tuesday Appointment. We saw Dr. Serwitz and Dr Atlas on this visit and they were very alarmed at Megan’s condition. While she was more alert than in N.C. she was still had very low red cells and fluid in the abdomen. They did an Ultrasound and recommended we take her to Auburn University right away for further diagnostics and surgery if needed. They called and made arrangements with the Auburn Veterinary Hospital to be waiting for us, about a three-hour drive. We called our daughter Lisa, and she met us enroute and got Jordan, our male dog , so he would not have to come to Auburn with us.

When we arrived at Auburn we were met by several technicians, Emily and Caroline took over Megan’s care. They consulted with other Dr’s and saw they need to wait before any surgery as they determined with ultrasound and x-rays they Megan’s belly was full of fluid and to do surgery would lose that fluid and the body may auto transfuse (reabsorb) it with time, so they wanted to wait and see what was happening. In the meantime we had to leave her overnight and the next day Sunday, they called with results of more tests and said things did not look good for Megan.

They had DX her with Hemangiosarcoma, a rare, rapidly growing, highly invasive variety of cancer. It is a blood-fed sarcoma; that is, blood vessels grow directly into the tumor and it is typically filled with blood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemangiosarcoma

There is no treatment and Megan is pretty involved with cancer tumors in her liver, pancreas, and spleen. . She also has an enlarged heart but that is nothing to do with this problem and no reason to pursue it as this disease she has is so deadly she only has a few weeks given to even live.

We brought here home yesterday Monday, May 5th and will make her as comfortable as possible and Jordan also came back home so we are all together again.

Megan and Jordan are one week apart in age at 10 years old, so we know she has had a wonderful life with us and I cannot imagine the day she leaves us.

Why is life so tough?