A Year in Photos and an Update

Today was an "R Day", filled with phone calls and vet scheduling. I'm exhausted so I thought that I'd share a few of my favorite photos of R from the first half of 2017. I'm working on my 2018 Calendar so I've been sifting through my photos from the past year, choosing the ones for the calendar.

I love this one. R was out with me for a snow bike ride at sunrise. His fur was so shiny, his eyes so brown, and his energy palpable. I think that this one will end up in my Labraduo Calendar.

It's so hard to believe that anything could have been going awry inside such a healthy looking dog!

This next one was during the phase when Shyla was not able to bike with me because she had just started taking phenobarbital for her epilepsy. The Runner kindly loaned me our black dog for some canine companionship some mornings during Shyla's rest phase. Those were fun outings for me and R.

When springtime finally rolled around, I took R out in the nearby vast fields of golden flowers to see him play in them. His style was full-speed-ahead, as usual!

Seeing these photos, it's incredibly hard to believe that I spent my day researching his possible cancers and scheduling appointments for him.

Today I learned more about the "odds" for his masses in his abdomen. The first big worry is one on his right adrenal gland. I used my hard-earned knowledge of the CSU system to get R an appointment for less than 2 weeks from now. Without my insider's knowledge of how their system works, we were going to have to wait until mid-January for an appointment. And, that was despite the fact that it's considered to be a very "time sensitive" cancer.

I'm told that the odds are about 33% that his adrenal gland mass is "no big deal", about 33% that it's a cancer that surgery can help, and about 33% that its a fast-moving inevitably fatal cancer.

We have decided to deal with the adrenal gland tumor first. If he is lucky enough that it's either "no big deal" or operable, then we'll deal with the mass on his spleen.

As you can probably tell, it's a complicated situation. Our family vet did an amazing job of talking me through all the possible paths and helping us to choose one. She's such a good vet - I feel so lucky that we've had her as our vet for almost two decades! I feel better this evening, despite the fear deep in my belly, that we at least have a plan.

Let's end with a funny photo that has reached Shyla's list of finalist photos for her calendar.

Even I had to giggle when I opened up that photo today. What expressive eyes Shyla has!