Requesting your prayers for our Besi

For the past few weeks soon after our roadtrip,

Besi, our 13-year old Yellow Labrador,

all of a sudden started having moments of slipping/falling down/slowing down.

We simply surmised that she was starting to lose her 2-year miraculous battle against Degenerative Myelopathy.

Last Wednesday, she could not stand up at all and was having difficulty breathing.

I spent the night in the doghouse (literally), and slept with her & Birdie on their doggie bed, fearing the worst was about to come.

By Thursday morning, she was up and about as if nothing had ever happened.

But over the phone our veterinarian asked us to check her gums. They were very pale.

He told us to take her in first thing Friday morning for a quick check-up.

Bill took her in as instructed and was shocked when moments later the vet came out and informed him

that she had to immediately undergo surgery (a risky one especially at her age).

The verdict: Besi has Cancer of the spleen / hemangiosarcoma.

They took out her spleen which had a tumor the size

of a small grapefruit!

Had they not, she would have continued

to bleed to death.

At first look, it did not look like the cancer had metastasized.

We were allowed to see her very briefly before the vet closed and she was up and smiling.

The only thing she was mad about is that I did not insist that the doctor give her a bikini cut. :-)

They kept her over the weekend since she needed fluid therapy.

Yesterday, we were so happy that we were able to take her home.

We are still waiting for the results of the biopsy on the mass to determine if it is benign or malignant (2/3rds of the cases are hemangiosarcoma).

Again, thanks for your prayers/good thoughts/good vibes.

Please continue sending them, since we are not yet out of the woods.

We remain hopeful that it is nonmalignant. Sniff.