Merry meanderings # 10 Health check

Gunner June 2014

It'll be two weeks on Tuesday that we got the diagnosis of Gunner's cancer.
On the drive home from the vet that afternoon I was certain that Gunner had only a very short time left with us. The vet almost said it would be kindest to put him out of his misery there and then!

Gunner 19 July 2015

What a good job I suggested
bringing him home for what little time he had left! The following day, having checked with our own vet that it was OK, I started Gunner on 5mg of steroids once a day, a few days later upping the dose to twice a day. Since then he has perked up to the point where, if I hadn't seen the pictures of his insides for myself, I would not believe how 'ill' he really is. For the past 4 or 5 days I have more or less had to restrain him from doing too much because it affects his breathing if he runs around too much! His lungs occupy only about a quarter of the space they should. He doesn't actually want to run but he certainly trots very quickly from A to B and his interest in just about everything else in his world has increased almost to where it was before he felt poorly! He even insists in joining in with the youngsters for "group training" where he patiently waits for his turn and if I try and give him something 'easy' to do he gives me a very knowing look and moves exceedingly slowly in the direction I have asked him to go! On the other hand if I give him a 'normal' task he goes with utmost speed! He never was a daft or lazy dog and he's not going to start being one now!!!

Gunner & Bugler 16 June 15

I know that he isn't actually well but it is difficult to reconcile his much improved state with what I know to be the true state of affairs.

Gunner June 2014

Four weeks ago his appetite, to give another example, was definitely suppressed - he would approach his food with little interest and eat maybe a half of what was in his bowl. The difference in expression between June last year and June this year shows how depressed he was just a month ago. Today his appetite is such that he gladly ate twice the ration he would have eaten this time last year and was still looking for more. This is a well known effect of steroids but since the cancer 'eats' away at the flesh and he is beginning to look rather bony, I'm happy for him to eat as much as he wants!
He can hardly believe his luck. It's almost a case of :
"Ask and you shall receive........."
All I'm really saying is that, thanks to the steroids, the dog does not appear now to feel ill. I've never lived with a cancer patient before so I don't know how typical this is. It does, however, create an amount of emotional turmoil. Part of me is relieved that Gunner is 'relieved' and wants to believe that actually he is going to be fine. Yet I know that is not the case and it's only a matter of time. More turmoil because how much time? I can't forget how 'sick' he is inside but I'm certainly not going to let that colour the rest of his days/months/years with us - particularly when he is being such a bright little button himself.
As a big "thank you" to Gunner for being the dog he is I am going to try my damnedest to treat him like the dog he has always been. That way he won't know the difference - and he deserves that ....