The Harsh Reality
This is the harsh reality that me and my family must endure…
My beautiful Boston terrier, Francis is a huge part of my life. He is my fetcher. He is my sole mate. He knows and feels any pain that I feel. If I am sad he knows it and climbs right up onto my lap and sooths my pain. Now it’s my turn to sooth his pain…
You see, about two years ago Francis started developing a bump on his left elbow. It never seemed to bother him, but I knew that it was definitely something to worry about. When it grew to the size of a golf ball, my husband Stephen and I came to the reality that we needed to take him to the vet and discuss it further. The vet did not know if it was cancerous or not so she removed it and tested it. It was indeed some kind of a cancer. Luckily for Francie, it is a localized type of cancer and would not spread to other parts of his body. Actually, we were hopeful that the vet was able to get it all out. She warned us that it was probably still there as there is literally zero extra flesh that she could take with the tumor. I remained hopeful though.
That surgery was in November. By the end of the following summer (2012) I felt a tiny pea in that area. This was the beginning of The Harsh Reality.
After visiting Francies oncologist, we were faced with a decision to make. We had a choice of four options. The first two choices were radiation treatments both with a hefty price tag. The third choice was unfathomable to me…Amputation of the leg! And finally we could choose to leave it alone and hope for the best. This was not a choice for me, because as many of you may know or as you keep reading our blog you will soon find out, that just as my beautiful son Dan is my child and his step sister Laura too, both whom I would do anything in my power to keep healthy and strong, so are my Francis and Jerome, this option of doing nothing is absolutely out of the question. I realize there are some people out there that just don’t understand that (thinking a dog is a dog)…My FAMILY is exactly that…My human children and my canine children and as my husband always says he fits in there somewhere. The problem was and still remains, the economy has hit us hard leaving us to realize that whatever has to be done to help Francis has to be put on hold so that we can somehow raise the money to make the appropriate decisions for him.
I know so many of you suffered so much through “SANDY,” but our strife came to an end. You see we had a boat that just didn’t weather the storm. As a result of good insurance, and what I feel GOD looking out for us, we are now able to afford to do whatever it takes to help this amazing dog. So, on to the oncologist we go again…
By this time the tumor has grown two and a half times the original size (about two a and a half golf balls ). The oncologist said the radiation treatments would most likely not work. He explained that whichever treatment we went with might shrink the tumor, but most likely would grow back. He then asked me why I would not consider amputation. I began crying, and told him that what else can this poor dog take…I mean he only just went blind a year ago. He needs to get used to that doesn’t he? He understood my reluctance, but kept asking me one question…Don’t you want to get rid of the cancer? He sent us to our regular vet to discuss it further. This is the Harsh Reality…This is the only decision…However hard a decision it is, it is the only way to save Francis’s life.
This blog is how I choose to cope with it all…I will document many pictures of Francis and Jerry and the rest of the family pre amputation and then I will document the trials and tribulations post amputation as well. I hope in doing so, it will help others who also must make a decision like this as well as enlighten those who JUST DON”T GET IT.