in sickness and in health

It’s the week of sickness again…
First Maddie goes to the vet for her routine infected feet romp. New vet thinks it might be allergies. I don’t know what to think anymore. Anyway, the vet was giving her the once-over and said “has she always had this lump?”. That’s not a question I want to ever hear. More investigation shows that all of Maddie’s lymph nodes are gigantic, way bigger than expected for just an infection. Vet runs through a number of possibilities and suggests we screen for lymphoma.
In your mind you know your dog does not have lymphoma but you are unable to say ‘no’ because in your heart you know anything is possible with your dog that gets sick all the damned time. The doctor starts to discuss treatment options for Maddie’s feet but says we shouldn’t giver her the regular steroid shot because it could mess with the chemo if we have to start that next week.
Chemo? Next week? The vet sounded so damned sure. What the fuck? I just brought Maddie in for her routine antibiotics and steroid shot and suddenly we’re discussing chemotherapy for my dog?
Jesus.
I spent many hours consulting my animal loving friends about my options and my concerns about the most humane course of action. My goal with Maddie has always been to provide the happiest, most comfortable place she has ever had. For all that she has been through and all that she is inside that giant head, she deserves only the joy and comfort and none of the pain and illness (except for her fucking feet and her yeast infected left ear which is infected AGAIN).
It took longer than expected to get the results back from the lab but they came back negative. Maddie is all about the hugs and love! She doesn’t know what it is that I am celebrating but she seems to like it a lot.
As for me, I am one of those freaks of nature that carry strep in their bodies. I get strep infections in my throat pretty regularly but also in my bladder/ureters/kidneys. I got me a streptococcal UTI this week. Pain in the ass. It was about 2 years ago when we discovered that the regular UTI’s I was getting were not normal and they discovered that I was carrying the strep in there.
And it won’t go away. Maddie and I have a lot in common.
So now I am on new and awesomely fierce antibiotics that cause their own side effects.
and I spent the bulk of yesterday passed out in bed under many covers with dogs and the boy bundled in with me.
Okay, so, later I’ll come up with something happier to post about!