We have had some really sad news. We took our gorgeous fluffy princess Holly for her normal vet check up on wednesday night. She wagged her tail as she went in and was a really good girl for the vet so the vet started off with her normal vetty checks and then the bombshell came. As she checked her anal glands she found a golf ball sized tumour on her right anal gland. She was quite shocked at the size so she got another vet to check Holly out too. She also told us the same. That it was a golf ball sized anal sac tumour and that Holly's prognosis was not looking good but that they would take some bloods to check and let us know the results in the morning. We were completely dumbstruck, she has not showed any signs of being unwell at all :(
So we came home with our waggy tailed girl and she went for her usual walk down the fields with scott whilst I got Mo settled down for bed.
At 7:25am yesterday morning as I was getting ready for work and Holly was enjoying another run in the fields with scott, the vet rang to ask how Holly was. I explained she had gone off on her usual walk and the vet seemed shocked. She went on to explain that Holly's calcium levels were so dangerously high that their testing machine could not read them and was coming back with the highest reading it could do which was very dangerous for Holly and she really should be much poorlier. She also explained that there was some damage to Holly's liver and that she would need a very risky calcium flush to try to save her and could we take her as soon as they opened at 9am to be admitted, could I ring scott and get him to bring her straight home incase she was unwell whilst walking. She also told me to prepare for the worst and Holly probably wouldn't make it through the flush.
Now I am not a strong person when it comes to my babies being ill and I have to admit I kinda lost it as I put the phone down. I was sobbing uncontrollably and it carried on all day :( I tried to ring work to let them know I would be late in but they were awesome and told me not to go in. I am so thankful for that because I just would not of been any good to the gorgeous little peeps I look after ...or any of the staff..yesterday.
We dropped Holly off giving her huge huge loves incase we didn't get to see her again and then a day of phonecalls and conversations with the vet began. Our vet was just amazing, she is such a kind and caring lady and I am thankful for that too. She understood what a shock to us it was and explained things so well. She couldn't believe how happy and waggy taily Holly was so she tested Holly's bloods again and again they returned dangerously high. By the afternoon Holly was really missing us and getting a bit sad so the vet decided against doing the flush first as it had a very high risk of killing her and decided to sedate Holly to calm her down and give her an ultrasound instead.
The ultrasound came back showing not only the tumour in the sac but also a lot more in all the lymph nodes of her tummy and around her aorta :( the biggest ones are the anal sac one and the one squishing her aorta. Due to this the vet decided on no flushing and no surgeries as Holly just won't make it and explained to me she has roughly 1-2 months left to live so it would be nicer to bring her home and we went to fetch her right away.
The vet said she was still so surprised how happy Holly was and that it was such a nice way to be when she is so desperately ill so 1-2 months feeling like that will be a zillion times better than invasive treatments that will not work. She sent us home with drugs to help slowly flush the calcium out by making her pee an awful lot and some steroids. She explained to us that Holly will either become so sleepy from the tumour on her aorta or not be able to poop due to the anal sac one blocking her bottom and that is the time we will know to let her go. She said quality is better than quantity and to enjoy her for the time we have left.
I think she Holly is like me. She is powered by love and so we are going to dote on her as we always have done, give her her lovely walks until she is too sick to take them. We are all so lost and sad but trying not to let Holly see that. We are going to enjoy every last minute she has and we have made a list of all her favourite walks that we are going to try and get her on before she gets too ill, her favourites are the ones where she can run and paddle...and swim!! in water. we will surround her in love until it is time for her to go over the rainbow bridge and the keep her in our hearts until we meet her again.
Sorry for such a long post but its easier to type than talk at the moment as I am still very tearful.
thank you for popping in on me and reading about my beautiful girl
huge hugs Lou xxxx