Hi, I'm a lurker on this board mostly, but I've posted a few times. Some of you may remember last year when I posted about our Golden Retriever having an ear hematoma. Well, we lost Jake last week....
Jake started having trouble getting up and walking around. We contributed the majority of it to arthritis because Jake was 13 years old. However, we took him to our vet to make sure because it seemed to happen so quickly. The vet agreed that he thought it was arthritis as well because Jake was older and he perscribed some pain medication for Jake as well as medication for ostioarthritis (sp?). He advised that the medication should help Jake tremendously and if this medication didn't work for him, there were lots of other options we could try. Having heard this, I felt immediately better about Jake's prognosis...
Unfortunately, after three days on the medication, Jake got worse. I took him back to the vet and this time he did x-rays. As it turned out, Jake had a tumor on his spleen the size of a nurf football... The tumor was bleeding into his stomach and his back legs weren't getting any blood and they were beginning to weaken... The vet advised that he could remove the spleen and give Jake blood, but that surgery of this kind was difficult for a young dog to recover from and that Jake would have an even harder time because of his age and his arthritis. He said whatever decision we made, we needed to make soon because the spleen was still bleeding and it was extremely painful for Jake. He also couldn't really say if Jake would survive the surgery.
We decided after everything Jake had been to us, we couldn't let him die in pain. They gave Jake a pain patch to get him through the night and I took him home for a last evening of snacks and watching TV. I stayed up all night with him telling him how much I loved him and how sorry I was to have to do this to him. We let Jake go the next morning. I can still feel the last breath he took as I held his head in my lap... I'm just devastated... I cry all the time...And I don't know why, but I have so much anger inside my heart now... I just feel like punching everything I touch...I'm so afraid I made the wrong decision. Maybe I should have tried the surgery... I sit and wonder if Jake forgives me??? Can I forgive myself???
Please send all your love and hugs and kisses to Jake. He was the sweetest dog in the whole world. Never a mean bone in his body... All he ever wanted was someone to touch him and give him love...
I LOVE YOU JAKE, PLEASE FORGIVE ME.
Jake started having trouble getting up and walking around. We contributed the majority of it to arthritis because Jake was 13 years old. However, we took him to our vet to make sure because it seemed to happen so quickly. The vet agreed that he thought it was arthritis as well because Jake was older and he perscribed some pain medication for Jake as well as medication for ostioarthritis (sp?). He advised that the medication should help Jake tremendously and if this medication didn't work for him, there were lots of other options we could try. Having heard this, I felt immediately better about Jake's prognosis...
Unfortunately, after three days on the medication, Jake got worse. I took him back to the vet and this time he did x-rays. As it turned out, Jake had a tumor on his spleen the size of a nurf football... The tumor was bleeding into his stomach and his back legs weren't getting any blood and they were beginning to weaken... The vet advised that he could remove the spleen and give Jake blood, but that surgery of this kind was difficult for a young dog to recover from and that Jake would have an even harder time because of his age and his arthritis. He said whatever decision we made, we needed to make soon because the spleen was still bleeding and it was extremely painful for Jake. He also couldn't really say if Jake would survive the surgery.
We decided after everything Jake had been to us, we couldn't let him die in pain. They gave Jake a pain patch to get him through the night and I took him home for a last evening of snacks and watching TV. I stayed up all night with him telling him how much I loved him and how sorry I was to have to do this to him. We let Jake go the next morning. I can still feel the last breath he took as I held his head in my lap... I'm just devastated... I cry all the time...And I don't know why, but I have so much anger inside my heart now... I just feel like punching everything I touch...I'm so afraid I made the wrong decision. Maybe I should have tried the surgery... I sit and wonder if Jake forgives me??? Can I forgive myself???
Please send all your love and hugs and kisses to Jake. He was the sweetest dog in the whole world. Never a mean bone in his body... All he ever wanted was someone to touch him and give him love...
I LOVE YOU JAKE, PLEASE FORGIVE ME.
