Labrador with brain tumor

emmamom2

Our beloved 10 yo Lab- Emma, has all the classic signs of a mid-brain tumor. She started having seizures 9 months ago, we put her on Pb. That didn't stop the pacing, but most recently she's not acting liked herself at all. She's stealing food and she's incontinent. We knew to expect this but it is still shocking. We love her so much. We're going to call the vet tomorrow to see if anything more can be done- maybe high doses of steroids to reduce the swelling in her brain.

(we opted not to have any more treatment.) She is voracious= we try to feed her as often as she likes...she's having accidents (clean them up and then limit her area,)....she's drooling and seems to be having trouble remembering. Her behavior is totally gone-no commands are remembered- except sit.

It is so hard. I don't think we have much time left.

I can't stand it. I love this dog so much. I have so many pictures/memories- This dog was Sandy in " Annie" with my kids -and she stole the show.

Please let me know what I can do to help her. I guess i really want you to tell me how to cure her, or offer me a bit of encouragement. She paces through the rooms and I can hold out my hand to get her to stop- I scratch her and praise her, but she just looks glassy-eyed and she just keeps moving.

L.

ChrissyBz

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I have no advice, but my thoughts are with you and your family.

emmamom2

thank you Chrissy. we have all late nights now it seems to me. She can't settle down. I reach out my hand every time she makes another round, I try to reach out for her...she's so tired.


I so hope the prednisone tomorow can give her a little relief,
L.

gills

I am so very, very sorry.

This will be hard to hear, but let her go. That is how you can help her. My heart goes out to you.


If it should be that I grow weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then you must do what must be done,
For this last battle can't be won.

You will be sad I understand,
Don't let your grief control your hand,
For this day more than all the rest,
Your love for me must stand the test.

We've had so many happy years,
What is to come can hold no fears,
You'd not want me to suffer so,
The time has come, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they'll tend,
And please stay with me until the end,
Hold me firm & speak to me,
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time that you will see,
The kindness that you do for me,
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I've been saved.

Please do not grieve it must be you,
Who has this painful thing to do,
We've been so close for all these years,
Don't let your heart hold back your tears.

Dieselsmama

I'm so sorry, it's terrible to see them degenerating before your eyes. I hope your vet can offer some relief for her, but if not, I hope you'll not let her suffer. ((Hugs))

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My baby Heidi

Hi My baby Heidi will be 13 in May and she is also going through the same thing. The same day I had to take her to the vet we woke up to her having a terrible seizure I had never seen anything like that before. I took her to the vet at the end of Feb because she was walking repeatly around are first floor over and over again and then she had the seizure that morning. The vet did a chest x-ray and noticed that she had three lumps in her lungs and told us that most likely she has a brain tumor that''s causing her to walk in circles and sometimes losing her balance. They gave us some med's which causes her to pee all the time. She seemed to be doing better except for the peeing but she just had another seizure this past Friday and ever since then she's been walking around the whole first floor again and is now falling over. She is really losing her balance now. I am so undecided on what to do I love my baby so much. I'm just not ready to let her go. I guess I'm having a heard time because she is still wagging her tail and seems to still know what is going on. So it's hard for me to even think of putting her to sleep but I also don't want to see her in this state.

gills

It is a hard decision to make, and my heart goes out to you. Just make sure that whatever you decide, that you make the choice that is best for Heidi. Sometimes without realizing it we make the decision that will put off our own pain, rather than put an end to theirs.

My baby Heidi

I understand. What would you do? Would seeing her tail still wag make a difference?

gills

Well, it's very hard. Especially if you have a dog that is all heart, like yours.

I would tell you what I would do if it would help you, but it won't. You will make a decision, and whatever it is, it's the right one.

My baby Heidi

Thanks! Well we have an appointment tonight at 7:40pm for a followup and for this new issue. I'll see what the vet has to say.

gills

I'll be thinking of you and Heidi.

My baby Heidi

Well my baby is now at rest. We made the very hard decision to put her to sleep last night. I already miss her so much.

charmed4412

I am so very very sorry.. It is the hardest thing to do when it comes to our pets.. I am sure Heidi is looking down at you and thanking you for all the years you had together... She still lives in your heart..

ChrissyBz

MBH I am so sorry, perhaps when you feel better, or if it would help ease your pain now, you could put up a thread in the memorial forum. To celebrate her life and the joy she shared with you.

I empathize and commend you for having the courage to do what was best for Heidi. It's the hardest decision, I know. My thoughts are with you in this oh so hard time.

gills

I am so very sorry. It's such a painful thing to do, and every one of us who has gone through this is crying some tears for you today.

emily445455

oh...I'm so sorry you and Emma are going through this

My baby Heidi

Thank you all so much for your support.

emmamom2

I'm so sorry about your Heidi. I think a memorial service can be really helpful.


Well, we took Emma to the vet on Saturday, hopefully to get a trial round of prednisone to help reduce the swelling in her brain and improve her symptoms. But our regular vet was not in that day, and we saw someone else who just did another $200 round of blood tests. The blood came up fine, nothing out of place and her phenobarb level was good. So I spoke with our regular vet on the phone yesterday and he suggested that we take her cold-turkey off the phenobarb.

She's been 24 hours now without a pill and she's acting much better. i hate to get my hopes up, and she may have another seizure, but she seems more playful and happy. She's still pacing counter-clockwise, but she can be still for a while (30 seconds) and her eyes look more normal.


We're just going day by day, watching her. Laurie

My baby Heidi

Thank you emmamom2! That's the same thing they did with my baby. On 3/23 I was given the prednisone and phenobarb I was giving that to her everyday but both meds caused her to pee so much that after almost two weeks I took her off the phenobarb and just gave her the prednisone since that's the one that actually worked on the swelling. She was doing so well eating and everything but after she had the other seizure on 4/4 she was back to walking around the whole first floor and falling over she was just not herself. We got to enjoy her for another what almost three weeks. It's only been two days since we made that hard decision to put my baby to sleep but oh my how I miss her following me around the house and begging for scraps. Just not being able to see her when I get home. It was so hard to come home from work yesterday and she not be there. My baby is really missed! We do have another Labmix who is 6 yrs old to take care of he finished his chemo treatments about a month ago. He to was diagnosed with some form of cancer. We took him to the vet because we noticed swelling in his neck area when the vet checked him his lymph nodes were swollen so they ran some tests and told us the bad news. We took him to an oncologist and we put him on a 19 week treatment. Tyson is now in remission and just has to go for regular physicals every 6 to 8 weeks to make sure there is no more swelling. Wish us luck with him I don’t think I could go through all this again.

I wish you and Emma all the best and that you get to enjoy alot longer then we did our baby.

emmamom2

I had started writing a letter but lost it due to time. Emma had a bad seizure tonight- it's been 48 hours without phenobarbital. I guess i was only fooling myself or wishful thinking that this was something else. she came out of it pretty quicky -5 minutes from start to trying to stand. she walked around here for about an hour, and has now laid down and is asleep. We popped her 90mg phenobarb into her mouth as soon as she was able to take it from our hand.

We've got more though. Our other dog Chester the Molester (a chocolate lab pup) started throwing up yesterday- I'll spare you the gory details of the earlier post. We're up to our elbows in vomit, poop, bile, mucus & pee. i have no idea what is wrong with him. we got him to drink maybe 2 oz's of pedialyte this evening before Emma had her seizure. Now he's lying on a towel at my feet- i keep watching his rib cage to make sure he's breathing- he looks like death. He's so weak he can't even get up now.

We called the vet initally tonight about him- they said a virus is going around- don't worry- they'll call in some metronidazole and something else tomorrow.
then emma had the seizure.

i feel that we're coming apart at the seams. I told my husband that i would take the early shift tonight and he could get up at 3 and do the late shift.

thank you to all who read this. it gives me something to do while I worry.

L.

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