I am sad to report an end to this blog. Casey passed on recently on August 6th of 2009. He was battling Lymphoma cancer in his intestine. We found out in May that Casey had a tumor in his intestine. We were devastated. After all we had been through with Casey and him being just 9 years old I couldn't fathom that we were losing him. Not now...not ever:*( We of course took him to the best on the East coast to find out what the diagnosis was, the treatment, and the length of time he had left. We went to Tufts in north Grafton, MA. We were greeted by some wonderful people and a fantastic oncologist. But the truth was hard to accept. Cancer was going to take Casey from us. We were told that chemo and/or radiation doesn't effect cancer in the intestines very well. We were told Casey had 2 1/2 months to live. Knowing he already had colitis and IBD in his intestines we knew that chemo would definitely make him a sickly cancer patient. We couldn't allow him to end his life a sickly hospitalized dog. We chose to put him on prednisone and ride out his remaining time. It seemed the prednisone was a miracle at first. Casey improved, gained weight and more importantly stopped vomiting and was eating! We had our boy back although be it for a few short weeks, we wouldn't change those weeks for anything in the world! Losing Casey was one of the hardest things I had ever experienced in my life! I had been through loss of loved ones and loss of a pet before. It is always hard. This time seemed harder as not only were my husband and I losing Casey, but our two little girls were also losing their beloved dog! Casey was their big brother! Our oldest was 7 and the youngest at 4 when he passed. We prepped the girls very well with books and conversations and they seemed to understand at their level the best they could! We were told eventually that Casey's body would become immune to the prednisone. 5 Weeks from the start of it this came true. He lost so much muscle. He was panting and exhausted. The cancer was winning. Finally it was time to let him go:( Calling the vet for the appointment to euthanize Casey was the worst phone call I have ever had to make. I am crying now as I type remembering that morning. They gave us the last appointment of the day so we could have privacy with him and as much time as we needed. My brother came and we made Casey's day as special as possible! We took some fabulous family photos on our lawn! Casey ate some steak off the grill! And we just spent all the time we could patting and loving him.
We said goodbye to Casey later that evening and we pray he is healthy and comfortable in heaven! RIP sweet boy! We love and miss you terribly!
Love Mumma, Daddy, Emmy and Brooke
