We are one month in to Tinsel's sad diagnosis. She's continuing to do well, so we are just muddling along. This week, I called the vet's office to order some food and her vet offered to do a re-check to see how she's doing, so I wrangled her into the carrier and off we went.
The vet confirmed my observations that the growth is quite a bit larger than it was 4 weeks ago. But as of now, it is not interfering with her ability to eat, so that's a very good thing. He was also able to press on it and manipulate her jaw without causing any discomfort, so it made me feel better to confirm that she is still not in any pain, which is my primary concern.
Her weight is stable (in fact, she picked up a little bit, which is sort of remarkable) and he observed that her coat is still silky smooth. She is still grooming herself well, which is also a good sign.
Tinsel's activity level is the same as it always has been. She's very playful and still doing her normal activities, so her vet encouraged us to just keep on doing what we've been doing. So that's our plan.
Plenty of scritches...
Daily yoga....
Lots of naps...
I've been lucky to get a bit more lap time than usual with Tinsel, even if she's only passing through to say hi.
Three years ago when I was at the hospital intensive care unit with my dad, reeling from his terminal cancer diagnosis and scared of the very sad road ahead, the oncologist sat down with me and told me not to try to solve tomorrow's problems today. When tomorrow comes, he told me, you'll have new information to help you with tomorrow's issues. So just work on today's problems today and tomorrow will take care of itself.
It was good advice then and it's good advice now. I know that very sad day is coming but it's not today, so in the meantime we'll do our best to enjoy each day we're given.
jp
I'm so sorry that you are traveling this road with Tinsel. We are seeing a definite slow down with our oldest Kirby who is 14 and I'm trying to prepare myself that we may not have him more than another year or two and then we have two more that are just a big younger and I think about losing three of our four in what could be within the same few years and I just have to keep focusing on what good lives we provided for them when they were with us. Hugs to you and to Tinsel.
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