Charmer’s Day Before The Start Of His Radiation Treatments
Today Charmer had an appointment to see Dr Dibernardi, his oncologist who will be doing his radiation treatments. I had faxed her earlier a 4-page long list of questions. Well there were 8 questions on it about the radiation and then a page asking her to give me an estimate on the Canine Melanoma treatments, with me outlining what the study required to be performed at each visit.
Yep, I was very nervous about possible bad side effects from the radiation related just to focusing a radiation beam to his upper palate area. In the yahoo groups endless love for owners with cancer dogs, I had read a couple of people whose dogs either went blind or suffered cataracts from the radiation.
Dr Dibernardi told my husband (pictured above with Charmer) and me if he lived past 2 years, Charmer would get a cataract in his right eye which is the side the tumor is on. I am not a happy camper with that, but it is much better than two cataracts. Total blindness though, I am not okay with.
Still I asked her if the cataract could be surgically removed and she said yes. I am getting the vibe from her she does not expect that to be a problem as she doesn’t expect Charmer to live that long. Well, I hope to prove her wrong. But even so I will be quite glad if he is around with me for another year or longer.
Just today as I looked at Charmer prancing into the yard, barking at a couple of ducks fighting in the lake, how glad I was that I didn’t just put him down at the diagnosis of cancer, because I really was grateful for each day I had him around.
I do enjoy him so much that my last few days have been richer. Why plunge myself prematurely into terrible grief without even trying? To me the greatest crime I can do is to not try if there is any shred of hope for a positive outcome and my pet is still relatively comfortable. Temporary disabling times like recovering from surgery is no reason to lose hope and euthanize my dog. I have resolved that as long as I see that Charmer is enjoying his life and not in any irreversible pain or unresponsive, and I can have the means to give him whatever treatments he needs, I will not jump the gun and lose hope and put him down.