I’ve been delaying this post for over a week now because I’m not sure how to write it, so here it goes – Cash has cancer.

On Nov 2nd Cash woke up with a cough and a fever. No matter how many blankets we wrapped him in, he continued to shiver for no apparent reason. His breathing seemed wheezy and he had no interest in food whatsoever. We brough him in to the vet the next morning expecting to hear that a skin or ear infection was the cause of all this trouble, however the vet immediately notified us that he couldn’t hear breathing or heart sounds on Cash’s right side, which usually meant there was something there. This was a new vet we had never seen before, so we decided to make the trek to our regular vet clinic 35 minutes away for a second opionion.

Dr. Rose immediately agreed that there must be something on the right side blocking Cash’s breathing and heart sounds, so we decided to take some Xrays to see what was up. It was clear, even to laymans like us, that there was something unnatural in his lung from the slides we saw. The vet decided to run some bloodwork and take a biopsy of the inside of Cash’s lung to see what exactly we were dealing with. The biopsy didn’t reveal cancer cells, so Dr. Rose was convinced Cash was suffering from torsion of the lung, when one of the lobes twists itself, cutting off the air and blood supply to that organ. Essentially, she said the tissue had died and was now infected, making Cash very, very sick. The only course of action would be a risky surgery to remove the twisted lobe, one that required the removal of two of his ribs, 3 months recovery time, and a fee of $4000.

We were heartbroken, we certainly did not have $4000 readily available and could not imagine putting him through such a difficult and painful procedure. However, the alternative of putting him down right then and there was not an option, so we opted to book the surgery. Being that it was a Saturday, we had to wait until the thorasic surgeon was in on Monday to get in.

So I took Monday off work and got ready to bring him in to the specialist for the surgery. Both Jer and I were very nervous, at 9 years old a large breed like Cash is considered to be well into his senior years, definitely not ideal for an intense operation like this. Upon our arrival, the radiologist advised that he’d like to do another ultrasound himself to confirm the diagnosis before getting started. I gladly obliged him, if there was any way to avoid this surgery we were going to try it!

After anxiously waiting for nearly an hour, the vet called me into one of the exam rooms, but Cash wasn’t there. I knew this meant bad news. He noted that I looked very nervous, which made me feel even less at ease than before. And then he just came right out with it, the original diagnosis was wrong, Cash had lung cancer and it had already spread to his lymphnodes. Even with surgery to remove the tumor and aggressive chemo and radiation, our best prognosis would be 6 months. His advice was to enjoy what time we have left together.

And that’s it, in three days we went from having all the time in the world to having what seems like no time at all. I’ve been going back and forth all week trying to decide whether or not to discuss Cash’s diagnosis in the blog because our plan of attack is simple – we are going to ignore it. The reason I decided to share this info is because I want anyone in a similar situation to be aware of the symptoms and possible treatments for both cancer and torsion of the lung (although the latter is very rare). Since conventional treatment isn’t an option, we’ve decided to go the natural route to fight this as best we can. Aside from his prescribed antibiotics and pain management meds, we’ve put him on a high protein, low carb diet (Zeal from Honest Kitchen) and are adding several cancer-fighting supplements to his daily diet like tumeric, fish oils, and Cranimals antioxidant powder. Oh, and the occasional cheeseburger from McDonald’s, because why the heck not!

For now Cash seems totally fine, save for the occasional cough. I have to admit, based on his current state I kind of think they’re wrong, so we’re going to keep living life as though nothing is amiss. Science be damned, a mother knows (even a dog mother), and I feel like he’s going to be just fine.