I took this picture a couple of weeks ago, in the Spring Mountains... Sgt Gunner is on the right... Sir Chester on the left.
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As I posted last, I took this picture of Sgt Gunner after our last hike on our most recent, four night trip... Gunner did great... He actually outran Chester, toward the end of our last hike.
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But, Gunner has had a couple of "lost" episodes in the last couple of weeks... He would come in the house and act like he didn't know where he was. I suspected the onset of dementia, he is after all 11, so I took him to the vet two days ago.
His blood work showed low red blood cells and high bilirubin... The sign of something serious... Like hemangiosarcoma ( Golden Retrievers are susceptible to blood borne, splenic tumors).
Today, he had an ultrasound and two radiographs and his liver is completely covered in small tumors... To the point that it can't be resected. His spleen has a few tumors as well and something is bleeding into his abdomen... Could be the liver or the spleen, or both.
It's very aggressive and the vet says he probably has a month or less...
We lost a 13 year old female GR to this abdominal bleed out, years ago, and we didn't know she was sick until her abdomen became extremely distended one day... She died before daylight the next day... So, I don't think Gunner has a month left.
We'll be going bush as often as he feels up to it.
I'm not looking for pity, I've lost a lot of great best friends in my life... I've made daBoise a large part of my MUD persona and felt I needed to let everyone know what's going on.
Gunner is special though... He was born on Veterans' Day (11/11), 2005 and I was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Dec 18, 2005. I had a 4-month injection of Lupron Depot, to kill my testosterone and shrink my prostate. This shot put me into full blown menopause (hot flashes, night sweats, night chills, depression, crying jags, mood swings, the whole enchilada). Gunner slept on my chest and nursed me through it all. He also nursed me through the recovery from the subsequent surgery.
I wish I could nurse him through this, but I can't... So, we will give him the best quality of life, we can, for the time he has left.