[woward]

Sadly, I learned today that my old girl, Cookie, has a bone tumor in her right humerus. Our vet doesn't know if it is a met from the lymphoma that has been in remission for 9 months or if it is a different form of cancer. Cookie was quite suddenly expressing great pain in her leg/shoulder area starting on Saturday. Xrays clearly show the affected area.

Again, the vet (who I like very much) started down the path of lots of tests and various treatment options including chemo, radiation, etc. I patiently reminded her that we'd been down this road 9 months ago and had decided not to take extreme measures but only to make sure our girl was pain-free and had a good quality of life. Rather than making it tough on us, our vet immediately reversed course and recommended a regimen of pain medication using NSAIDs.

We feel very strongly that our original decision not to treat the lymphoma was the right one for Cookie. She has had a wonderful 9 months spending her time hiking, snow trekking and teaching manners to our two new puppies. Until Saturday she was playing fetch and had trekked 4 miles through the snow last week. Our memories of her vigorous lifestyle have been reinforced by the extra quality time we've had with her. We don't want to taint that by having her now spend time sick from useless, aggressive cancer treatments.

She's incredibly tough and may just knock this cancer too. But if not, she'll be with Bob shortly and they can play across the Bridge.

Bill