When It Rains, It Pours

I worried about how Bailey would handle Harley's inevitable passing. They are best friends, like brother and sister. They don't want to be separated and she refused to eat the night Harley spent at the ER. 

Yesterday, Cody took Bailey to the vet for vaccines and to have 2 spots tested that have been growing on her left side. Both dogs have these growths and we have been told in the past, "don't worry - these kind are benign." When one of Bailey's growths started bleeding and we noticed Harley cleaning it for her we decided to have it looked at again.

I have begun to notice that Bailey isn't eating much from her bowl at night - and she is my eater!

The vet looked at the spots and again said, oh don't worry about these! She aspirated the two growths and looked under a microscope. When she came back into the room she was at a loss for words...She said 

"It isn't good. She has Mast Cell Tumors".

aka: Bailey has cancer. 

Bailey: Age 7.5

(she will be 8 this fall)

Both spots were the same type of cancer, which means it had metastasized. Metastasis is never good. She will have surgery next week to remove the two cancerous lesions that we can see. I'm sure they will analyze the lesions and grade the cancer for us so we can understand her prognosis a bit better. 

50% will grow back in the same spot. If she remains tumor free for 6mo after the surgery her chances are good. 

The vet thinks she isn't eating due to the high amount of histamine that these tumors release and if she bumps it, it can be very dangerous to her - releasing massive amounts of histamine (like a severe allergic reaction). So we are giving her Benadryl twice a day until her surgery. 

Our hearts hurt right now. It is highly likely we will be loosing both dogs this year. Part of me wants them to be able to go together so that they are together in Heaven and so that Bailey isn't lonely here on Earth without Harley. 

An even bigger part of me wants many more years with her! She's still young and full of energy. God help us - it would be so incredibly hard to lose both dogs!

I have been trying to prepare the girls the best way I can. I tell them they need to love on the dogs because they are getting old and they may die and then go to Heaven. My heart breaks that my girls will have to learn about death at such a young age. 

I'll be a lot of pictures of the girls with our dogs.

We know you don't feel well Bailey - stay strong for us!

We love you Bailey!!!