Tomorrow Is Not Guaranteed

In the middle of the night I heard Bailey (our dog) jump up and run into our master bathroom and make a "gag" sound. She has been doing this gag/cough thing for a few days now but this was much more pronounced. I figured she surely had gotten sick but there was nothing. She continued through the night pacing back and forth in our room without laying down and resting. I went to put her outside and she could barely walk. Around 7am I told Cody there was something wrong with Bailey. At 7:30am, Cody called the vet. Cody was able to drop her off at the vet at 7:45am before work so the vet could check her out between surgeries.

Apparently she was really sick because by 8:30am they had already called to say Bailey had a 104 fever & was wheezing. They said she either had pneumonia, heart failure or cancer. She needed blood work, IV antibiotics and an x-ray. We already knew she had cancerous tumors removed externally last year so in my gut - I knew.

When we got the news I was shocked at how bad she actually was. Bailey has a large growth on her right lung that perforated the lung and caused it to collapse. It is called a spontaneous pneumothorax caused by a cancerous lesion. She also has possible growths on the left side too. This was just an x-ray and not full body, so the there is a chance the cancer is much more far spread than this.

Unfortunately, there is not much we can do. There is the option of referral to a specialist, doing a CT, surgery to removed the damaged lung, etc. but this most likely won't change the outcome. All we can do is "supportive care" for her.

Bailey will get antibiotics to treat the fever & steroids for her lung/pain. If she continues to have restless nights of pacing around, we need to let her go according to the vet. She really couldn't tell us a timeframe on the prognosis. If the tumor ruptures, she will bleed internally and it will kill her. That could occur at any time.

I tried to explain to the girls that Bailey was very sick and would be with Harley soon. The girls were with me when I picked her up from the vet this afternoon and they were SO excited to see her!

We hadn't been home 10 minutes and I found Reese under the kitchen table whispering to Bailey while I prepped their dinner.

We spent the evening outside with Bailey and I got some sweet pictures of the girls with her. She seemed better than she was this morning. Definitely not in pain like this morning! Her breathing is hard and labored but she is drinking water and ate for the vet.

The girls had fun giving Bailey a shower in my master shower and making her smell "beautiful". They spent the rest of the evening sitting on the game room floor on each side of her as she rests.

We know Bailey's time with us will be ending too soon. She has missed her best friend, Harley, ever since he passed last May.

We are blessed to have right now and will be grateful for any additional time we get with her! We will continue to love on her with all our hearts, spoil her with treats (and possibly table food), and take a lot of pictures while we can.

All we can do is pray for peace and comfort.