SAYING HELLO

Hello All. . .

I've been missing in action for the last few weeks and thought maybe I should let you all know why.  Several of you have emailed me to check in and I thank you for thinking of me.

My sweet Gunther was diagnosed with cancer.  Long story short, we found a very aggressive tumor on one of his toes on his left front paw.  We thought at first that he had just broken a nail to the paw pad, but quickly saw the tumor growing.  Come to find out that it was the tumor that pushed the nail out.  We opted for surgery and he had the toe amputated.  It was sent to Chicago for biopsy and it came back positive for cancer.  The particular cancer is called Squamous Cell Carcinoma.  We've had two good pieces of news so far.  The pathologist said that this particular cancer, though aggressive, is slow to metastasize, and from the view of the amputation, it looks like our vet got all of the tumor.

He got his stitches removed today and while at the vet, we tried to get a biopsy of his lymph nodes on the left side of his chest.  The doctor said she felt that they were a little swollen and wanted to biopsy a sample to make sure there were none of the cancer cells present.  However, after 4 attempts, all she could get were "fat cells".  So, we just have to keep watch for signs that it has spread.  This type of cancer usually spreads to the lungs.  Our vet is going to consult with an oncologist to see what we might need to do as far as chemo etc. if needed.

So, as you can imagine, battling Gunther's desire to rip off bandages whenever I wasn't looking, taking care of him and all of Jay's care demands, the depression has won out more than not and I've had no desire to "create".  All this is happening so close to the loss of Shotsy.  I'm sorry that I haven't visited any of you as well, but my mind and heart are elsewhere at the moment and I hope you will understand.

I do hope you are all well, and I miss you.

Hugs,

Curt

"God, please help me be the person that my dog thinks I am."