Oh Stacy:

I'm so sorry.  I guess at this point, empty out the fridge and say have at it girlie. 

Yes, you definitely need to get focused on living in the moment, day to day.  It's been hard for my husband and I because we don't deal with the unknown very well, and since September 16th, it's been when?  When will we be required to make the decision?

I dug out Tika's blanket today from her puppy days, I am going to get it washed up.  We'll have her on it when the time comes, if we have to help her to the other side.  So, as you can imagine, I lost it.

I spoke with our oncologist today about Tika's coughing and the blood coming up and what's going to be happening over the next few weeks.  She was very encouraging and supportive.  She told me......YOU WILL KNOW.  She seemed so definitive and confident about it.

I thought of something else that we tried with Tika and she liked (I thought they were NASTY--but it wasn't me eating them) it was Gerber's graduates meat sticks, they look like little vienna sausages and are soft and easy to eat.  Maybe Lulu will like them?

I will be thinking about you (and probably crying along...)  I hope Lulu can give you a little rebound so that you can be better equipped to say good bye.

---Kim and Tika

Stacey

Really sorry to hear your news. This seems to be one of those especially sucky days in the life of tripawds. There have been a couple in the short time I've been with the group. Hopefully LuLu will rally and surprise you like Tika has been doing.

Susan & Tazzie 2

Stacey,

I am so sorry about your vet appt.  You are right, cancer does suck.  It is so unfair.  I don't mean to give you any false hope but Lulu does not have a calendar.  I think we have had many dogs on tripawds that have out lived their prognosis.  If I am remembering right, our very own Jerry lived way longer than he was expected to.

My prayers are with you and Lulu and also with Tika and Kim and all of us that are facing this horrible journey.

Debra & Emily

How's Lulu doing?

Debra & Emily

Yoda loved salmon-skin sticks, even when he didn't want to eat in the mornings.  A couple of the little local petstores around me have them.  If you see any, I would highly recommend them, especially given her lack of appetite.

I should warn you though - I babysat my brother's dog this weekend while his family had to go out of town and gave her a leftover salmon-skin stick and she loved it.  She loved it as a perfume as much as a treat.  She chewed on it for a bit, then dropped in on the floor and rolled on it, then chewed on it some more, then rolled on it some more, etc., until she finished it.  I reeeally wanted to be evil and send one home with her without telling my brother anything more than that she really likes them.    Alas, I would have needed to buy another one and the pet stores that sell them are really small, and I didn't feel up to updating whoever was working that Yoda passed away.  It's probably better this way.  My sister-in-law might not have forgiven me, if I'd done it.

Hang in there.  Good luck!  I hope that she will yet bounce back from her lack of appetite.  In the meantime, you're doing all you can and for now she's still enjoying life and that's a victory! 

I was scared all the time for Yoda too.  I still am some of the time.  It's a hard habit to break.  Cry as needed, but try to put it aside as best you can too while Lulu is still on earth.