We discovered that our dog, Gladdie, has cancer a few months ago. The alternatives were a radical surgery removing her lower jaw (mandible). Even with that, the vet could not guarantee that the cancer had not already spread. We decided for her quality of life, not to have the surgery. It would have meant that her prime activities of chewing, playing ball, etc would have been over. It would have required us to hand feed her all of her meals. And it may have required follow-up chemo. This would have greatly diminished her quality of life. And at a time when so many people are still without health insurance and healthcare, we could not contemplate spending those resources for medical care for our dog, whom we dearly love.
We thought she would live quite a while longer, but the signs are, she will not. She has started hesitating at the top of the stairs. Teka has actually carried her down, other times we have had to coax her down. She is slipping away fast. Gladdie is only 9 years old. She is a black Lab-mix that Teka, Becky (our friend and next door neighbor) and I adopted at the Humane Society of Saint Louis, back in 2001. She was so full of energy that Teka hesitated to agree to us taking her home. I immediately fell in love with her. At the Humane Society, she was called Nelly. Becky, quickly renamed her Gladness. I had other names for her like “terrorist”, “Osama”, etc. She is a great dog and has brought many years of joy and gladness to us.
Gladness (a.k.a.Gladdie), besides her talent at getting everyone who lives here or stops by to visit, to pet her; she was also a super soccer dog. Hours of kicking the soccer ball for her to “fetch” meant she would chase it down and handle the ball like a soccer player to bring it back to us. Recently, she has begun running to the ball and barking at it to move on its own, since she is no longer able to run it back to us the way she once did. I know we made the right choice about the surgery and aftercare, but my heart is sad that so quickly, her favorite past times are already a thing of the past.
I will be leaving for KC on the train tomorrow, worrying about her and hoping she is still here to greet me when I get home. If you met Gladness, or never met her, enjoy the photos. She is accompanied by our other dog, Dopey, in several of the photos.
Peace,
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