It has been a while since I’ve done any kind of update on Daisy, so I thought now might be an opportune time. To start off — yes — she is still with us. As remarkable as it seems, Daisy continues to survive with her cancer. I know what you are thinking, but don’t worry, she is not in pain.

We just recently had her at our vet for evaluation and he was quite surprised at how well she is doing. He palpated her belly and commented that her tumor has grown quite a lot and is now easily felt in her belly. He then quizzed us:

“Is she eating OK?” he said.

“Yes”, I said. “She is usually the first one to line up for food at breakfast time and supper time.”

“Does she still go on walks with you?” he queried.

“Yes,” I said. “She walks more slowly than she used to and for shorter distances, but she always wants to be included and is always excited when the other dogs get leashed up.”

“Does she seem to be in any pain?”

“No. Not anything I significant,” I said.

“Yeah. I agree. She doesn’t seem to be in any significant pain. Hmmm… Has she slowed down?” he asked.

“Yeah. She has slowed down a lot. She spends most of her time sleeping now,” I said.

“I’m not surprised,” he said. “I would expect that will continue. To be honest, I’m surprised at how well she is doing, considering the size of the tumor now. I would have expected her to be in pain or at least show some signs of discomfort. She isn’t showing that though. Based on the size of the tumor though, I expect she is nearing the end. I would imagine a few more months at the most. Of course, with this type of cancer, if the tumor ruptures, she could be gone tomorrow too. You never really know.”

“Yeah,” I said, shuddering at the thought of her tumor rupturing. “Let’s hope it doesn’t happen that way.”

“Well — keep doing what you are doing guys. She continues to look great and she has already lived much longer that I would have expected,” he said.

With that, I took Daisy home and thanked God for the extended time we’ve had with her. As I write this, she is curled up on the couch next to me, softly snoring and dreaming her Labrador dreams. I will miss her when she is gone. I’m glad I get a little more time before that happens.

–Pete