Tank's Journey

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted! Tank is doing very well spiritually. He’s back in action full steam. Chasing neighborhood cats that make it into the yard, playing with his little dog and even sleeping upside down on the couch!!

He is on his second round of chemotherapy. Before the first round they found cancer nodules in his lungs, not a good sign. Before this round the nodules had increased in size. The Oncologist wanted to change the meds, but Tank’s heart was not strong enough, so they had to opt for a synthetic version. We can tell that the meds knocked Tank down a bit this time, which is sad, he was so happy and spunky before, but I’m sure this will pass and his attitude will improve.

When Tank is feeling god, he can be a bit of a butt head when it comes to someone else doing anything to him. When the assistant came out to get Tank for his chemo on Tuesday, Tank literally jumped into one of the chairs in the waiting room to try to get away! He looked like a total dork, big, old three legged dog hiding from the guy in a chair!! That’s the Tank we love, he never grew up, he’s still a puppy at heart.

His little dog, Encore, is picking on him a bit, when they are playing with a toy, Encore will steal it from Tank and run away with it! Tank will get up an chase him a couple times, then it becomes too much trouble, so he’ll just look at me and whine until I get him the toy from Encore!

We have all been so happy to have Tank perking and participating in life again, but it’s deceiving, as we know what lurks inside is still marching forward. It’s so easy to look at Tank and forget the cancer is still inside, but things are forcing us to be honest with ourselves and face facts. We are, unfortunately robbing from Peter to pay the Oncologist, and as much as I would give all I could to make Tank better, the unpleasant truth is it’s not. We have all sat down and come to the conclusion, that if this round of chemo isn’t working on reducing the nodules in his chest, we are going to suspend chemo. It breaks my heart to even write that, let alone actually do it, it’s so hard. All of this is unbelievably expensive, it takes all we have to do one day with the Oncologist, with all the tests and meds, it’s taken all we have, and in the end, it’s not working to even slow the cancer. So not fair. I hope we can keep Tank happy as long as he can do it, and hope we are blessed with many, happy days. We truly have been. It’s really been hard since the tumor first showed up on his leg in early November 2011. From that first vet visit and they gave Tank only 6-8 weeks, we’ve gone way past that. Admittedly, some of the time was horrible, but Tank and we have put that behind us.

We have a puppy lined up, my son wanted a Rottweiler, and the household is used to having a good protector as Tank has been. The puppies are expected in February and will be ready in April. We all hope Tank can enjoy the puppy too. He is a puppy at heart and he just loved it when both the Pappies were puppies. Time will tell.

I hope every one is doing well, I’ve been poor at keeping up with things on the computer, since Tank got sick it’s turned our world upside down. The journeys we all take thru life aren’t always pleasant, but they all add up to make us who we are, and they are there for a reason, so onward.