I saw a "dead-head" sticker on a Cadillac...

Summit of Schoolmarm Mountain

As weird as it would seem to celebrate a cancer diagnosis and an even more dire prognosis, we are doing just that because Addie is still with us over three years later!!

After hearing from the veterinarian that performed the splenectomy back in July of '08 that she would only have 3 or 4 months to live we are absolutely elated that she has lived well for over 36 months since that time.  Of course, she is showing her age just as any dog her size who is getting close to her 14th birthday would be.  However, given the alternative we were presented with back in '08, we are more than happy to be dealing with her old age issues.

Yes, she has more fatty lumps, has a harder time getting up and around, tires more easily, and is absolutely worn out when we take her for even short hikes now.  Although we know she won't be with us forever, we know that we have done everything we could do to prolong her life.  The greatest thing about that is that she has managed to not only have a longer quantity of life but also to have a good quality of life during that time.  She demonstrated that again just this past weekend when we took her on a relatively short hike to a small mountain summit.  We had to be careful to keep her from overheating, and we had to stop and rest frequently.  But she had a great time along the way playing with Finigan, sniffing every possible item, and finally scaling the summit to have her picture taken yet again on the top of one of Colorado's numerous mountain tops.

When the day comes that we are forced to say goodbye to our girl, we WILL look back (regardless of what Mr. Henley says) with great joy because we know that we were able to help Addie enjoy life for as long as it was possible for her to do so.

On a more somber note, we will be speaking with Addie's veterinarians tomorrow to discuss her urine's elevated specific gravity levels which were discovered during her most recent UTI battle.  Elevated specific gravity is an early indicator of kidney trouble so we are concerned.  We will post more as things develop.