5/11/11 Today it the first day of the rest of my life – ZAK

Thank goodness our friend Debbie noticed last evening that Zak's lymph nodes under his jaw were enlarged.  Even though we pet him every day, we may not have noticed for some time.  We knew he needed to see the doctor as soon as possible.

Zak went to the vet this morning to check out his swollen glands, rash and a cough.  Other than these symptoms, everything else was normal. The doctor said that she would send out his samples to be tested and it could be lymphoma.  Just what does that mean?  He is 9 years old and seems to be in great shape otherwise.  But no, his body is starting to fail.   

It appeared to both Craig and I, after our research on the internet, that Zak clearly has lymphoma and is in at least stage 3 with a life expectancy of 4-6 weeks if we do nothing.  We will not get the final results until the oncology test comes in, maybe Friday.  We are overtaken by our grief.  You always know that a dog has a limited lifespan, and 9 years is a reasonable age for a dog, but you are never prepared for this verdict. I keep telling myself that Zak has had a good life and we were very lucky to have him but we both agree that will need to let him go soon. 

We take him for a short walk and maybe detect a slight limp.  I brush him and observe that his glands are very swollen around his neck and above his front legs.  His stomach is very red – it looks like a bad rash.  I feed him tuna with his kibble that evening and he ate it as fast as I could dump it into his bowl.  Omega 3 is good for the immune system, so maybe he is craving it.  Sally leaves me alone when I love on Zak, which is out of character for her.  I think she knows that he is sick.