maggie update part II

I can barely stand to type this, but I thought you all should know what we are dealing with. Well, the radiologist sent back his results to the vet. It turns out that it is cancer. It is in the lumbar area of her spine, and has chewed away some of the bone there. The radiologist said that a primary bone tumor or other cancerous lesion should be assumed. The pain she is experiencing could be a result of the chewed up bone, or the tumor impinging on her spinal cord. A tumor of the spine is pretty bad because there is no surgery you can do to fix it. If the dog had a tumor in their leg, they could amputate the leg and the dog could still do well with three legs. But you can't do that with the spinal area. The only option is radiation therapy for this type of tumor.

We have upped her dosage on a pain medication, but it doesn't seem to help her very much. She still can't get up the stairs, and she can't really squat to go to the bathroom she is in so much pain. The vet tells us that if we can't get her pain under control, we need to let go of her. We are heading in that direction as far as a decision on how to deal with this. I know my sadness isn't coming across through my words very well. I am devastated by this prognosis. I want maggie to not be in pain. It is so hard to watch her try to walk and try to go to the bathroom. We are really struggling with this decision of what to do to help her.