Update on George.
Just got back from the vets with George. Took him in for a check up as he was holding his right back leg strangely. Up until now he had been doing ok. The lump on his shoulder had not really grown any bigger, but he had lost a bit of weight.Vet checked him over and found another mass in his side fairly deep seated and large, also probably pressing on the nerve in his leg or back. He doesn't appear to have any pain in his leg, he just can't feel it properly.
He is eating and drinking fine,and potters around his cage. She has given him some metacam to take and told me to keep him comfortable. She is happy to carry on as long as he has quality of life.
I'm completely heartbroken and in bits.
Just living on borrowed time,as they think it will be sooner rather than later.
HUGS!
It is the kind of diagnosis none of us ever likes to hear.
However, once you have had your cry, please concentrate on making the best of the time you have left and cherish every minute. We always only have our pets on loan to give them as happy and good a life in the time they have been given with us. Living beings, whether that is humans or pets, don't come with a minimal life span guarantee.
What pets and we ourselves die from and when is usually out of our control (the same goes for the humans you love).
I have learned that it helps me best to reset the time to zero when I get a notice that time is running out, so I can cherish every extra day I have been given with a beloved one and make the best of it.
The one gift - and it is a huge gift - that you have got with a terminally ill pet or person is that you have got time to do and say everything you want and need to say and do and not be left with unanswered questions and feelings of guilt. You also have been given the gift of making their passing as easy and kind on them as you can can.
Your grieving process doesn't start with the death itself; it starts when you realise that death is on its way - for you, that is right now! The shock of an imminent loss is always one of the real lows every bit as bad as the loss itself. But unlike when you lose a beloved one unexpectedly, you have this period between the shock and the actual loss in which you can make a difference and you can deal with the two separately and not be swamped by the shock and the loss all at once, which I personally find harder to deal with.
Love transcends time, and you can an astonishing amount of it in an amazingly short period. That is an experience I have learned in the three long years my dad was battling his terminal cancer. Death nearly always comes too soon, and it is frightening, especially when you have never experienced it before. But knowing that it is coming gives you a lot more control and choice over the time you have still left with your beloved one. There is still time for laughter, plenty of cuddles, lots of spoiling and special moments.
If it helps you, start a diary to write about your feelings but also about your precious memories, new and old ones, so you will always have something very tangible - and a lot of George that is staying with you in your heart that cannot be taken away from you.
