I want to thank all of you for the many prayers, thoughts, and warm wishes. When I logged in just now to post an update, I am so touched by all the replies and prayers. Yesterday was a very hard day for us at home. About 2 hours after dropping Taz off at the vet's office, Petey (Taz's true mom...I'm merely someone else in the household who loves him) received a call from the Dr. After putting Taz under anesthesia & just before beginning the surgery he found more lumps in his lymph nodes in the groin area. Lumps that hadn't been found before apparently because they're harder to notice in that area ... easier to see while he was relaxed under anesthesia. His Dr. called an oncology specialist right away to ask an expert opinion whether or not he should go ahead and remove the leg AND the nodes. After drawing & checking the fluid from the lumps, they discovered the lymph nodes were also full of cancerous cells, and that it had spread into his stomach/intestinal area. Because removing the leg wouldn't save his life, we all opted not to do so. The vet called (while Taz was still under) to say he felt he should be euthanized, and wanted to know if we would like it done while he was still under. Petey (and myself) couldn't allow that to happen without being able to say goodbye to him. We opted to bring him home and try to love him as much as possible while we can. Before he went in for surgery yesterday he had been acting fine most of the time...other than the obvious growing tumor on his leg, & getting tired more often. He still wants to jump and play..he loves to catch the ball. We've opted to allow him that until it becomes obvious that he's in pain & not able to do so any longer. The vet doesn't think that will be long (he said it could be a few days, maybe a few weeks, but not long) but was also very understanding and sympathetic. He also has a harder time using the bathroom...another sign that it wont be long? Last night we thought we saw a hint of blood in his stool, but don't understand why it wasn't there before...or why it wasn't detected in all the tests that were ran on him up till this point. I know there are no guarantees of tests results where cancer is concerned...but it's hard.
Thanks again to each of you for your kind words and prayers. Even though it's bad news, and even though we know it'll soon be his time to go, it's hard knowing we have to make that decision soon.