What happened...

Ok ~ lets see how much of this I can get thru before I start crying...

We got to Pullman late Wed. afternoon; got all checked in, went to dinner. Duncan's breathing was actually better that night, and no nosebleeds.

Got him to the vet hosp. at 1100 Thurs. morning, and received a wonderful surprise ~ the 4th year student who would be checking him over was Kim, a SUPER sweet guy we'd dealt with before. What a blessing that was! He knew Dunc's history very well, so we didn't have to go into all that; more important, we trusted his abilities implicitly.

We told him all about what had been happening the last week or so ~ the bleeds, the restlessness, the confusion...
As Kim was examining him, Duncan started with a nosebleed, a fairly good-sized one. And then, he seized. Kim scooped him up and went flying for their ICU ~ I still can't believe I had the sense not to go flying along with him... Jim and I just held each other and cried.

They came back about 5 minutes later; Kim said it had been a mild seizure; Dunc was already coming back around. Dr. Fidel (the cancer specialist) came back with him... She suggested that before going for a brain MRI, they do chest and abd. Xrays to look for any lymph node involvement...
Those tests came back pretty normal; just a slightly enlarged liver (probably due to the Prednisone he'd been on).
Next came an abdominal ultrasound and liver aspiration biopsy (just to be sure) ~ both normal.
Then came the MRI...

Need a break here...


Later...

Dr. Fidel came out to talk with us about half an hour before we expected her... they had stopped the MRI after they'd taken just a few shots...

The tumor was back, and bigger. It was now in both nasal passages, and had spread quite a bit more into Dunc's brain. She was actually amazed he was doing as well as he was...

Tears came, but neither of us was truly surprised by the news. I think we'd both known, somehow.

She and Kim showed us the MRI pix, and then gave us great big hugs. They brought Duncan out to us, and we sat and talked for a long time. We made the decision to stop all chemo, and to take him home for the 2 or 3 weeks they thought we had left with our sweet baby boy. Prednisone to help with the swelling in his brain, and lots of love was to be his only treatment.

One neat thing happened ~ we asked if June, the Japanese exchange vet was around. We knew how much she'd come to love him, and knew she would want to know. They called her, and though she was off campus, she said she'd be there in 15 minutes. I'm so glad she got to see him again, and say good bye.

More hugs, and then we took Dunc back to our room.

And that's all I can handle for tonight. I will try to post the rest of the story tomorrow ~
Thanks for listening ~