dont take a single day for granted! We miss Henry so much and even all these months later, I am utterly heartbroken! I am crying as I write this, but I feel I need to share it.
I wrote about what was going on in previous blog posts, sort of. So read that post from August 26 so you’ll know how it all started. He basically was FINE, a happy, healthy guy! On August 15, the day before his birthday I took him to the vet because he seemed to be having labored breathing when asleep. Other than that, he was fantastic! The vet was concerned enough that we did some blood work. On Henry’s 5th birthday, August 16, 2024 we got the call from the vet that took my breath away. Henry had cancer. We didnt know the extent of anything yet, but chances were high that it was a form of Leukemia. What a terrible birthday present!!!
We got squeezed in at the Veterinary Cancer Specialist and they confirmed the diagnosis. He had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, which is a rapidly progressive disease that has a high mortality rate. There is no cure, and even with treatment the prognosis is poor. It develops quickly and is aggressive. The vet said expect for Henry to have days to weeks… (turned out he had 12 days)
What is ALL Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia? According to a veterinary professional: it involves the obliteration of the bone marrow by immature lymphocytes called lymphoblasts. When 30 percent of the bone marrow cell population consists of these blast lymphocytes, ALL is confirmed. In about 90% of the patients, the blast cells spill out into the circulating blood, which can be detected in a blood sample. Henry’s was diagnosed with a blood sample, and they estimated that his blood contained about 60-70% of the cancerous blasts. 
What are the symptoms of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia? listlessness, poor appetite, nausea, diarrhea and weight loss. Strangely, Henry had none of those symptoms until the very end. He was acting 100% normal. If he didn’t sleep in our room, and I wasn’t a light sleeper so that I heard the labored breathing, we may not have even known anything was wrong.. His symptom of labored breating is a late symptom, and dogs usually have others first, but not Henry. They said that his bodys respiratory system took the brunt of it all..
More info about the disease. The average age of diagnosis is only 6.2 years, but about a quarter of the dogs are diagnosed by the age of 4 years old. Some will have enlarged livers, lymph nodes and other noticeable problems. The pets generally become very sick very quickly and currently the only treatment is aggressive chemotherapy, but even with that, most dogs (70%+) do not survive. The cancer specialist that we went to pretty much said you’ll just buy him a few more months, but those months will be spent on chemo. He may also need blood transfusions. What kind of life would that be? We decided to let nature take its course and we declined putting him through the treatment.
The last week of his life I stayed with him 24/7. We went for short walks, for drives in the car, gave him all the food he loved best, and we just gathered and loved on him. I promised him that once he started to suffer, that I would end it all for him. Thats exactly what we did. One evening we were laying on the couch. He liked the lay by my feet with his head on my leg. He was laying there but kept getting off the couch, and running outside to poop. But couldnt poop. Then he vomited a couple times and seemed to feel better, but then he was having trouble getting comfortable, couldnt get up easily, and I could tell he was in pain. We made the decision in that moment that it was time to let him go.. We went to the vet and they put him to sleep. I was on the floor with him, and he peacefully left the earth.
Our sweet Henry lives on in our hearts and we will always treasure the time we had him in our lives.
