How long does she have?

I haven't provided a Lola update in quite awhile, but today is probably as good a time as any.

Several months ago, Lola's lymphoma resurfaced, so we went back to treating it with chemotherapy every few weeks to keep it in check.

Unfortunately, toward the end of last year, we had to stop with the chemo because it was starting to attack her liver (not good). It took about a year, but her poor little body finally started giving out. :( We continue to give her prednisone to help battle the cancer and inflammation, but it's nothing like what the poison chemo was doing.

Since then, we've been monitoring the progress of her cancer pretty closely, with visits every few weeks. However, we've noticed her lymph glands increasing in size the last few visits and have started preparing ourselves mentally, emotionally, for the D-day soon to come.

Today was a rough visit. Between her last check up and today's, her oncologist feels like her cancer has really progressed much more aggressively than we've seen it in the past (something I've been fearing this past week but is so much harder to hear your doctor say in person).

Several of her lymph nodes are much more swollen, noticeable now to pretty much anyone who comes up to give her some love. She's also on and off about her food - usually still good, but every other morning, it seems, she'll skip a meal and/or eat really really slowly (with me standing over her and coaxing her the entire time). And, just within the past couple of days, we've noticed her wheezing more regularly (the oncologist says this isn't surprising as her swollen glands are probably bothering her) and wants a lot more love and attention (if that is even possible with Miss Lola).

She is finally starting to wind down.

It's probably not noticeable to most people, because she is still a very active dog compared to the norm, but for us (and the oncology team) who know her intimately, we are starting to see the signs.

So today I asked the tough question which I've been avoiding for several visits now.

Her oncologist says it's really hard to say, but if she were to guess, it could be anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months left before the cancer completely takes over. Two weeks. :(

Up until today, I feel like I've actually been handling this all pretty well. We've had a lot of time to digest and process the idea of Lola soon leaving our family. But, when I called Jon after the appointment to give him an update, it was hard for me to keep my emotions in check. Vocalizing an end date, and a close one at that, is so much more real and hard for us to swallow.

What's more, I have no idea how we're going to break the news to Loganito, once Lola does pass away.