Rest in peace, Jack

We are sad to share the news that Jack is no longer with us. We had to bury him on Monday, and we are still somewhat shocked by how fast he went from being just fine to no longer with us!  

It started with some bleeding in his mouth, and a little limping/instability about a week ago. The vet found several masses/tumors/concerning spots, suggesting cancer that they biopsied as well as an xray that showed masses (likely cancer) in the lungs. They scheduled us for a follow up to find out the results today.  

We never thought then that he wouldn't make it to today! He just got progressively worse over the weekend, and by Sunday morning he stopped eating and drinking and could no longer even get up. It was clear very quickly that he was shutting down and by Monday morning, we decided it was time to stop his suffering (and ours from watching him)!  

I did find out today that one spot they biopsied indicated hemangiosarcoma, and though the vet wasn't able to explain much, some googling indicates that it can indeed be a cancer that spreads rapidly via the blood vessels and can kill a dog within several weeks or less, often not discovered until it is too late to do much. Even when it is discovered early, the prognosis isn't great. I guess it was comforting to know that we couldn't have done much, and are thankful that his suffering (and ours) seemed to be rather limited.  Much preferable to watching him suffer from cancer over several months and/or us having doubts about when it was time to put him down.

We were glad that it was Labor Day, so Ryan didn't have to work. We were able to spend a beautiful (but sad) day at our land, hiking around in search of a resting place and then burying him beneath a nice oak, not too far from our new house, so he can always be close by.  

We miss him a lot but are sure glad that we have a three year old in the house the past few days. One of the first questions several different people have asked us is how Marlin is handling it and/or if he gets it. He's made a few comments about missing Jack, and had a few (kind of fake-y) 'crying' faces but mostly I think he's imitating and not fully grasping everything.  And also, he's three. Even if this is experience is helping him understand death, his emotional (im)maturity and ability to think simply and keep things light and goofy is actually quite refreshing and welcome in our gloomy states! 

It's quite a hold those four-legged friends can have on our hearts....!