header

Belle

Belle is my miracle dog. She is an 11 1/2 year old yellow Lab that I have had since she was 6 weeks old. She is my loyal friend, bird hunting buddy and fellow backpacker. Last November she was diagnosed with cutaneous hemangio-sarcoma. A very nasty cancer that they said would take her within four months. Just after Christmas ’08, she went downhill fast and was no longer eating or drinking she also had a softball sized tumor in her abdomen next to her thigh. I prayed for my dog so that she wouldn’t be lingering long and started to make arrangements to have her put to sleep. I spent many hours just stroking her coat and telling her how much I loved all our time together and telling her that she is a “good girl.” Through my tears I told her that it was okay now to go if she was ready thinking that she may just go in her sleep. (Many mornings I awoke thinking I might find that she passed during the night.)
I did manage to coax her to eat a little food that first week of ’09 and after about three days she came up to me at her regular feeding time and wanted her dinner. She began to improve greatly over the following week and was eating her normal meal. Much to my surprise she came to me one day with her sock toy and wanted to play fetch and tug-o-war. After a month had gone by the tumor that was so hard and huge was nearly gone and just a soft tissue mass remained under the skin. I took her into the vet so she could witness the miracle; she was stumped.
Today is June 29th and Belle is still with us. I don’t kid myself about her age and I know she is an older dog but, she is completely off any kind of pain meds and each day she is excited to get a cookie and do doggie things. We still take walks and when I say, “Wanna go?” she is ready to jump into the truck and go.
I believe that God intervened and gave us a little more time together. Why? I don’t know but I’ll take it.

John from CO

DOGS_359-CO_2009_031_8x