Bad News for the Space Donkey

This morning bright and early I dropped Jupiter off for what we hoped would just be a tooth extraction. A few hours later I got a phone call from an old neighbor, the father of my best friend growing up -- who happens to be a vet at this office and called to break the news to me himself (thank your dad for me, Bren). Gil, aka: Dr. Orme, said that it was bad news. The swelling was from a tumor, not an abscess.

Jupiter the Space Donkey has cancer.

Dr.Orme laid out our options -- but really the best option is to enjoy the time we have with him, and put him down as his quality of life diminishes. He was concerned that the cancer may have already spread to his bones, because he was very anemic and his body doesn't seem to be making new blood cells.

So...not sure how much time Jupiter has. Maybe a week or two? Maybe months? Gil said it depends on how aggressive the tumor is, and there's no way to know.

I cried a little on the way to the veterinarian's office to pick him up.

Yesterday I hoped that we might have more than a few years left with him, and now today it looks like it will be even less than we thought. I explained everything to the kids this afternoon, and told them we just needed to make the most of the time he has left. It will be hard to say good bye, but I am really grateful that he won't have to suffer through years of old age before he dies. Other than the tumor, he is in fantastic health for his age. Now, as he begins to loose quality of life we will know what we're dealing with, and can put him down. Good old boy.

These two are the same age...they've grown up together.