Wow today was a week already since Shadow came home!!! He is doing better everyday. He has a lot of visitors this first week. We have learned a lot of things this first week. We pulled together as a family. The first day my brother worked from home keeping shadow company. The other dogs did wonderful relaxing all day. Shadow did amazing hopping outside to go the bathroom. That has been the hardest part is to walk on him a leash we have fence in yard and he not use to going out on leash but he did amazing except for slipping on our hard wood floors so my sister ran out and got rugs and yoga mats to cover the floors. She also stopped and got shadow a hot dog for a treat. We have rugs and Yoga mats from the room to the back door but who cares it makes it so much easier for shadow. He did really good over the weekend. We all took turns checking on him and taking little naps with him. He ate all his meals, drank water ( with a little chicken broth in it) took all his pills with no problem. His cone has started rubbing his neck so my dad stoped at the pet store and got him a zene collar, oh he looks so much better with that on and so much more comfortable.Monday morning came and everyone is goes back to work. My mom, my son Austin (12) and I are home alone with Shadow and the 3 other dogs. My sister Sarah and my neice Hannah (7) came over to visit Shadow this was Hannah first time seeing him. She was so sweet to him and Shadow was so happy to see her. Shadow is feeling and looking better everyday and is up to some of his old tricks. He tried to open my brother door, we could see the door handle moving not really sure how he was doing, it was actually pretty cool seeing that. Tuesday again shadow had another visitor my other neice Peyton  ( 9) came over and spent all day here with her sister Hannah also. My son Austin, Hannah and Peyton sat all day in the room with Shadow and watched tv and kept him company while we did some house cleaning. He came out and sat with them while they ate lunch and begged for food and tried to shake sitting on his back legs, I couldn’t believe it. His surgery area is looking so good, his hair has started to grow back already. Wednesday  today is 1 week since Shadow surgery again the girls were here and so was my sister,  my mom had a couple things to do so they came to help me. Shadow really is enjoying the company and all the extra attention he is getting which he totally deserves after all he has been threw. The other dogs have been amazing, we have kept everyone separated we have took the other dogs into visit. We had to switch from mixing chicken broth into his water to a little ice cream. That is the only thing we have had a difficulty with is getting him to drink water but he likes the ice cream water!! Thursday has been a week already since Shadow came home. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone and how much better Shadow looks in just a weeks time. Personally I am still scared of what the future holds but I was up early to help put Shadow and the rest of the dogs out and layed back down with Shadow. We spent a couple hours the morning just cuddling and petting him. So blessed to be able to that. I still cry and get upset thinking if we did the right thing and than I see those beautiful big brown eyes looking at me and know we did.

Thursday June 23, 2016

Today was the day we get to bring Shadow home. The vet said he could stay another night but wouldn’t eat for them which can be normal. We spent the day getting the house ready. Cleaning my brothers room up to be the recovery room, putting the bed on floor, having fresh blanket on the floor extra dog beds and pillows. The vet office where he had the surgery done is about 25 minutes from where we live. We went after dinner.My mom, my brother and me went to pick him up. Felt like the longest ride ever. Walking in to the vets office I felt sick, all these things running threw my head. Was shadow going to be mad at us? How is he going to look? How are we getting him to the car, how are we going to get him into the car? They called back and brought him out to us. He hopped his way out to us, those big brown eyes looking at us with this big cone around his head and I lost it. I cryed so much and he could tell we were all upset. He was just so happy to see us. He hopped out to the car and got right in. I sat in the backseat with him and layed beside me. I kissed,  hugged and talked to him all the way home trying to hold my tears back so he didn’t know I was upset. ( crying again as I am writing this) Than came the fear of how my 12 year old son Austin was going to handle this. We all got home and got him settled into his room, we feed him some food which he ate, gave him his pain medication. He seem so happy to be home with us. It was such a surprise to me on how fast he walked, we had to behind him to just keep up. My son did amazing, he didn’t cry he was just so happy to see his buddy Shadow home again. Austin was so helpful, he kept going in and checking on him. It was so sweet. Shadow is so loved by everyone!!!

Left to Right

Thor,Loki,Shadow and Sasha Girl

It was the weekend of June 11/12th, we noticed Shadow had started limping a little on his Left Paw/Foot. We thought maybe he had hurt it while playing with the other dogs. Couple days had passed not getting better nor worse either. We were already leaving for our family vacation to the beach on Wednesday June 15th. My brother and boyfriend were staying at the house with the dogs and my sister lives close to us. Shadow had appointment at our vets for that Friday June 17th to have his leg looked at. My brother and sister took him to the appointment and reported to us that not really sure what is what but gave him pain medicine. We didn’t think much about it. We came home in Monday evening June 20th. My sister and brother called a family meeting and said they didn’t tell us the truth about Shadow and that he had a tumor in his leg and was in pain and most likely his leg would need to be amputeed. What a shock we were all in. The next day Tuesday June 21st my mom and I sprung in to action. Shadow had another appointment with our vet that afternoon,  more xray were done and showed the tumor had grown over the weekend but did not move into his lungs and his blood worked looked really good. Our vet called right away to the oncologist office and they could see us right away. The oncologist comfirm everything for us that Shadow  would definitely need surgery. They could do it the very next morning. We made the decision to have it done after alot of tears. It was the one of the hardest  decision we have made but we knew it was the best for him to have any chance of life. After many upsetting good byes, hugs , kisses and feeling sick as we walked out the office so empty still kept saying what else could we do. We have to everything possible for Shadow!!!! Wednesday morning came and we called upto the vets Shadow was already in surgery, took about 3 hours for them to call us ( felt like a lifetime) but Shadow came out fine and was resting. The surgeon later called us, Shadow was resting and was doing good. She thinks that she had got all the tumor but also took out lymph nodes to send out for testing. The test take 2 weeks to come back. We are hoping for the best results!