I am Charlie and I have cancer

Hi everyone. This is Karine speaking, Charlie's mum. I am writing this blog to keep you posted of course, but mainly to ventilate my own frustrations and deal with my emotions. Most of you know how fond I am of Charlie and how much I'll miss him. I don't need to be reminded of the fact that he is just a dog. If you think this blog is sad: fair enough, don't read it ! If you feel the need to remind me of that, you'll be the one that's sad, not me.

The medical update is this: Charlie has a tumor on the anal glands. There is no metastasis in the lungs or liver, which is good. The cancer has spread to the first nodes but not any further.  He is very playful and cuddly. He has no pain.

On Friday, they will remove the tumor as well as all infected first nodes. They will have to cut an opening through his pelvis. It will be heavy on the boy. He will stay in the hospital for the weekend. Depending on which type of cancer it is, there will be chemo or not. Don't panic yet. With humans, they give enough chemo to destroy the cancer. With animals they give as much chemo as the animal can take. The reasoning behind this is that the animal itself cannot agree to chemo. So Charlie won't be sick, but the chemo might not be strong enough to kill the cancer either. We'll wait and see.

His life expectancy is 1 to 3 years depending on 3 factors: (1) metastasis in the lungs (negative); (2) tumor bigger than 10 cm³ (negative) and (3) continuing hypercalcemia after the operation (to be determined). So hopefully, Charlie and us will have some good years ahead.

I will write updates when I feel like it, with pictures if you like.

I will write the blog from Charlie's point of view. just to keep it witty. I know he touched the lives of many of you. Hopefully, it will be a long and boring blog.

Karine