in her survivor era

We weren’t sure which way this one would go because, well, that’s life sometimes. But we knew that once we received the pathology reports, we wanted to celebrate our pups in a big way. Take the wins while you have them. 

We actually found the small lump under Rigby’s left armpit in November. But with the rush of the holidays, we decided to wait until her upcoming wellness checkup in January to ask our {wonderful} vet about the situation.

Her sister, Fitz, {she’s the one on the right} had been taken in previously for what seemed like, at the time, a similar lump in the same location, that just ended up being a fatty pocket. Sometimes this is common in older dogs. {Me too, Fitz, me too.} So, to be honest, I wasn’t too worried about it.

When the vet confirmed that it was, in fact, cancer, we were speechless and the kids were devastated. You see, our last brush with cancer and our beloved pet wasn’t our favorite. Totally different, but we weren’t ready to do this again. It’s too soon, we thought. She’s only nine. Also, she’s already nine. Where does the time go?

While I’m on the topic, here’s a little pro tip: don’t take your kids to their {overdue} dental appointments and your doggos to their health checkups, all in the first week of January. It’s not exactly a stellar way to start out the new year.

But we’re navigating the bumps. Because “Life” is probably the most realistic board game I have ever played and sometimes these events make me think of the little cars with the little pegs and landing on the wrong square. Who knew Hasbro was preparing us for reality?

This one definitely felt like the wrong square.  

A week and a half ago, Rigby had her surgery and had a good bit of cancer, tissue, and muscle removed. I’m clearly not in the health {or animal} field, but it was a lot, and our amazing vet got great margins. And then, we waited for the lab results to learn if the cancer had spread.

We’ve learned as pet parents that you do what you can, and hope for the best. Sometimes, it’s not great news, and sometimes it really is, and every situation is different. We found the tumor early and as our vet said, we were going to speak positivity over this. So we did. 

In the meantime, Rigby’s been the bestest of girls in her recovery, despite being a little grumpy toward her sister. No running or jumping or off the leash for two weeks, so a week of snow has been epic timing for us. But we’ll take managing her on the slower days that the weather has allowed us. She’s been pampered, given lots of treats, and finished up all her meds like a very good girl. We’ve played nurse with a few restless nights and days. But she’s really just happy to be here. 

We received the good news via a call from Dr. Moser a few days ago that her tumor was low-grade, and everything looked good. This means it has not spread, and the surgery is considered curative. Rigby really does win. 

We. Are. Thrilled.

Why am I sharing this? We are thrilled to announce that Rigby is in her survivor era. Basically, a long story short, she made cancer her b*tch. They’re part of the family too, so of course, we had to celebrate with a little party. You take the wins while you have them.

I can’t share this post without giving the proper thank-you’s where they’re indeed, due. Our amazing vet, Dr. Lizzie Moser, had her booked quickly and taken care of, despite her own crazy schedule. She went above and beyond to personally talk to our kids about the situation, and had the patience to deal with all of us through this. If you live anywhere in the Franklin / Nashville / Spring Hill area, be sure to take your fur baby to her {ask for Dr. Moser}. They will be in excellent hands. Dr. Moser is a fellow Auburn grad, so she knows her stuff. {War Eagle!} We’re so grateful for her kindness and excellent bedside manner with her patients. This also includes her awesome techs and assistants. We appreciate all the extra care she definitely puts into her job, and we’d be saying this even if the news wasn’t that great, because we know that happens, too. We are all so grateful for people who are amazing at what they do and she clearly loves her calling. 

We couldn’t let this little phase of life go by without sharing it here! Because sometimes you need to celebrate the not-so-little things.

Cheers to her survivor era.