Nearing the end, I'm afraid.

It's been quite a while since my last update. It's been difficult to even think about documenting the events of the last several weeks when it's already hard enough to actually go through them. Seems the last thing I feel like doing is reliving our days in a blog when I'm so tired after dealing with the emotions all day long.

We had hoped to celebrate Harvey's 6th month anniversary of his surgery, as well as his 12th birthday, on May 26th. We were certainly grateful that he's made it this far, but unfortunately, he had another bleed on that day, so I spent the day nursing him and keeping him comfortable and warm, rather than the walk and "liver pate cake" I'd hoped to see him enjoy.

A few days later, we had an ultrasound done, which showed a lesion on his liver along with a couple of small cystlike growths on his mesentery. In all likelihood, it was the liver growth that bled, causing our most recent crisis.

Since the neoplasene is no longer working as we'd hoped, we've decided to try using artemisinin to shrink the cancer tumors. It's a promising cancer protocol that Frank's friend, Dr. Dale Guyer has seen some positive results with in his practice. Considering Harvey's current condition, it may be too late to try another treatment protocol, but he's still trying his hardest to get better, so we'll keep fighting with him. As the saying goes, where's there's life, there's hope. We've seen miracles with our boy before, so I don't want to be so negative as to lose the chance for another.

He's not really strong enough for another surgery to remove the tumor on the liver and, not knowing what else may be going on internally, we aren't even considering trying to remove these new growths. If we are going to lose Harvey soon, I want him to be at home, surrounded by love, not on an operating table at the vet's office.

Since the day of the bleed, he's gotten weaker, though he has had some good days. I've been keeping him quiet as much as possible with lots of naps and quiet time in the bedroom.

His hindquarters have gotten weak again, so that we need to carry him out to take care of his potty business. I think that shows the determination he had to walk again after his back surgery almost 3 years ago. He wasn't really expected to recover from that surgery as well as he did, but before long he was climbing into his favorite chair again, running - albeit awkwardly - and refusing any assistance from me or his doggy stairs to get where he wanted to go.
Since this recent bleed, he tries to get up, but it really takes all of his energy to do so and his back legs just aren't cooperating any longer.

I've been syringe feeding him nutritious food, but he's still happy to eat liver treats and cheese cubes and is drinking water well. He's been curious and totally engaged with the household activities, but he is requiring a lot more time to rest up after any activity at all.

We may be down to days, or even hours now, or our miracle boy could rally again - who knows. Whatever happens, the support of love of our friends has been a gift we'll cherish always. I tell Harvey every day that there are so many people who love him, so many who are praying for him and thinking of him. Such a special guy to touch so many - even folks who've never met him.

I'll update again tomorrow.........