So, the vet calls to tell you that your dog, your 12-year-old dog, has lymphoma. She tells you that lymphoma is usually quite easily treated in dogs, that the chemotherapy has little or mild side effects, that remission is achieved in over 50 per cent of cases. She says she'll call you back the next day to discuss treatment options more in depth.
The next day, the vet's office manager calls to tell you that the standard course of treatment will cost you four thousand dollars. And the best case scenario is that your dog will live 12-18 more months.
What would you do?
Yeah, me too.
In a way, honestly, this is a relief. I was afraid the cost would be more in the realm of reasonable -- say, a thousand, or fifteen hundred, an amount that we could almost afford, an amount that I would be hard pressed not to spend. But four thousand dollars? It's so beyond our means that there's no question. We simply can't do it. There is no moral dilemma here; we can't afford it and that's that.
But that means that Finn is going to die of cancer. Fairly quickly. And we just have to sit and watch it happen.
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Mom
I do hope you all are doing okay.