Four years ago today, Nellie jumped into our truck (the one we got just for Jerry because it had a back seat platform), and she never looked back!
We were a little nervous of course. With a German Shepherd rescue dog, you never know what behavior issues you’ll get. They can be such a challenging breed but so worth it in the end, just like our previous “challenge” dog, Tripawds Spokesdog 2, Wyatt Ray Dawg.
At first we assumed Nellie would have some issues, but later discovered they weren’t anything we couldn’t handle. At first, Nellie was wound up like a top after being in a kennel for over a month.
It took her at least another month to settle in with us, but when she did we knew that she intuitively understood that she was in her forever home.
Nellie’s turned out to be the relatively easygoing dog we had hoped she would be. She can get along with most dogs, and even cats! The last four years we’ve watched her grow into the awesome dog she was born to be.
Recently we had another health scare with her though. Nellie had been puking consistently at least a few times a week. We were scared. After all, she’s probably about 10 years old and “at that age” that’s all too common for a cancer diagnosis.
So we took Nellie to the best of the best, Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. And long story short, after a CT scan, the expert oncologists at the Flint Animal Cancer Center told us that yes, Nellie does have a mass in her liver, and a small nodule in her stomach.
But this isn’t anything to panic about. The liver mass appears to be a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is a malignant tumor of the
epithelial cells of the liver. It may or may not grow but if it does, a liver resection is pretty straightforward and she’s a good candidate.
Her stomach nodule is suspected to be a benign fibroma or leiomyoma.
And the puking? Likely not related to either, and probably a GI issue.
Their recommendation is to monitor the masses with ultrasound and look into a “GI workup” to find out why her gut isn’t happy.
Nellie gets better medical care than we do! And once again, thank DOG for pet health insurance, specifically the good people at Embrace, who have approved her claims without hassles.
So today on this momentum occasion of her fourth Gotcha Day, we thank the universe that Nellie’s still with us in good health, enjoying life to the fullest and being the best girldog on the planet (at least to us!).
Cheers to many more Gotcha Days with our sweet Nellie!