Patches Story
By Liz Watts

Patches was only 9 years old when I lost him to cancer. He died on August 2, 2006. I had noticed two lumps in his groin area one day when I was
petting him as he was lying on his back. My husband and I took him to the vet for an examination. They first took a sample of one of the lumps or
what is called an aspiration. While we waited for those test results, I began to notice a change in Patches. He had lost his appetite which is
completely out of the ordinary for him, because he was my little "piggy poo". He never turned down food. The results of the aspiration came back
inconclusive. They then performed a biopsy and ended up removing one of his lymph nodes in his hind leg because they said it very inflamed. After I
brought him home from that procedure, he was on pain medication and he still would not eat. I was able to get him to eat some turkey meat and chicken breast but he could not hold it down. The results from the biopsy indicated he had lymphoma. I immediately went to the Internet to see what that was.
I was completely devastated when I learned it was cancer. My heart dropped when I read that even with chemotherapy, the survival time was usually about
1 year. I cried the rest of the night. We took Patches back to the vet the next day so they could run blood tests to determine the stage of the cancer.

They took an x-ray to determine if the cancer had spread beyond his lymph nodes. It had not, but his liver was extremely enlarged. The vet asked
that we leave Patches overnight so he could give him an IV of fluids and a steriod shot since he had not been eating. The vet said once we got the
blood tests back we could discuss treatment options for Patches. We came home and I cried again all night.

The next morning I received a call from the vet and he told me Patches was gone. Apparently, he started panting very hard at about 1am. The vet ran
a chest x-ray and determined Patches had fluid in his lungs. The vet told me he rolled Patches over after taking the chest x-ray and his little heart
stopped. I will never forgive myself for not being with him in the end and it kills me to know that he died without me being by his side. We had
Patches cremated and to this day I still talk to him and tell him that I miss him with all my heart. This all happened in a period of two weeks.

Patches was my little buddy. He and I have a special bond. He could always tell when I was feeling blue and he loved to cuddle with me. I spoiled him
rotten and at least I know in my heart I gave him the best life he could have asked for. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him. I still
look at his pictures and it breaks my heart that we will not grow old together.

I love Patches very much.

Liz Watts