My Ben.......

Ben just photographed last week........Looks great doesn't he!

Back in October 2011 I noticed Ben was having some problems with his tongue and wasn't wanting to eat his food.....we took him to our Vet.....after bloods test were done we still didn't know what was going on with Ben....he started to get better so we assumed is was okay, but around Christmas time after he got a new toy football and was playing with it about a week later the symptoms came back.  We went back to our Vet at that point he recommended that we see a neurologist, because he suspected nerve problems around his left side of his face.  We went to see the Neurologist and she checked him out all good and the only thing she found was his gag reflex wasn't good.  The Neurologist gave us several options to go with including a MRI or extensive x-rays and blood test or try some antibiotics....being that we thought Ben's general overall health was good and that he had gotten over it in the past, we decided to go with the antibiotics.  Plus the cost of the MRI or x-ray/blood were very expensive.

Ben was on the medication for a month and was getting back to his old eating habits. 

All of this occurred in late January.

Just to give you so info on Ben's personality.....He is an 11 year old black golden mix...friendly, outgoing, energetic, a happy dog. And he is a momma boy.  He is by my side all day long.  When I am not home he waits for me by the window.

Anyway....we took Ben back to the Vet a week ago, because we are having to feed him with a fork (his choice of utensil) he couldn't pick up his food with his tongue.....the Vet told use he would need a day or 2 to further research the nerves in his tongue and cheek to see if there is something we could do....but the unfortunate consensus was the my Ben has a brain tumor and there isn't anything we can do.   Being in denial and not wanting to believe the Vet I went online to see what I could learn and I kept running into dead ends.  The symptoms that Ben has I couldn't relate it to anything I had read.  So when we hadn't heard from the Vet we decided to make an appointment to get the blood work done to rule out everything else.  Yesterday we went back and our Vet, he was going to call us and when he learned we were coming in he waited to talk to us.  He had been in contact with the Neurologist and pretty much confirmed that Ben does have a brain tumor and there isn't anything we can do.  Mom and I kept hoping that this wasn't a tumor, we didn't want to believe that our Benny is dying.  I think that if our own Vet hadn't been through it just recently with his own dog, Mom and I wouldn't have accepted it....

Just yesterday morning Ben and I went for a short walk and he loves the snow and he was rolling and running and having fun...you would never know he has a brain tumor.

So now.....well he is back on the antibiotics in hopes of prolonging is life....how long he has we don't know...the Vet is surprised he has made it the 6 months so far...he had said that he dog had similar scenario and overnight his dog couldn't walk and had to be put down...so I will do whatever it takes to keep Ben happy.  Mom and I are heart broken and are trying hard to deal with this the best that we can, taking it one day at a time.  I really hope the medicine helps and the Vet says as long as the medicine is working he will stay on them.

So now we go back to our daily routine of sorts and what will be will be.....lots of love and TLC.

I went back and forth on whether I wanted to do this blog, but I choose to for 2 reasons...1 if someone as a dog or cat going through the same thing it might help and 2 I want everyone to know that Ben is an awesome dog!