Lea...

Lea...  She's our 17 year old field spaniel, and she's going downhill fast.  Yesterday we were worried about her enough to have the local vet take a look at her.  There was no indication that she was in pain, but the vet prescribed a steroid (prednizone) in the hopes that it will help with the arthritis and general stiffness.  Lea's already outlived the predictions of the oncology vet, but we can easily tell that the tumors in her mouth and throat are growing.  Chances are that they've spread to other organs and have started growing there, too.  We don't expect to have her with us much longer; we're taking it day by day at this point.  We're consoling ourselves with the thought that she's already done the unexpected: lived long enough to actually see our new home in Utah, and feel her paws in the grass there.  Someday soon, we know we'll have a very sad decision to make, and we're steeling ourselves for it...