11/04/2015
During the fall of 2014 Clifford began showing signs of discomfort by hanging his head and "scrunching" his ears when we walked. I knew something was bothering him but it's a guessing game for the Vets He was treated for a possible pinched nerve in his neck, than possible undetected tic borne disease and general aches and pain medications. One night in Feb 2015 I noticed weight gain which quickly became apparent that his stomach was expanding. The next morning it was discovered that he had severe bleeding in the abdomen from a ruptured tumor on his spleen. He was bleeding to death and the closest hospital was 80 miles away and it was snowing. Snow doesn't happen very often here in NC so the drivers don't know how to drive and the roads are not maintained. There was no way to make it to a better equipped facility in time, so the local vet did a fantastic job. Clifford rarely pulled on the leash but he pulled hard not wanting to go to surgery and the horrible, scared, pleading look in his eyes as he was being lead away caused me to completely lose it. I'm so thankful that was not the last "look" I would ever see from Clifford. He did well thru the surgery but never really regained his strength fully. The prognosis was the worst: he had hemangiosarcoma....the dreaded, incurable canine cancer. It travels through the blood and lands somewhere to grow tumors. Clifford has full coverage veterinary insurance through the Veterans Administration because I'm a veteran with a severe hearing loss and Clifford mitigated my disability with sounds alerts. Oncologists were consulted and a regime of chemo, and Chinese herb were prescribed. The Chinese herbs are yunnan baiyao and I'm-Yunity.
We got 8 months, 4 more than predicted without chemo. We tried to fulfill the "bucket-list" for him, beach time, cookies and steak and ice cream, lots of love and "retirement". Clifford was such an amazing dog, smart doesn't fully explain it. He would problem solve like how to trick the puppy into giving up the toy, and going around polls the same way he came through to prevent tangling the leash, he loved to be clean and loved all of the grooming needed to stay clean. He would "hurry" by the count of 10. He loved it when I sang Happy Birthday to him and would sing-along by barking. We would have "bark fests", just for the sheer fun of it. CCI told us in training, "talk to your dogs". and I did, I looked like a nut out in public with people thinking I was talking to myself but by doing so Clifford understood full sentences and I in return could "read" his eyes. He said so much through them.
Cats loved him even though he was somewhat apprehensive about some of them. We had cats come running during our neighborhood walks just to say "hi" to Clifford by running their tails under his chin. In one of the pictures the cat, Romeo, so loves Clifford that he's thinking of taking a bath with him. You can tell by the look in his eyes that "this is going too far".
Clifford was a true gift from God by way of CCI and Gail Griffith and Gary Begeman. I'll always cherish my days with Clifford as a very special era of my life. I'm missing that boy but know he's in a better place, healthy and young again.
