So now I am back from the vet people, and they are going mad around the house.
“This is rubbish” he says, “he is only 5 I just cannot accept that one day he walks fine the next he is on three legs because arthritis has arrived over night”.
“I agree” she says “but you heard him, they are certain they are right”.
“What about Noel” he says, “I cannot believe that he would settle for drugs for ever, if it is arthritis there must be some clean up operation that will buy him some more normal time” he says.
“Your right” she says “I will send him an email”
Some days pass, the leg seems to hurt me more each day, not enough to cry yet but enough to make walking around pretty tough. I am glad that they seem to have forgotten my daily walks, just lying around the house is good at the moment.
“Noel cannot see him without a referral” I hear her say. “Thought so” he replied, “right lets get on it”
What ever happened next i am not sure, but a few days later I am in my favorite place the car thing. She calls it her Van-borghini he calls it the Buck Mobile, whatever it is I love it, and today is good as we are travelling longer than the short trip to the woods, so we must be off to Cornwall, I love Cornwall as I get to swim everyday.
Hang on a minute, we have stopped, have I slept that long, Cornwall already?
I look out of the window, this is not Cornwall but I have been here before, now where am I?
They leave me in the car thing and go inside the grey building. About ten minutes later they are back with “Hey Buck you remember Tim”. It all comes flooding back, and YES I remember Tim and I remember this place. I came here the last time I had a limp at the back end, lots of bright lights, lots of sleep then wham heck this hurts a lot, and why am I wearing a huge rubber ring round my neck. …. Suddenly I am not so chuffed with the Van-borghini Buck Mobile thing.
Out I get and in I go to Tim’s room, why are the floors always so slippy?
“Its not arthritis” Tim says. He keeps putting these dark bits of paper against a box on the wall with a light in it.
“You can see here when I turn up the light that the bone just here below the joint is different to the rest of it, its a tumor I am afraid”
He turns to her, then back to the box and then back to her, he looks suddenly very white.
“When you say tumor, do you mean cancer” he asks.
“Yes I do” Tim “replies.
“F*^”k” he says, “How bad”
“I do not know for sure” Tim replies, “until I can get a biopsy off to the lab we will not know how advanced it is”
He now looks well passed being unwell and keeps looking at her and then back to the wall box.
“Right” he says suddenly sitting bolt upright “what do we do from here?”
“Firstly” Tim says, Noel will be very interested in this, he will look to see if he can fit a stent”
“Stent?” he says
looking back at the wall box, Tim points, “Yes he would cut here and here and insert a metal rod to replace the rotten bone mass, that’s the best outcome for Buck, but it depends upon whether we have enough good bone at the top to screw into”
“Ok” he says, “lets hope there is, if not what else?”
“Amputation I am afraid”.
“F*^”k” he says again
I don’t know what this amputation thing is but he now has his head in his hands, oh no, so does she.
“To where?” he asks.
“It will have to be the whole leg and shoulder, if the tumor is that advanced we cannot risk missing any”.
Silence.
“And after that?”
“At the moment, all I can say is nine months”
“F*^”k………….. F*^”k” he says.
“What you need to do, is leave Buck with us here, I will see Noel, he will be very interested in this, I will ring you this evening when we have consulted”. at that a lady in green with a huge smile enters the room and I am off.
Yes this is all very familiar. I am lead away to my room, it is all glass with a television on the wall and lots of lovely soft blankets. There are lots of these rooms and they are lovely and warm, maybe this place is not so bad.
A bit later the lovely girl comes back with a friend and they rub my ears and for some reason clip a small square patch on my front leg, rub my ears some more then go.
Now there are lots of them, I keep hearing “my he is a big boy” The smiling lady comes in with a needle, that’s fine I am used to needles, as long as it is not the one that makes me sleeeeeeeeeeeeeepy.
Great, now I have got that headache again I am back in my room though, I think I will sleep this off.
Oh my God, they are back again, I look for that needle thing, I cannot see one but they do have much bigger clippers this time.
I’m not sure I like this, the girls have stripped me to my skin, a huge swath of my lovely fur coat has gone, what is happening? Where is he? “Where is she?”
They leave, but only to come back mob handed again, I know how this works now, I put my head down on my paw with the shaved square, that needle thing is out there somewhere.
“Buck, what’s this?” I cannot resist, I look up to see my favorite treat, whack in goes that needle again.
Wow, now this is different, I am awake with that headache again, and as I try to open my eyes there are people in the room, there are tubes out of my paw, my paw, my paw hang on a minute……
“He is going to try to get up” a voice says. Too right I am I don’t like this at all. as I go to push with my best leg first, my right one nothing happens, I don’t move at all, I can feel that I am pushing but I am going nowhere, what have they done to me………………………………………………….
