SO THANKFUL

I was just looking at my calendar from this time last year and noticed Zack's appointments and it brought all the worry and heartache flooding back to me.

When Zack was a puppy he was very sick on and off. His white blood cell count was off the charts and so we ended up at the Western Veterinary Centre in Calgary several times. To cut a long story short, Zack had many tests, ultrasounds, etc. all of which were inconclusive. However, one of his blood tests came back with abnormal cells, so back we went again. At this time the vet in Calgary warned me that it could be leukemia or cancer so we were devastated, but needed to know for sure. Zack was only 6 months old how could this be happening? At Western Veterinary Centre Zack then had a bone marrow biopsy - this would be the be all and end all of his tests. Thank god it came back negative. There was no cancer anywhere. There were times when I didn't think Zack was going to make it and that I would have to make the decision to put him to sleep. How wrong I was and I am so glad we hung in there with all his treatments, different foods, etc. The vets figured he had a bad immune problem as a puppy (hence the weird blood test) and now inflammatory bowels.

Over the next few months though Zack improved and has been fine and his White Blood Cell Count has come back to normal and other than the odd flare up with his digestive system, he is still doing well. We have had a few scares on occasion but all turned out to be ok. Through all of this the vets fell in love with Zack and vice versa and to this day Zack still loves going to the clinic, wags his tail and licks their faces on the table - what is with that??

Zack's health has improved greatly this last little while and is pretty much "normal". He is off his medication and only has an occasional treatment when he has a minor intestinal flare up. He is full of life, love and fun - and I don't know what I would do without him. He is everything I have wanted in a dog and is very special me. I am TRULY THANKFUL he is over his health issues and is in my life for a long time to come.