More Lutsen pictures

Taking a rest....

Puzzle Time

Riding in the Jeep!


Dexter loves daddy

Lutsen

This year, we took a trip after Christmas with BB, Susan, and Liv to ski for a few days at Lutsen Mountain! We were able to bring Dexter along and he enjoyed hanging out with Ginger as well. We skied for two days, had fun putting together puzzles at night, and playing board games.

Liv and KT
The question in the game was "What is the most useless household item?"
Colin had just responded "a broom".....Nice - we know who does the cleaning in our house!

Dexter's favorite - duck!

On the slopes....

Presents!

Dexter got a lot of presents this year - a vest for taking walks, a sweater, shoes to keep him warm, and a huge gift set with his favorite - ducks! One of my favorite pictures is posing next to an elephant that Colin and I got for Landry!

Gingerbread Men

Colin and I made huge Gingerbread cookies this year as part of our Christmas present cooking tradition (last year we made Kalhua). Colin decorated them with gumdrops and frosting - yum!

Christmas Card

Christmas Play

KT, Colin, and Olivia

Every year, the King family goes to a Christmas play - this year we went and saw A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie. It was fun night!

Confirmed Diagnosis

After visiting the University of Minnesota and our local vet, it seems clear that Dexter does indeed have cancer. We have been working with our local vet to make him as comfortable as possible during this time and he will be starting steroids immediately to help him feel better. Our vet thinks that he may have another 6-8 weeks depending on how the cancer reacts to the steroid treatments, but eventually the cancer will beat the steroids and "take over". While Colin and I are really struggling, we know that all we can do is make him comfortable and give him all the love we can for the next few weeks. Looking back on the past few months (and his entire life), I feel like I continue to question if I should have noticed something earlier. It wouldn't have necessarily made a difference, but it has become obvious over the past few months that he has lost weight. I guess when you are in the thick of something, it's harder to notice what you aren't looking for. I just keep thinking back to how much fun he had at the King cabin in August - and now he seems to get tired just walking a little ways down the street. As you all know, he is an extremely finicky eater that I have always cooked for, and this was because he never had a strong stomach and had a hard time eating. Now that we know he has lymphoma that has infected his intestines, it makes a lot more sense why he was a picky eater.

Bad weekend

Over the past week, Dexter has suddenly started to act funny - becoming very lethargic and unwilling to eat. After we let him out late last night and he laid down in the snow and wouldn't get up, Colin and I decided it was time to take him to the emergency vet. Going into the vet, we were thinking that maybe he had eaten something funny or chewed up something in the backyard, but the news became much worse. After taking some x-rays and an ultrasound, the vet believes that Dexter has cancer, lymphoma to be exact. They believe he has a large tumor in his abdomen that he has probably been living with his entire life, but finally hit the tipping point within the past week. He has deteriorated very quickly and has been staying in the hospital now since last night. Colin and I were completely shell shocked last night when they dropped the bomb on us. When we started this whole thing on Friday morning, this was definitely the last thing that I thought - especially with a 2 year old puppy.

We have an appointment at the University of Minnesota tomorrow morning to meet with a specialist to discuss our options from here. The prognosis is if left untreated, he may live another couple weeks, or it may be possible to do chemotherapy and extended his life for another year at the most. Bottom line, he is not going to live to see old or even middle age =(. Colin and I are having a really really hard time - you all know he is our child. We want to do what is best for him, and it's really hard because he is so young and he can't tell us how he feels. Hopefully we will get more answers at the U tomorrow. The next few days are going to bring more answers, but also some tough realities.