Steve is an emotional support and deployment dog. My daughter and I got him as a puppy together and then she joined US Navy serving on USS Inouye at Pearl Harbor. Steve keeps me calm when she is at sea and I worry a little. He has been there for me while I did 4 1/2 years of dialysis and recovery from kidney transplant.  He is very smart and we understand each other. I talk to him just like he’s a little person. He is quite popular here in the retirement community.

It was devastating and surprising for us to hear he has lymphoma because he is only 5 1/2 years old. He first started being picky about his food and only wanted soft food and I felt swollen lymph nodes under his neck.  We were referred to Animal Diagnostics Center in Dallas. Dr. Kovac confirmed his diagnosis and was immediately more upset because it is an aggressive cancer and untreated the  outlook can be 4-6 weeks.  I felt very depressed and felt I had let him and my daughter down and asking what I had done wrong with his care. Of course the answer is I didn’t cause it.

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