Diva Sutton

Diva the Dal

It has been a little over two years now since we lost Diva and it is still so hard to write and talk about.

In February of 2004 we felt a mass come up on Diva's belly, so we headed to the vet. He thought it was significant, especially since it was in her mammary area-he told me there was a 50/50 chance of it being a malignant mammary tumor. At the time I could not process that thought; I hopefully thought it was a fatty lipoma or some other benign growth. Diva was about 12 years old at the time and we had been so blessed with her health for an older dog. I was more worried about her going under anesthesia at the time but knew if her pre-anesthetic profile was normal, it was something we were going to have to do. Diva had surgery on 2/25/04 and the growth was removed and sent to pathology.

A week later we went in for her stitches removal and that is when we were hit with the diagnosis of her mammary tumor. I was sick. The pathologist had noted in his report that there were clean margins in the specimen, so we tried to be very hopeful that Diva's cancer was gone. Diva did great for a long time, but in late 2005 we saw the return of her cancer. She became very sick this time and it was evident that the cancer had spread to her whole body. We lost Diva on January 24, 2006. She kissed my face as she drew her last breath.

I know Diva was lucky to live such a full life, but it is hard to rationalize when you miss her so much. We were so lucky to have her. You could not ask for a better dog than Diva.

Stacey Sutton

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