Bruce's Hot Links

At first, he was just the "big brown dog" who hung around the house we were renting in King George County (Va). He was a handsome and well-mannered golden retriever-collie-shepherd mix (our best guess). When we bought The Treehouse in Westmoreland County, we brought Bruce, then about 16 months old, along with us. Little did we know what a huge part of our life the big brown dog would become ... and how empty we would feel when we finally had to say good-bye on February 14, 2002 in the hardest loving act of our lives.

Bruce had more pictures taken of his insides than most dogs have of their outsides. These pictures are from his second endoscopy, showing what happened when scar tissue from his first operation prevented his pylorus from closing completely (allowing bile to reflux into the stomach). Bruce stoically slept through four of them plus two surgeries aimed at getting his food to pass from the front end to the back end (for longer than our carpets could handle, most of it went in and out the front) plus one to remove a mast cell tumor.

Bruce sent a wet sloppy virtual kiss to all his favorite vets (past and current staff/residents/students) at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (only, oh, 300 miles or so from Montross ...):

and a friendly nuzzle to his "local" vet at Ferry Farm Animal Clinic in Fredericksburg (only, oh, 45 miles from Montross):

And yet another series of wet, sloppy kisses to the vets at the University of Tennessee vet school (in Knoxville, only, oh, 950 miles from Montross).

These folks took extraordinary care of Bruce during his radiation therapy for a Grade 2, Stage 0 mast cell tumor that Dr. Mertens (above) removed from his left thorax. If anyone out there is struggling with a mast cell tumor diagnosis and/or radiation therapy, please feel free to drop us an e-mail with questions or comments from our experience with it. Here's what Bruce looked like a few days before his last radiation treatment (4/12/98), and here he is in 2000 (he was shaved for an abdominal ultrasound, which was required to diagnose pyelonephritis in November 1999).

Tragically, the mast cell tumor returned aggressively 4 years after his treatment with surgery and radiation therapy. He kept its return a secret from us (knowing how upset we would be if we knew early on) until his liver and spleen were completely consumed with cancer and bleeding out ... leaving us no option but to say good-bye much too soon.

Despite all that he went through, Bruce always viewed veterinarians as all-around good people. Michelle and Robert appreciated all the information available online that helped *them* get through Bruce's ordeals ...

As a rescued homeless dog himself, Bruce highly recommends that you adopt from a shelter, such as the one where Michelle Volunteers: Westmoreland County Animal Shelter. Bruce taught a lot of foster dogs from the shelter how to behave in a house and on a leash. He was also often the only fur-parent of homeless kittens being nursed back to health.

Living in the forest with Robert, Michelle, et al., Bruce placed great value on trees and genuinely supports The National Arbor Day Foundation. In case you're wondering why we live in The Treehouse, you'd understand immediately if you saw the acre of woods that we own (and the many, many more forested acres surrounding us).

Climb back into The Treehouse