On Thursday, November 2, 2000 Luger underwent serious surgery to remove a large tumor from his left lung and some enlarged lymph nodes. He lost a lot of blood during the operation and needed a transfusion. If he didn't get the transfusion, he would have never made it off the operating table. Things didn't look too good after surgery. There was a lot of fluid and air coming from his chest tube and he had to be put on a Pleura Vac (a suctioning pump). His heart rate was over doubled, he was breathing rapidly and his oxygen level was low. But being the fighter Luger is, he started to turn around. When we visited him Thursday night, he was awake and alert but heavily medicated. By Friday morning he was sitting up, trying to move around and ate his first meal. Some friends of ours that work at the clinic said Luger's surgeon about fell over when he came in and saw our boy standing in his cage Friday morning. Everyone keeps commenting on what a strong boy he is. His heart rate was normal and his monitor was able to come off. He had made it through the first 24 hours and was still improving. At 5:30 p.m. Luger was taken off the Pleura Vac and it stayed off it all night. He ate his dinner and his breakfast the next morning. We were told that he was a very cooperative patient and didn't miss a thing.

Luger's story doesn't end there. Luger has always loved to show off in front of the cameras and has been on the news and in the papers numerous times in his seven years. Why would we expect anything different just because he was ill? There was a huge blood shortage in our area creating a demand for donors. The Detroit Free Press and Fox Channel 2 News visited the animal hospital and reported on the shortage. Luger was in both reports. He was on the news several times and his picture was on the front page of the newspaper. They also talked a little bit about his story. Once the story hit the papers, veterinarian clinics were swamped with calls from people wanting to help. OVRS (the clinic where Luger was) tested over a hundred dogs alone. They ended up collecting enough blood to last them close to two years. We are so proud that our boy was able to help in some way since he is not a universal donor. It just shows that in life there is a reason for everything. The clinic even received phone calls from well wishers who asked how Luger was doing and wanted to let his owners know that they were rooting for him.

Although both my shepherds (Luger and Lazer) are not universal blood donors, I want to stress how important it is that more people have their dogs tested. A black Lab that came in to donate has already saved the lives of three other animals. Like I said before, if the blood had not been available for Luger, we would have lost him without ever having the chance to say good-bye.

The biopsy showed severe chronic pneumonia, but no cancer. The histopath showed severe, chronic, necrosupportive, lymphoplasmacytic pneumonia. Luger's left cranial lung lobe was completely removed during surgery and test results showed that there was no functioning (live) tissue left in the lobe. Luger's surgeon said that this was the worst case of pneumonia the pathologist had ever witnessed. It was something that developed over time, most likely beginning with a foreign material becoming lodged in the airway causing irritation and swelling of the air passage. The entire clinic called him the miracle dog.

After recovering from his ordeal, Luger was more than happy to give a little bit back to his community by helping the Salvation Army in their Christmas fund-raising efforts. Between him and his helper "Teaser" they filled their Salvation Army kettle to the top. They both collected any bills people were willing to give and some people would give more just to see the dogs work. They greeted Wal-Mart customers with big grins, happy tails and even gave out kisses on occasion. Luger continues to amaze us each and every day. We hope to have many more years with him. These are gifts money can't buy.

Luger is doing very well and is slowly becoming active again. At a flyball tournament on January 20 and 21, 2001, Luger ran once for everyone to see. I don't know how active he will ever be again, but we are going to slowly work him back into some of his old games and go from there. We thank God every day for giving us this extra time with our very special boy and we are going to utilize every minute!