I fully sympathise with you.  Our dog has had several operations this year, including the removal of a large tumour next to his anus.  They couldn't remove all of it because of where it was and it has started to grow back, but it's not bothering him at teh moment.  He's 10yrs old and the anaethetics from the 5 ops this year has left him with a bad cough too.  We have decided no more operations for him - while he's still in no pain or discomfort, bounding around like a puppy some days then we're happy.  We know the inevitable will come....just not yet.

I hope Shadow does ok - give him a hug from me.

Sorry to hear of your health problems too - life stinks sometimes :(

Gill