Last week, Duane "Dog" Chapman and his wife Beth shared another sad update in her ongoing cancer battle.
The Dog the Bounty Hunter stars released the results of a biopsy, which found that Beth's throat cancer has spread to her lungs. The news followed Beth's emergency surgery to remove a mass blocking her airway last month.
Dog also said that Beth will need to undergo four to eight rounds of chemotherapy, in an attempt to keep the "incurable" disease from spreading any further. But he assured her fans Beth is fighting "every step of the way."
The bad news is especially painful as Christmas approaches, but in a social media update the couple proved they're making the best of a difficult situation.
On Monday, Beth posted a smiling photo of herself with Dog on Instagram, showing that they're keeping up with holiday traditions in spite of the cancer scare.
"Theater with the kids for Christmas," she captioned the photo. "And Churchill's for dinner."
Beth is obviously trying to put her family and her own happiness first, since she also defied a doctor's orders by leaving her Los Angeles hospital to be home in Colorado after surgery.
"She's much more comfortable now she can breathe, but she just wanted to come back to Colorado," Dog told In Touch about Beth's rush to get out of the hospital.
"They told us they didn't want her to leave the hospital, but she was adamant, she just wanted to be home.
And Beth is apparently just as adamant about refusing to take prescription pain medicine from her doctors.
"Beth will not take anything the doctors give her," Dog told Us.
"Even the doctor told me he doesn't want her to have seizures if the pain is bad, but she won't do it. She takes over-the-counter pain meds. She will not take anything prescription."
Dog also spoke honestly about how he's coping with wife's condition. Beth's odds are worrying, since doctors only gave her a 50/50 chance of survival after her first diagnosis, and Dog admits he's been praying - and crying - nonstop since he heard that her cancer has spread.
"I cry all the time," Dog confessed. "I think I'm in a bad dream and I need to wake up. People keep saying to me, "˜Dog are you OK?' But I'm not the one who's sick."
But, thankfully, Beth's signature sense of humor hasn't changed a bit, and it sounds like her feisty attitude is helping to lift Dog's spirit.
"She's still trying to get involved in my bounties and business," he revealed.
"And she woke up the other night and told me, 'You're so damn stupid, if I die you're going to lose the farm,' and I said, 'Beth, we don't have a farm.'"
[H/T: In Touch]