Seeing the signs. Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman’s wife, Beth Chapman, “knew something was up” before finding out that her throat cancer returned, a source tells Us Weekly exclusively.

“Beth had not been feeling well for a number of months and finally decided to get checked out,” the source reveals. “She needed to see her specialist, who is based in Los Angeles. Thankfully, she did when she did. It could have been dramatically worse if she never had that appointment.”

Beth, 51, underwent emergency surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. on Tuesday, November 27, after doctors reportedly discovered a large blockage in her throat. Through tears, Dog’s son Duane Lee Chapman Jr. confirmed to Page Six, “She’s at Cedars-Sinai right now. It’s life-threatening.”

TMZ reported later on Tuesday that the surgeons who performed Beth’s procedure discovered her throat cancer has returned. Treatment options are reportedly still being evaluated.

Beth revealed her first stage II throat cancer diagnosis in September 2017. At the time, she wrote in a letter to friends, “I’ve spent a lifetime facing tests and challenges I didn’t see coming and certainly never expected. I’ve been dealt my share of unexpected blows over the course of my almost 50 years but nothing as serious as the one I heard from my doctors two weeks ago when they uttered those dreaded three words, ‘You have cancer.’”

Dog, 65, and Beth announced two months later during a two-hour A&E special, Dog & Beth: Fight of Their Lives, that she was cancer-free.

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