Arri's Journey with Cancer: October 2012

Why am I writing this?

I have known many, many people who have had their dogs die from cancer. In many cases, the cancer was too far advanced to treat. Of those who did treat, you don't know the details of what they went through. It sounds quite simple when summarized with 'we went though chemo and he lived 2 years'. There is a whole lot more emotion and decisions to be made. Treatment is not always simple.

This blog is my own personal experience. Some days are filled with frustration, others are filled with laughter. If anyone is offended, I can't apologize for my emotions. I typed what I felt at the time. It does not mean I feel the same today. If you want clarification, just ask. No matter my frustrations, I know my vet and oncologist are doing a fantastic job of caring for Arri. He just is not co-operating by being a 'typical' case.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

10.21.12 Summer is at it again

Arri is doing great. He is currently on vacation in Cincinnati, visiting Grandma. In the meantime, Summer, the drama queen, has taken over the duties of having issues requiring medical attention.

Oct 14 - first notice of blotch

On Oct 14, Summer was airing herself out - on her back, all 4 legs flopped open. In the shaved area on her chest, I notice a red blotch. I immediately get a closer look and take a picture. I remember this time and so glad I did. It looked like a bug bite but not one I have seen before. I am familiar with the bullseye fly bites. This one is different.

Oct 16 - the reason we visit the vet

Oct 16 - Summer and Oregon are wrestling in the yard. Summer ends up on her back and I see the blotch. It is HUGE - ok, not HUGE but huge. In two days it has changed quite a bit. Still red, now swollen and there is a weird white patch in the center. The paranoid mother in me grabs the phone and makes an appointment with the vet. We get in that afternoon. Summer is not nearly as excited to be in the exam room as Arri always is. Dr. Mike enters the exam room stating (in jest) that he is never removing a lump from my dogs again. Once they have surgery, they just keep coming back for more. Upon inspection, he feels that Summer has an infected bug bite - probably a spider. He gets a slide and needle biopsy anyway, just in case. After all, she did just have a cancer growth removed. The tests seem normal so the plan is high dose anti-biotics and see if it clears up.

Oct 21 - I am not so sure the anti-biotics are working. Maybe it gets worse before it gets better. I may have to check in with the Dr. tomorrow.

Monday, October 8, 2012

10-8 Summer joined the journey

Summer sporting the shirt from my parents
50th anniversary. It has been around awhile
as they just celebrated 62 years.

Arri has a guest on trhe blog today. Today we feature Summer. On Sept 17 or so, I was trimming toenails. I do this on the floor with the dogs on their back, feet in the air. They always get good belly rubs during the process. On this night, I noticed something on Summer's chest/ribcage...between here belly and chest. What made it interesting was that is was not really a lump. It looked a bit like a HUGE wart only it was squishy like a blister. I called the Doc first thing in the morning and we had an appointment for 4 days later.

Summer just turned 9 in August. Her personality is very different from Arri. Particularly when going to the doctor. Summer is very happy to arrive and will UP at the counter to see the girls. Ok, the reality is that she is she knows where the treats are and uses 'the look' to get some. She becomes velcro dog once we enter the exam room. To get her to relax a little, I have her assume the position and get belly rubs while we wait. Dr. Mike takes a slide sample from the growth. It comes back inconclusive however it did appear to have some granular cells...those are bad. Playing the better safe then sorry game, we schedule surgery for Sept 25.

Once again, I failed to get a photo of the initial growth. Surgery went well. Dr. Mike was able to get clean margins in the removal and Summer was zippered up with 13 staples. Because of the location, it was going to be hard to keep her from irritating it and keeping the incision clean so she was sporting a t-shirt for the next 2 weeks. On trips to the park, Oregon was not accustomed to being chopped liver next to the 'dog in the t-shirt'. The kids at the park thought this was a hoot.

We waited for the biopsy results to come back. and waited.....and waited. The news was good and bad. The bad news was that it was a mass cell tumor. The good news was that is was Grade 1 (lowest) and removed with clean margins. This means no additional treatment is necessary. I will have to be diligent in monitoring her for future, unrelated growths.

I now have two cancer survivors in the house. I can not tell you how important it is to give your dog regular rub downs so you know when something is not right and catch it early.