Adventures of Scrappy Pete: Vet follow-up

On Monday, Petey and I went to the vet and the vet/surgeon did another exam and blood work for her surgery to remove the Mast Cell Tumor from her front right paw. Unfortunately, in just a week, the tumor appeared to have spread from just the digit (her toe) to the paw (a dog's version of the hand). Due to the aggressive nature of these tumors, the vet requested that we wait a bit, put her on prednisone and a high dose of antihistamine to help stop the cells, shrink the tumor, and increase the chances of a successful surgery. She'll have to lose her toe, but dogs re-acclimate to changes like that far better than humans do. For example, both Petey and my sister's pup Duchess have had teeth removed due to decay...those pups eat and destroy toys like nothing could slow them down.

So, I had to wait because there is a drug interaction between the steroid and the pain medicine she'd been on-- but now she's on the steroid and we'll give it a few days and try the surgery then. If the tumor has lots of tendrils, and those get damaged during surgery, it releases the extra mast cells and histamines into her body. The extra histamines damage the organs and the mast cells increase the likelihood that the cancer will pop up somewhere in her body-- likely in an inner organ that is inoperable, not a subcutaneous location that is (relatively) easy to remove. We don't want that. We want a clean tumor removal.

In other news, the steroid makes Petey PEE like crazy! At 3:30 this morning, she woke me up to go pee and so I grabbed shoes and my coat and stumbled out. My apartment has outside doors that lock automatically. How do you say, I grabbed the wrong *$(*#^%(* keys. So, 3:30, no foot traffic around my apartment, snow on the ground, dog on a leash...and no way to return to my apartment. No cell phone in hand either, because, gosh, that would be silly.

PT Bella thought this was a weird adventure...but she seemed okay. I noticed one of my neighbors (I hadn't met him yet) had a window that was cracked open slightly. The light from the TV was also glowing through the blinds, so I hoped that maybe he was up watching a movie. I knocked on the window (with a great deal of embarrassment and trepidation!) and hissed, "hey! I live down the hall and I'm locked out. Are you awake?" He was about the nicest-- was like, "I thought I was dreaming and heard knocking. No worries, dear, stuff like that happens!"

I think Petey and I owe him a beer or 6.

Also, since Tuesday was a crazy snow day in Atlanta...I came across this buzzfeed. I'm so proud of my Southern-ATL brethren and sistren who helped out stranded motorists in such an awful time of need. My thoughts have been with all the teachers, principals, bus drivers, students (and their parents) who had to make hard decisions about keeping kids in schools, or had to endure keeping them on buses. I don't say this with smugness as I now live in Denver where there's snow, but Atlanta drivers aren't prepared for such things....but I truly wish decision-makers had listened to the weather forecast and understood that....water freezes into ICE below 32 F. Thanks to my friends and family who helped their "neighbors" with food, blankets, support, first aid...it takes my breath away to see and hear news stories about all the people who helped others. Seriously, ATL, you doin' us proud.

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Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Mast Cell Tumors :(

Boo Boo Paw

Uh oh. One of these things is NOT like the other. Her right big toe is all swollen and in pain.  Poor Petey Bella has to have surgery tomorrow-- diagnosis? A Mast Cell Tumor on her right front paw. WARNING: I'm going to put a picture of her swollen paw and it's kind of gross. Sorry in advance.
How did we get here? Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

2005: Petey Bella decided we were her "fur-ever" home. We got her spayed at this awesome, not much to look at, but wonderful vets inside office in Morrow, GA, the Lake Harbin Animal Hospital.
2005: Petey came pre-potty trained and super easy and was pretty much never sick or hurt. We fostered some puppies in 2006 and she was a nanny-- worrying over the puppies when they got too far from their mom and rolling them back with her nose.

2008: Petey stepped on some glass or something in the yard and had to have a dozen stitches/staples on her rear leg and wear the cone of shame. Since I could TELL her not to lick, she only wore the cone for about 20 minutes. The hardest part of that was paying the outrageous bill at the emergency vet in Decatur. I wasn't impressed with the experience, but the dog's okay, and that's what mattered.

2012: Noticed that a bump on her belly near her back leg had gotten mealy and swollen. The vet decided to put her under anesthesia and clean her teeth and to take it out while she was under. It turned out to be an evil, grade 2 Mast Cell Tumor. Boo, cancer. Doctors like to get "clean margins"-- varying from 3 cm

Amusing conversation with the pharmacist to get this

to 1 inch, depending on the area of the body, of clean tissue excised around these tumors. The vet was able to do this and the staples in the area around it looked so red and angry-- but a few weeks later, I could barely see the scar. Now, as her fur has regrown, the skin is flat and the incision is nearly invisible.  She needed to be on prednisone (a steroid) to help prevent recurrence, but for the first time, PT had accidents in the house because the medicine made her drink too much water and go all the time.  I knew the prognosis was worse if she wasn't on the steroid for at least 6 months, but after 3 weeks, she was miserable and sad every time I got home because she'd peed in the house and she knew better. In the interest of her happiness, I took her off the Rx.

If you use USPS to ship me, I can bark at mailman the whole time. 

2013: In July, shortly before I moved from Atlanta, 1500 miles to Denver, Pete got really sick. She couldn't walk right or go up and down the stairs; her breathing was labored, she was vomiting blood, and she had blood in her stool. I thought it was the end of her days. Turned out, she'd gotten a stomach bug and terribly dehydrated. My friend Abe cooked her rice and helped me take her to the vet. Once again, Dr. Rutter saved the day and got her fixed up.

July 2013: Because of the short notice of my move, Petey stayed with my mom and Siena in GA while I moved to Denver. Don't tell my family or friends, but I think she was the hardest "person" in my life to leave behind. Sorry guys.

You not ever leaving, momma.

December 2013: Finally made it back to Georgia! Petey and her mom are reunited! My friend Dan brought me home from the airport and his description of her reaction when I walked in was apt:
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!! YOU CAME BACK!!!!" It was a pretty intense happy dance and some first-rate snuggling when I finally hit the hay. As I sat on the couch and talked with my mom, she was sitting IN my lap.

On Christmas eve, I noticed her one toe was swollen and assumed a bug or spider had bitten her in the yard or she'd gotten a thorn or something in her paw. The day after Christmas, it wasn't any better, so my mom was taking her dog to the vet for a small procedure, so along Petey Bella went. The doctor wanted to treat it conservatively, as it didn't seem broken, but just badly swollen. She had 7 days of an anti-inflammatory, Carprofen. It helped, but the swelling wasn't completely gone. I continued treating her with Benadryl, which is an OTC anti-histamine, in case it was a spider bite and just needed longer to heal.

Her middle toe is so swollen.

2014: January 3, my friend Dan and I packed up my tiny new AWD car to drive from Atlanta to Denver with Petey in tow. The Midwest saw record lows, so we saw 0 and 1 degree with colder wind chill and snow that had frozen back over in St. Louis. I was very worried about the magnesium chloride and salt on the sidewalks when we had to go outside because she didn't like it on her paws at all. 

Her head in her paws

I continued with the Benadryl daily as we slowly made it across Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado in strong winds and snowy conditions. I showed pictures of her to one of my student's parents-- who's a vet-- and she recommended buffered aspirin and benadryl-- and further exam. My poor Petey's poor little paw was still swollen.

January 20, 2014: Over the weekend, Petey seemed more acclimated to the altitude and weather (it wasn't too cold), so she and I went for a short run/walk around the Hilltop neighborhood and to a park with a walking trail by Rose Medical Center. Monday morning was a holiday, and her paw was angry with the activity. It was swollen and red and she was wincing and sighing-- so I called around to get a vet recommendation, and ended up following Yelp advice and going with a nearby vet's office, called Park Hill.

Still loves a car ride, even if it's to the VET

I was very impressed with the Vet-- it was clean, the technicians, nurses, and the vet were friendly, professional, and concerned about details. I'd spoken with Dr. Rutter on the phone and he said that the next course of action was a needle aspiration-- to see what the fluid was inside her paw. The new vet, Dr. Turner took that action-- ascertained that her toe wasn't broken and it didn't seem to be infected (she had no fever). I really liked her "petside" manner-- she got on the floor with Petey, talked with her, and made her feel comfortable about the small procedure. We would have to wait to see what the histology said about the fluids, but since she'd already had a Mast Cell tumor, it was a possibility that it was another.

Dr. Turner also stated that she was a very good girl-- even though she was poking, prodding, and pinching her paw, she didn't get mad. That's my girl. She got a cool purple bandage and a laundry list of medications: Cephalexin- an antibiotic at my request- in case it was an infection, Rimadyl for pain and inflammation, Prilosec to help her stomach deal with the new medicines, and 60-70 mg of benadryl twice a day. This was much more than I'd been giving her-- but as MCT's are full of histamine, that if broken/degranulated, will attack the inner organs. That sounded bad.

Her swollen toe after shaving and aspiration. And her Bella-belly.

At least her bandage matches!

Unfortunately, the lab came back with the Mast cells present. As of Saturday night, the 25th, she's taking her medications, on a short leash-- to limit aggravating the tumor with exercise, and scheduled for surgery on Monday morning. The vet has called me, emailed me patient instructions, and been really thorough about her care. The doctor will remove the tumor and send it to the lab for pathological testing-- to see if it's graded a 1 (basically treatable and probably isolated to this spot), a 2 (not as good, possibly will/has spread), or a 3 (very aggressive, bad cancer). With luck, the tumor is young enough that it isn't wrapped up in too much of her toe. There's a possibility that they will have to amputate her toe-- which will impact her gait and our running habit. I'm thinking happy thoughts, reading about homeopathic/holistic recommendations for follow-up treatment, and snuggling a LOT with my snoring pup.

So, if the spirit moves you, please think happy thoughts, say a prayer, what have you-- for my dog, the vet and nurses, and me. I really want my Petey Bella to see some of these hiking trails out here in the west. There's lots of good smells to smell.

And P.S....you know how I know I got a found a good vet? They sent a follow-up post card via SNAIL MAIL. Sending a handwritten note? I do that kind of thing too, y'all.

Sweet check up post card

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