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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