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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Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Talented Explorer

Your pillow? No, it's mine.

My Petey Bella is pretty much the snuggliest, easiest, dog ever. She's happy with nearly any food (although eggs and yogurt are pretty awesome), she sleeps either curled up in a tiny (as tiny as a 65-pound giant can get) "Bella Ball," and she's good on walks, hikes, and runs. She knows her name, err, names-- she will answer to so many different ones. 

 She knows:

Her patented "Petey Head-Hug"

--sit
--lay down (yes, grammatically it's lie down, but whatever!)
--gentle (when accepting a treat. This is important for the treat-giver's fingers.)

--shake 
-- shake (I'm putting it twice because if you say it twice, she'll switch paws)
--hop down (good for making up the bed purposes)
--come here (good for snuggling in bed purposes)
--Petey Pee (she squats. I swear.)
-- Bella, go baf-room!-- she poops within 2 minutes. 
--Yoga dog. (It's probably called "bow," but I taught her yoga dog when she does a Downward dog stretch. It's adorbs!)

Didn't see nuffin' down der in de dirt, I swear.

She knows the words for upstairs, inside, outside, go, ride...probably more.We're working on "no bark" and speak. She doesn't speak on command, but she generally will yowl, whine, and stop barking at the mailman, strange sounds in the hallway, etc. after one "No bark!" That's a pretty darn good pup. 

She has kind of an Eeyore from Winne the Pooh personality. She jumps over little scares and army crawls away from things she doesn't like. She is nervous around vacuum cleaners and loud noises, and is not terribly alpha. Except when she's on a leash. Then she has no problem finding her proverbial tail, her vicious bark, and her strength to move mountains. Oh, and against cats. She HATES cats. Or rather she would LOVE a cat-- to chew on. I recently discovered she's not a huge fan of elevators-- but more on that later. 

She's blurry because she's running.

Have harness, will travel.

Forgot her shades, but remembered the SPF. 

Definitely the dog days of summer

Petey Bella is my adventure dog. She's easy to take in the car-- she gets terribly excited for the leash, even more excited for the harness or doggie seatbelt harness, and super easily enters a vehicle upon the phrase, "in you go!" We would go for runs in Decatur and Grant Park and long walks on the trails-- a favorite is around my friend's property by the Flint River in Hampton. I'd call her "Adventure Pete" and we'd go exploring. She's very careful to stay only a few yards ahead of me and would just smell and smell all the scents that nature offered. I'll see if I can embed a video of her "fording" a creek-- she's just so fun and cool. She's also great about just laying out with me-- the hot Georgia summers on a blanket in the grass with me catching some Vitamin D and her snapping at bugs and rolling around-- those are some relaxing days. 

I think I mentioned that she's an easy eater. She will sit quietly next to your chair while you're eating, and not really beg, but she's happy to lick your plate clean. I call it the "doggie pre-wash cycle." My coworker Robin offered once to save meat scraps for her, since I'm vegetarian and never have meat in the house. I assured her, she thinks that tofu is delicious, and that peanut butter is the cat's pajamas. She has been known to get her head a little stuck in a yogurt cup, and we even have a song to go through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru. It sounds like Adele's "Rumor Has It," and goes "Chicken Nugget! Chicken Nugget! Petey wants a nugget in her bellllllly." Look at these awful pictures of my dog's terrible life:

Bruster's dog sundae

The yogurt...so sneaky!

Baked on casserole? I can work with that.

Yes, she had special dog waffle and eggs.

Bull pizzle? Oh thank you just a tripe.

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Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Introduction

The ever-classy Duchess

Siena's tough, but she's a lover.

Meet Stinks and Siena. Stinks, (as I nicknamed her because she always seems to have a lovely, ah-hem, stench, despite her stately attitudes) is our family's first dog. She came into our lives as a tiny puppy the neighbors couldn't handle and she was just the best first dog. She knows commands, she has personality, and she can tell the difference between "talk" and "speak." Her actual name is Duchess, but she answers to Puppy Girl, Il Duce, Stinky...Duchess is over 10 years old and adjusting nicely to being a big sister to my little sister's first human baby. Duchess is definitely the queen fur baby. Siena is our family's second dog. She came to us as a pit rescue who stole our hearts. She's the perfect brown of the sun-drenched bricks in Siena, Italy...and is a constant companion to my mom. She can climb trees and fences and she loves to roll in freshly-shampoo'd hair and dryer sheets. 

Same brindle coat, adorable mug.

About a year after our family rescued Siena and one of her pups...another rescue dog found us. She looked like Pete the Pup from the Lil Rascals and was all skin and bones. She made it a habit to jump into our cars (my sister, my brother, me) when we were leaving for work-- just to say good morning. 

Petey Bella's storybook Doppelgangar

We loved the cottage with scary heater

 We fell in love with her big, round, brown eyes. Pete the Pup was named Petey, but we didn't want her to have gender issues, so my aunt Janet called her Petey Bella. She gets called Pete, Petes, Petey Pants,  Pokey Big Puppy (because she's 65 pounds, but looks like the Little Golden Book Poky Little Puppy), Bella Boo...she had a prescription filled at a CVS of all places and when the pharmacy tech asked for her last name or ID, I was stumped.



The conversation with the pharmacy tech went something like, "Please confirm the patient's full name."
Me: "Pants? Her name is Petey Pants I think."
Pharmacist: "You don't know this patient's last name? Where's the ID?"
Me: "Um, she doesn't have her driver's license yet because none of her four feet can reach the pedals."
--stank eye from employee--
Me: "She's my dog. You're filling a prescription from a vet, not a doctor."
Pharmacist: "So we put the last name as dog."

Whoa-kay there.

Preppy Pete is ready to hang with the Denver hipsters

So we've had her since 2006, and she was probably a year old then. She had been bred and starved, so she was skin and bones, but had fetuses in her. Once she started to gain weight, she miscarried the pups, which made it easier to keep her because we didn't have to find families to adopt lots of puppies. I will never, ever understand why people want to make money off of animals and do so by hurting and starving them, but I am incredibly grateful that the people who did this to my Petey Bella did it nearby so she could find me to come live with. She's a really awesome dog. 

Oh hai! You're home! Been missin' you allllll the day!

Petey's always got head hugs for her momma

It's a nice-off!

My students are making "get well" cards for my mom back in Georgia. It was a total nice-off in here.

"I'm gonna make her the nicest card." "No, mine's gonna be nicer. It'll make her feel all better."

My favorites are the ones that over-explain. "This is a picture of your mom. I drew her knee looking blown up since the doctor cut off her leg and put her knee back together. It is all blue and hurt but it will be better soon because the doctor fixed it."

"I'm going to use these scissors so she knows I'm making a fancy card."

"Can we go give the letters to the post man so he can bring it to the truck and they will take it to Georgia from Colorado?"

I made your mom a card because I love you, Miss G. and she loves you because you're her daughter and mommies love their daughters.

Aww.

Mustache Dash 5K!

Wish the shirt had Denver or the date...

On November 2, 2013, on a whim, I decided to purchase a groupon for a 5k in Denver. My first race! It wasn’t supposed to have been my first race, because I had signed up for the Atlanta Monster Dash 10k back in July when I attended the Peachtree Road Race Runner’s Expo with my awesome BFF Allyson. A few things transpired between July 3 and November, when the Mustache Dash was scheduled. Namely, I moved from Atlanta to Denver! Then, the Ortho crew cancelled the Monster Dash—which I had planned on flying back from Denver to be able to run in, but I had to fly to Los Angeles for work. Later in the fall, while I was in Salt Lake City for work, I saw a groupon for this little 5k, the Mustache Dash, which was to benefit Movember-- the prostate and male cancer month. I texted a Denver buddy to see if he wanted to give it a shot. He’s a tennis player, so he’s in good shape. I’m a flatlander, and the altitude is BRUTAL here. Mustache-dache, you're on!

We are grumpy about the cold pre-race. 

Fast forward—it was only about 3 weeks from the sign up to the race! I'd been running on the treadmill and using the elliptical at the gym in my apartment complex. I'd done two short runs (about 40 minutes) in a park near my place, but I was not really feeling that great about running. During the summer, Allyson and I were pretty regular about working out at the gym together before the Atlanta heat hit too hard core, but I'd slacked off a lot here. Allyson totally inspired me on this-- her blog, her encouragement, and her living by her goals of running and racing-- it's been monumental to me not being just a couch potato out here!

Ick. Dead critters and guns.

Lots of layers in non-cotton fibers, Body Glide, and sparkly eye shadow.

  Denver also hit a cold snap and it snowed buckets and buckets of snow the Thursday before the Saturday, November 23rd race. We even received an email pushing the start back half an hour so that it would be a little sunnier and hopefully warmer at race time. On Friday night, my friend Michael and I set off to the “expo”—more just a packet pick up at the Bass Pro Shop. Okay. I’m not a “sportsman” type with hunting and fishing. This place had more taxidermied animals than some museums I’ve been to! All the dead critters hanging off the walls were pretty intense to me, but then I had a bunch of Cheddar Bay biscuits at the ultra-healthy Red Lobster around the corner. My stomach was definitely settled by the biscuits. 

I made it home on Friday night and got some of my clothes ready. I read on Jeff Galloway’s website about what to wear in a cold weather race. I got a little bit nervous about that part because it was going to be 18 degrees when the sun came up—possibly warming up to about 30. Between the altitude (meaning I’m much slower here and get side cramps fast!) and the temperature—I really felt like cancelling and going back to bed. But, I had a little cheering crew text stream going on from Atlanta and I was good to go. 

Oh, mountains. I really, really, really am glad I get to see you.

The race was at a place called Central Park in Denver-- it's actually part of Denver called Stapleton. I swear I'll understand all these neighborhoods eventually. It’s actually where the airport used to be located. It’s hard to imagine planes managing around buildings, but I think it’s awesome that some of the buildings from the terminals are still there along with the air traffic control tower. I still catch my breath to see the city skyscrapers juxtaposed against the silhouette of the Rocky Mountains. These mountains just make me really happy.

I started off the race with my buddy, but then I decided against keeping a fast race pace in favor of listening in to people’s conversations, saying hello to people, and enjoying the scenery. I do the “run-walk-run” interval running, so I don’t injure myself here in this altitude. I never thought Atlanta hills were terrible for running in, and comparatively speaking, the hills of Grant Park and Decatur are NOTHING compared to attempting speed here. (To date, I’ve tried running on a trail once. Once.) 

A long queue of folks up to the starting mark-- all mustach-io'ed.

There's snow on the ground! You want me to do anything but go back to bed?!

The air was pretty crisp from the starting line but the crowd thinned to the walkers, the families, the people with strollers, the people with a group who were doing this 5k fun run as a fund raiser for Prostate Cancer research. Did I mention the mustaches? There was a tent where you could put on a temporary tattoo mustache, or draw one on with marker. I’d already drawn my “pirate-stache” on in the car. I was pretty surprised there was anything left of my mustache after the race because I’d had to wipe my nose the whole time from it running. Silly nose thought this was a race it needed to RUN! 

The morning was warming up nicely.

I made sure I followed my friend Allyson's advice and was ready to RUN across the finish line. I walked some of it for sure, ran some of it, and listened to some Florence and the Machine. She’s good running music!

We got chocolate mustaches and protein bars after it was over—I checked in for my time based on the chip thingie in my bib number. It wasn’t fast, but it was my first race. If I got a do-over, I'd make sure my outside layers were easier to remove-- I had pinned my number over the zipper on my jacket. It got a little hot and sweaty. I would probably train more before hand (I did have a few things going on, like work and travel for work conferences!) that would help me to be more ready for the altitude. I was happy with the Body glide coating I had on my chilly toes, though, that's for sure. What can I say, I think I’m hooked!

Enjoy a few pics from the day—it was a good one!

No shave-November for Prostate health. Yikes!! This guy!

Selfie and still happy at mile 2.

Finish line and people waiting around chatting and cheering

The water here with the mountains-- the typical blue Colorado sky-- what a nice day for a race!

Got the medal! Sparkly eyes still sparkly and mustache still intact!