A week ago yesterday I walked into our veterinarian office by myself with our dog Fargo to drop him off for emergency surgery. The day prior a growth that had sprouted up on the top of his right hip; practically out of nowhere several weeks earlier, ruptured. I was working from home the day it happened.
The morning I dropped him off it was snowing. As soon as I got back into my vehicle to head to work, I broke down crying. Something in my gut told me that things from that day forward were going to be tough.
I never made it into work that day. I tried but I just couldn't pull myself together. After I placed a phone call to my workplace, I turned around and headed home so that I could work remotely. It was a long day to say the least.
It's been an even longer week.
The vet removed the growth and in the process took some tissue samples from around the growth to have tested. He was certain that it was a mass cell tumor which basically translated to cancer. The surgery left Fargo with a 12 inch incision in his hip area. An incision that required aftercare that we weren't prepared for. But we managed the best we could and tried to make things as comfortable for him as possible. We were overwhelmed.
On Sunday afternoon the incision started to separate, the stitches were so tight because of the skin that was removed the day of the surgery, that any sort of movement made it worse. We took him into an emergency veterinarian office for peace of mind, the wound looked horrible and we were worried. The vet that saw Fargo that afternoon advised us to go back to our vet the following day and sent us home with additional medication and something to keep him calm.
We made a trip to the vet the following morning and it was decided that we'd just leave the wound alone and treat it the best we could, hoping it would start to heal. The vet wanted to check back in with us later on in the week so we scheduled the appointment and headed home.
The vet did call us later that night with the results from the biopsy of the tumor. The tumor was indeed cancer, a stage 3 mass cell tumor - the most aggressive and fast moving type there is. We really weren't hoping for that news but something inside me knew. I just knew.
We had another appointment today with the vet. The decision was made to stitch Fargo's wound back together again, but this time using tubing to reinforce the stitches. The vet felt confident that the skin in and around the wound area was soft enough that it would hold together. We also gave the go ahead to have a few lumps that Fargo has had for a while now biopsied just to confirm (but hopefully deny) the thought that the cancer has already started to move. We will find out the results early next week.
Fargo is home with us now and is doing well. He's a little groggy from a tranquilizer we gave him but that's okay. At this point we are going to do anything and everything in our power to keep his stitches from splitting open again; which has proven to be difficult considering the level of spunk and activity Fargo has in him. He's always been the most active, the most nosey, the most neurotic of the three dogs. You'd never know he was twelve years old, let alone sick.
And I must add that the prognosis isn't good. Two months the vet said worst case scenario. But we are hoping for something better than that, and keeping our fingers crossed in the meantime.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
The Beginning of the End
Friday, October 16, 2009
Timing is Everything
You'll never guess what happened
As soon as I hit 'publish post' on this post, my phone rang. It was pre-school. Apparently Isaac coughed and coughed and coughed during his afternoon nap and when he woke up he continued to cough. He wasn't playing. He wasn't talking. He was just blah and keeping to himself. They took his temperature and it was 99.5 degrees. I think it was due to him coughing so much but that's neither here nor there. School policy is to call the parents and send the kid home. And I can't blame them with all the sickness going around right now.
I finished up what I was doing at work and left. After I picked both of the boys up I headed to the drug store to talk to the pharmacist to get his opinion on what I should try to help relieve his cough. Especially since the medicine we have been giving him doesn't seem to be working.
I purchased a vaporizer (which I should have done a long time ago) and some Gatorade to help keep him hydrated and a bag of lollipops and headed home. Once we were inside the house he promptly climbed up onto the couch, asked me to turn on cartoons and then before I knew it - he was asleep.
And guess what? I haven't heard him cough once since we've been home.
GO FIGURE
So, so far this evening things have been quiet. We'll see though how the rest of the evening plays out. I'm hoping by morning he'll be feeling better; we have a fun day planned with Grandma and Grandpa
Have a good weekend everyone!
This. And That.
An hour and a half past the time I tucked him into his bed for the night, he was still awake. Coughing; and coughing. That hour and a half turned into two hours, then three. He was petrified that he was going to throw up. Every single time he started his coughing fits; he’d lurch up from his resting position in a panic and start to cry. He wanted to sleep in my bed so I obliged and moved him. I covered him up, and at his request I put the full sized garbage can next to the side of the bed. The medicine finally seemed to have kicked in. I watched the minutes tick by; he was resting peacefully, holding my finger.
And then it would start all over again.
He eventually did throw up, but it wasn’t because he had a stomach virus or even the flu, he could not stop coughing. I was finally able to rest some when he drifted off into a deep sleep. Only to be jolted awake by our in house alarm at roughly 4:30AM.
The dogs were awake and restless and ready to go outside.
Isaac stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday because he had a temperature. A mild temperature but enough of one that would get him sent home without a doubt. On Wednesday he was better. His fever was long gone and he was chipper. I took the day off and went with him on his pre-school field trip to a farm out east. We had a good time but got beat to death by strong winds.
And then Thursday arrived. When I showed up at his school at 11:45AM to volunteer in his classroom, I noticed right off the bat that he was coughing. A LOT. Two kids were sent home in the few hours that I was present. Isaac seemed okay but just exhausted from all the coughing.
And as you’ve read, it continued on through the evening until this morning.
He was so pitiful. He was tired for sure due to the course of events through the night. He had no fever so it was decided that he’d go to school today anyway. But we made sure to give him some cough medicine before taking off.
I fully expected to get a call from his school asking for him to be picked up. But so far that hasn’t happened.
The afternoon is still early, so my fingers are crossed. Anything at this point is possible.
