Halloween 2007

I am a halloween scrooge.  K was working late on the big night, so I came home to spend the evening with my doggie.  The evening consisted of four action items:

• Come home
• Lock door
• Turn out all the lights
• Duck all kids looking in the windows
• Turn on the TV
• Turn on my computer
• Crash on the couch

No halloween candy.  No trick-or-treating.  No kids at my door.  It was a huge relief.

Earlier in the evening, I took Macy to the vet.  The pumpkin splint came off and the stitches came out but a new bandage went on the foot to cover over the toe.  Apparently, there is a small spot left where three flaps of skin come together…it is the last spot that isn’t completely healed.  The vet was happy enough with the healing process and I am relieved.

The highlight of my day was my acupuncture.  I went in the middle of the day and it was beautifully soothing.  Monday and Tuesday were absolutely crazy at work so my stress levels were all maxed out when I arrived into B’s office on Wednesday.  He is great at getting me to take a couple of deep breaths and calm myself.  Once I lay back and B begins to insert the needles, I feel like I am almost in a trance of relaxation.  This time, I was so relaxed that I fell asleep…and awoke to a big honking snort of a snore that came out of my mouth!  Mortifying.

I have to say, even if I don’t get pregnant from the acupuncture, it is worth every visit!

Photos & Macy Updates

So, yesterday was supposed to be the BIG DAY.  We had the appointment, after work, to remove the bandage and also the sutures from Macy’s foot.  K left work a little early and picked Macy up.  I met them both at the vet’s for the joyful occasion.  I was planning a party in my head for when we got home…something along the line of doggie bones hidden thru the house.

Macy’s nurse came and got her, bringing her in back.  And, about 15 minutes later, the vet came out to tell us that Macy’s foot had not yet healed as much as she would want.  The pad of her foot is continuing to separate from the toe area along the line where the incision is.  Apparently this, again, was caused by her putting too much pressure on her foot.  She explained that each time a dog puts pressure on her foot, the pad expands…thats it’s job.  So, when this happens on Macy, it pulls against her stitches.  The vet decided that she needed to re-bandage and put a splint on to prevent Macy from putting the pressure on the pad of her foot.

 10 minutes later, out comes Macy with her new splinted bandage.  Very cute – they did an orange bandage with a black pumpkin:

Here she is sportin’ the new diggs:

We have been feeling bad about the e-collar (cone) because she is desperate to lick the cooch.  Every day she struggles to get to it.  Last night, she even took to licking the plastic which was overlaying the cooch area…it was so sad to see.  So, today, we decided to take off the e-collar for the day while we spent the day with her.  With no exaggeration what-so-ever, this is how she spent the entire day today:

Sorry for the gross shot, but neither K nor I could get over how long one dog could lick for!

A Whole Week?

Goodness, has it been a whole week since I last posted? It seems much more recent… I will give you some high points of the week since I know you are dying to hear it all!

Friday: I took Macy to the vet’s for a bandage change. They removed the bandage and brought me back to the back where they had her laid out, relaxed on the floor. It wasn’t the most beautiful wound that I have ever seen. But at least it wasn’t a big gaping hole! The vet took a look at it and appeared less than pleased with her healing progress. It was a bit pink and was somewhat swollen. Duh! They removed two toes!!! Anway, he suggested that she was using the foot too much … more dopey drugs for Macy!

Saturday/Sunday: We accomplished a lot of little things this weekend. Somehow, we have this problem with completing our “to do” list on a weekly basis. It is because of me, I am sure. This was a good one though – we got to Trader Joe’s, Costco, did the laundry, etc.

The low point of the weekend was when Macy ripped off her bandage on Sunday (late afternoon). I went outside to call her to come in when K and I left for the store…to find her licking her foot and wagging her tail, with shreds of bandage strewn all around her in a semi circle! I couldn’t see bringing her to the emergency clinic for a re bandage when we had one scheduled in the morning, so we made do with what we had – pantyliners, cotton balls, and tape. No joke. Bring on the puppy-cone. We now have a cone-head walking around the house torturing us with constant knocking into our ankles, shins, and knees.

Monday: I brought Macy to the vet’s with her pantyliner bandage. Luckily I didn’t get laughed out of the place. The nurse was very sweet and explained that she had seen worse. The good news is, we got the big thumbs up from the vet! The bandage is to come off & stitches are to come out on FRIDAY! Personally, I feel like that is too soon, but he reminded me that skin heals quickly and I would be surprised on Friday when I saw it. So, I made the appointment for Friday & K can go! Yay!

Wednesday: Acupuncture again. This is fast becoming my favorite day of the week. This was cd13 for me and I forgot to ask B if there was anything different I/we should be doing during my “peak” time. I need to email him about my appt next week because he can’t work late on Wednesday…its Halloween! And he needs to be home to be with his kids trick-or-treating. How cute is he? Although, it does cut into my acu time…but I can share!

Okay, time to sign off and go to work. I seem to have many grumbles at the moment so you may hear from me shortly again. Cheers…

A Second Biopsy Done

Yesterday afternoon, we brought Macy to the Veterinary Surgeon’s office and he examined her.  Dr. Staatz suggested that the best course was to take another biopsy:  an incisional biopsy.  Apparently, a needle aspiration biopsy (like Macy had done last weekend) is able to show that there are mast cells in the area, but the cytology report provided isn’t able to show the severity or layout of the cells.  Dr. Staatz explained that if this tumor were somewhere in a more “fleshy” area of the body, he would suggest to remove the tumor completely plus remove an inch (or greater) margin around the tumor.  There would be no incisional biopsy needed and he could just send the entire thing to the lab once it was removed.

 In Macy’s case, with the tumor between her toes, there is no extra “margin” to remove around the tumor.  Therefore, if this were to be a higher grade tumor, we might have to make a decision about removing more around the tumor, i.e. a toe or maybe more.  Now, if it is a grade 1 tumor, then they can just excise the tumor as they see it and not worry about anything further.

So, we decided to go with Dr. Staatz’s suggestion.  I dropped Macy off this morning for an incisional biopsy.  Not so surprisingly, she was pissed with me.  She thought that we were going for a fun ride in the car and then we showed up at the vet’s.  Anyhow, she went in and I left.  When I returned to pick her up in the afternoon, she was dopey but happy to see me.  We are supposed to know more on Tuesday.  Apparently, pathologists take the weekend off. 

She came home with three stitches in the foot to close up the incision from the biopsy.  In order to keep it closed up and tight, they thought it best to wrap it up tight.  So, in addition to three stitches, Macy has a big honkin’ bandage on her foot keeping her little toes together.  (There are a few photos on flickr that show it.)  It should be entertaining to see how long that all stays together.

Here she is, sleeping soundly once she was safe on the couch: