Working From Home

Today, I worked from home.  I couldn’t leave Macy for the day.  Luckily I was able to finagle a second day working from home.  After seeing these doped-up eyes, there was no way I was leaving.

Working from home rocks.  I get so much done with no one bothering me.  I wish I could do it every day!  Um, I do have to admit that I was slightly distracted by my whining dog.  But that doesn’t compare (at all) to the constant flow of craziness in and out of my office on a daily basis.

Oh, also, today was the first day of my Herbs.  CD5.  Took the first dose this morning and will take the second dose tonight.  So far, I don’t feel anything different.  

Speaking fertility stuff, I made a calendar for the kitchen so that K and I are both on the same page…knowing when the important days are.  We both think it will be helpful so that we are both ”in the know” about what will be expected.

Okay, I am done with this tonight.  Tired of the computer.  Here’s one more photo of Macy for a laugh…this was from last night when she was still doped up on the anesthesia as well as a cocktail of other drugs.  Check out the tongue action – she couldn’t keep it in her mouth no matter how hard she tried!

Stage Zero & Out of Surgery

YAY!!!

We received the call from the veterinarian.  Macy came through the surgery just fine and she is waking up right now.  They did x-rays & an ultrasound to see what the stage of the cancer is, and everything came back clear!  All Clear!  This means Stage 0. 

He explained that it didn’t necessarily mean that there would never be any other cancerous lumps.  But it did mean that there wasn’t anything else right now.  Phew.  At least that’s a start, right?

After the staging, he went in to remove the tumor on the foot.  In order to be as agressive as possible so that we would hopefully not be here again, he had to amputate two toes.  They are her outside toes (the ring finger toe and the pinkey finger toe on her hind leg). 

Just waiting for the call to find out if we can bring her home tonight…

Officially Surgery

Okay – quick update.  I spoke with Dr. S today and he explained (in his defense) that the results get faxed to both the regular vet and his office at the same time.  Apparently, he was in surgery all afternoon yesterday and wasn’t available to call until today.  Dr. M jumped the gun. 

Results:  The tumor is officially a Grade 2.  (Moderately malignant behavior)

What does this mean?  We have scheduled Macy for surgery to remove the tumor.  It is likely that they will also have to remove one or two toes surrounding the tumor.  We scheduled the surgery for Monday the 15th.  We will bring her in at 7:30am and they will do blood work, x-rays, and an ultrasound to be sure that there are no other tumors to remove.  Then, they will do the surgery to remove the tumor…and other tumors if found. 

Apparently, Mast cell tumors that haven’t changed for 2 months, often have a good prognosis.  This is good for us.  Also, the recurrence rate for “grade 2″ is only about 20% with agressive surgery.  Again, good.

 Tonight begins the pre-surgical prescription cocktail.  Benadryl & Prednisone…morning and night until Monday. 

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:

The Interdigital Mast Cell Tumor

The vet called us this afternoon.  The short story is that according to the cytology report from the lab, Macy has a Mast Cell Tumor.  We need to have it removed as soon as possible. 

Canine mast cell tumors account for up to 20% of all skin tumors in dogs. While they often appear small and somewhat insignificant, they can be a very serious form of cancer in the dog. Some mast cell tumors are easily removed without the development of any further problems and others can lead to a life threatening disease. Proper identification and treatment are very important in controlling these tumors. [peteducation.com]

I did a little research and found the vetsurgicalcentral.com site for Mast Cell Tumors.  It was very informative since I didn’t even know what mast cells were to begin with.  Apparently, they are normally found in the tissues of the body but they are just out of control.

So, after a quick consultation with K, we decided to call VSA.  They were the ones that did Macy’s TPLO surgery last year and we had an amazing experience with them.  We have an appointment scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 4:30 in their Campbell office with Dr. S.

Our Furry Lovey

We took Macy to the vet today.  You would think that since I am a veterinarian’s daughter, it would be less of an ordeal for me.  But, since dad lives across the country, we have to bring her to another vet.  Someone that we don’t know.  And, in seven years of living in this state (five years of having her in our lives), we still haven’t found a veterinarian that we love. 

How is this possible?  Maybe I set the bar a little high?  Amazingly, no vet and no set of office staff seem to be able to live up to our expectations.  In all honesty, I don’t think that I am looking for too much.  We want our vet to be caring and patient and we also want him/her to take a few minutes with us when we bring a pet…we don’t want to feel like we are being rushed in and then out the door again.  And, is it too much to think that the staff should be nice, knowledgeable, and communicative?  Or, possibly even remotely accurate in the information they provide?

The place we visited today was new to us.  Recommended by a co-worker who said wonderful things about the vet.  She described him so that he sounded similar in thoughts and attitude to my dad.  So, at 11:15am, we circled the troops.  Macy came rushing in from outside as she heard the jingle of her leash.  When K mentioned that we were going for a ride in the car, she literally shook with excitement.

Together, we drove along the side-streets until we got to the freeway.  Once the jeep rounded the ramp and got up to speed Macy leaned to the side and put her paw up onto the window sill, leaning against the sill onto her elbow.  So chilled out.  As we pulled into the parking lot, her ears went back.  How did she sense it when we had never been there before?

So, we entered the office and Macy sighed and panted.  I spoke with the receptionist and explained that we needed the vet to look at Macy’s toe.  It took a couple of attempts for me communicate this so that she understood.  Somehow, the words “she has a lump between her toes on her right rear foot” were a little to hard to understand.  Anyway, into the exam room we went.  And then we waited.  Finally, the vet came in.  He was a very nice guy and was definitely very similar in demeanor to my dad. 

This was the good part.  We talked briefly about Macy’s health history and that she had her TPLO surgery on her right rear leg last February.  He was very attentive and interested in her history.  I explained that my dad is a vet and that we had consulted him about this lump…and went on to chronicle everything that we had tried:  hot compresses, warm water soak, and even a round of antibiotics.  With all of this knowledge, he suggested that the best way to proceed was to perform a needle aspiration biopsy.  This would give us the most accurate information about the lump so that we would know what the next step should be.

K and I exchanged a glance.  Neither of us wanted to put her through that but we both knew that we needed to do it.  For her, right?  Really, for us.  She is our life.

So, in comes the dumb-ass vet tech with the muzzle, the shaver, the syringes, and the microscope slides.  She walks to the head of the exam table (on Macy’s right side) and yanks the muzzle onto Macy’s face.  Macy’s head literally flipped back with the force.  Then, as Macy stands on all four feet on the exam table, this girl reaches across the table under Macy’s belly and grabs her left rear paw and yanks it towards her (to the right) and Macy, in turn, falls with a thud to the table.  Quite literally, she pulled Macy’s feet out from under her.  I nearly lunged across the room at this chick.  The vet stopped her and told her to take care because Macy had gotten the TPLO surgery last year.  I don’t think that she even knew what it was.  While the vet carefully aspirated the lump, he had to tell this chick (TWO more times) to be gentle with Macy’s leg.

Finally, we were finished.  K took Macy outside to relax and I stayed inside to pay up.  It took a while for the gal to figure out what needed to be charged…and what instructions to give me.  Finally, she figured it out:  The results should be back by Wednesday and someone will call you then.  I know, that was kind of tough to figure out.  To her benefit, she did remember to ask me for my phone number.

Did I complain too much?  Am I expecting too much?  This dog is like my child.  No exaggeration.  Are pediatrician’s techs as idiotic?