RIP 11/15/05 - 10/17/10

Goodbye my friend. You will be missed.

Keep moving along

It has been awhile since the last update, it's just hard to write about the steady decline of my friend. Since we haven't had any additional doctor appointments and divine intervention hasn't happened yet(still hoping)I don't have any good news, so here it is. Saturday Zoey had a dark tarry stool which is an indication of blood in the digestive system, luckily it hasn't been as bad the last few days so that seems to be healing. The growth on her shoulder is huge, I would say it's about the size of a grapefruit and that's just the part you can see on the surface. I do know that it goes much further down into her neck and chest area. Yesterday it started to puss up a little bit and today it is very obvious that the skin is pulled tight and starting to split. She has a round spot about the size of a silver dollar that is bleeding and oozing up, and since the growth is getting bigger its just a matter of time before the skin splits. The skin just cant handle the high growth rate of the tumor and has stretched to its max. She starting to have a bit of trouble breathing, it seems to be erratic while she is laying on her side. She has stopped eating most of her food and will only eat one can of wet food at night. Even with that one can it takes her a couple hours to finish, she does however still love the chicken jerky so that's keeping her alive. Last night she chased the bright orange toy around for about 15 minutes then she started to get very tired. I have also upped the amount of pain killers to two tablets every eight hours from one and half every 12 hours. So now she is super drugged up and feeling a little loopy.

My plan this weekend is to go to the beach for one last time, as I think the end is very close.

Short and to the point without much visual flavor text I know, it's just been a rough few days.

HOME!!!

Ahhh home from vacation, finally. The wonderful person I have watching Zoey while I was away (thanks Lia) said she was full of energy and didn't seem to be in much pain. She must have had fun because we both took naps when we got home Thursday afternoon. This morning I took her for a walk and she chased the ball around the field for a little while. This afternoon I took her to the river and she must have been in pain because she didn't want to go swimming (first time ever.) I have noticed that when she try's to jump up on the chair at home she hesitates as if the leg is hurting a bit, I'll have to keep an eye on that. Right now she is just on pain medication so hopefully it's helping with any pain she might have.

Another Dr. Appointment

Well we had another doctor appointment today and the news is not all that great. It has been a week since we started this new chemo therapy drug and it doesn't seem to be working at all. The growth on her lymph node was 6cm last week and this week it is 11cm. Not good. Since the new drug and the old drug don't seem to be doing much we have decided to stop the chemo drugs all together. At this stage of the game we are talking pain killers and best comfort of life. The risk of the chemo drugs is just to great since they aren't effective. Instead of talking about a life expectancy of months we are now talking weeks, the Dr. thinks 3-4 weeks before the discomfort of the growth just becomes to much for Zoey and she wont be able to do any of the fun stuff anymore.

Just in the last week I have noticed that she doesn't like to jump as much as she used to. On Sunday we went to the river and I had to stop throwing the toy in the water after about 5 tosses, she was just sucking in way to much water. Luckily the field was open so I could throw the ball around. She was still huff'n and puff'n but at least she wouldn't drown.

Dr. Apt.

Well we had Zoey's doctors appointment Tuesday, the growth on her neck is 5 times larger than a month ago and the Cytoxin doesn't seem to be working, the good news is that her blood test came back normal so shes not having an adverse reaction to the drugs. However, with the growths on her left shoulder and the large lump on her neck we decided to try a new type of therapy drug. This one is called Palladia, it's currently under study at the University of Washington for a different type of cancer but at this point its a Hail Mary to see if we can get this cancer to slow down. Since its much more potent then the Cytoxin she has another appointment in a week, then another in two weeks to see if she has any negative effects. Apparently the effects can be very nasty and the whole goal of this therapy is to extend the quality of her life and if that is affected in any way then we will stop the treatment.

Yummm lunch

Zoey came to work with me today and she has been waiting so patiently to go do something other then watch me type away on a computer. She was very stealthy during lunch and we only had one food takeover attempt. She failed and as a result got a very spicy cucumber slice. Now we can go home and play.

Gaarde Ranch

Thanks to the Gaarde Ranch for a fun time this last weekend. Zoey had oodles of fun playing with the other dogs, swimming in the pool and playing with all those humans. She got a little over excited and made herself sick, although it might have been the food that the two legged Zoey kept feeding the four legged Zoey. She rested the whole day Sunday, she didn't even want to go for a walk. Poor thing.

Monday rolled around and she was ready to play all over again, I took her for a walk by the river and she slipped out of her collar to take a little swim. I guess she was feeling much better. Today is nice and warm so I will give everybody two guesses as to where we might be headed after work.

Next Dr. appointment is Sept. 7th, but I'm sure I will have another update before then.

Swim Swim Swim

So you may have noticed that Zoey's favorite thing to do is swim, so what did we do again this weekend... 3 consecutive days of swimming. She, as always, swam until she passed out. Today she is sleeping peacefully by my side in the office waiting, patiently waiting, to go for a walk.

We had a doctors appointment this morning to check on the progress of her Seroma. We were able to cancel that appointment because the Seroma is almost non existent. The fluid gathering under the skin is being absorbed just like its supposed to, and the little bit remaining is no longer warm to the touch. Good news. Now the bad news found another bump adjacent to the original bump location. This new bump makes a total of 5 news growths found around her surgery area.

Good News Everbody

Zoey's Visit with the Oncologist went well yesterday. She is looking good and the growth in her lymph node doesn't seem to be growing as fast as I once believed. They took an actual measurement of its size this time. So in a month we can go back and check to see if its grown at all. We did find two new bumps on her skin in the area that the other growths had been, so that's not great but I will keep an eye on them to see how they grow. Blood work has come back looking good too. That means she is handling the chemo well and her marrow levels are great so we will continue the same dose for another month till the next visit. The Seroma on her leg is smaller so the skin seems to be absorbing the fluids better. All in all good news.

SWIM!!!!

A very wet and happy dog with two days of river time. Even with all the treatments she doesn't seem to be slowing down at all.

It's swim time again

Zoey got her pretty pink shirt removed today. It seems that it didn't help keep the skin down so it could heal. It appears a pocket of fluid remains under the skin and the doctor is reluctant to try and drain it as a chance for infection is very possible. I will have to use a heat pack and try and get the fluid to absorb back into the skin. Now the good news Zoey is off of rest and can now play in the water and run till her little heart explodes.

She has another appointment on Tuesday with the oncologist to see if the Chemo medication is working, in my very unprofessional opinion, it doesn't seem to be slowing the growth of the lymph node mast, so I don't think its working all that well. Will know more on Tuesday.

Next post will be of a wet Zoey happy to be playing again.

No more Purple

Zoey's Purple shirt didn't make it. She started bleeding through at the elbow and it was looking very tattered. So now she gets a pretty pink shirt. Lets see how long this one lasts. I give it till Sunday...

PS the nice lady at the Vet gave her the pink heart, that wasn't me

More Down Time

Well the good news the swelling and the fluid under the skin isn't a sign of something terribly wrong. It appears that the the skin never fully attached itself back to the muscles and bone after surgery so a pocket for fluid was building up under the skin. (laymen terms as the words the doctor used were all Greek...) The Doctor drained the fluids and put Zoey on some antibiotic's, just in case. Zoey does get to wear this stylish purple "shirt" for the next week and half. It's supposed to help aid in the attachment of that skin to the muscle and bone. The only problem is, no more river or running for awhile.

Water Sports

Took Zoey to the river last night, she is doing very well so far and I haven't noticed her slow down at all. She played in the water for a good 45 minutes before we had to leave. Last night I noticed that she has some swelling and what appears to be fluid build-up under her skin around the surgery area. I am hoping the doctors calls back soon so we can figure out what to do about that. Since today is my birthday I brought her to work with me and I plan on skipping out at about Noon, maybe we will go back down to the river...

WARNING

This cant be good!

Day-1

Tonight the special is a colorful combination of three delectable flavors on a creamy bed of peanut butter all on a plate of wheat thin.

Well the only good thing is Zoey does love the peanut butter, extra crunchy of course.

Daycare one last time

This morning I took Zoey into daycare, most likely for the last time. (no she's not spoiled at all). We start the chemo therapy treatment tonight, since I don't have any idea of what effect the chemo will have, and the fact the chemo reduces her immune response I think it's best if she stays away from all those dogs for awhile. At least till we get some blood tests back and I get a chance to talk with the doctor about it.

Background - Surgery

July 8th - I take Zoey in for surgery in the morning and they will have her for the full day and I can pick-her up the following day. At about noon I get a call from the doctor, as they were shaving her and prepping her for surgery they found three more masts and, in the doctors professional opinion, should all be removed. I agreed and signed off on the extra large surgery. Zoey pulled through like a champ and was recovering well. I had an appointment to pick her up at 3pm the following day (Friday).

July 9th - at about 10am I get a phone call from the doctor's office and in the back ground I can her the distinctive whining of a dog that was not happy. The doctor had called to see if I could pick Zoey up early as she was recovering well but was very vocal about not wanting to be at the doctors any longer.

July 12th - The doctor called with the results of the 4 tumor biopsy. All four masts were Apocrine Carcinoma and had been fully removed, however indications that it had spread to the lymph nodes had been evident. A cursory examination of the lymph nodes showed everything normal but, as the doctor said, "this is the fastest growth of carcinoma I have ever seen." I decided to go to another specialist.

July 20th - Upon a referral from the surgeon, I am sitting in the office of a Veterinary medical oncologist. This doctor specializes in cancer of pets only. She does an examination of Zoey and finds that the lymph nodes are a little swollen, so she decided to do a fine needle aspiration. Basically they take a long needle and take a blood sample directly form the lymph node itself to see if cancer cells are present. The results indicated a large amount of cell growth and it was confirmed that the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes and it was very fast growing. Prognosis 3-6 months.... We talked about different methods and decided that Oral Chemotherapy was the way to go.

Background

At the end of April I found a growth on her left elbow. I didn't think much of it at the time. In May I noticed that the growth was getting bigger and had a clear "film" around it. So thinking that it was a fatty mass I made an appointment with the vet, in early June, to get it removed. The Vet decided that It was a good idea to send it out for a biopsy as was standard protocol for these types of growths. The surgery went well and Zoey, being the ever trooper, had no ill effects. Three days later at the check-up appointment we went over the biopsy report and found that not only had the tumor been Apocrine Carcinoma that it had also not been fully removed.
The Vet had decided that it wasn't a huge deal and probably the best course of action was to wait and see what happened. Not being one who likes to wait I had her give me a referral to a specialist.
The first specialist couldn't give me any information as he was an internist so he sent me to a surgery oncologist specialist for another examination. This doctor suggested that we do surgery again and remove the entire mast/tumor area, I agreed and made the surgery appointment for July 8th.