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.