Wednesday, September 9, 2009
First, thank you everyone for all the well wishes.
So, where do I even start. Well, when I dropped Sol off for her surgery this morning, I had a sneaking suspicion that it would not be happening today. Sol, had a little cough last Thursday when we took her to the vet. At that point, I didn't really think much of it because she has been prone to coughing / hacking since she we got her.
I mentioned it to the vet and he wasn't overly alarmed. He said it could be acid reflux and gave me instructions on how to proceed.
Well, over the weekend, Sol's cough kept getting worse and worse. So bad that I started to have doubts that she would be ready for surgery today. I even recorded one of her coughing fits to show the vet, just incase she wasn't coughing when I dropped her off this morning.
But, the video proved unnecessary because Sol was coughing at the vet's office this morning. When I dropped her, the vet was not in the office yet, so we proceeded as normal knowing that she would get fully checked out before surgery.
Finally around noon, I talked to the vet and he told me he wanted to hold off on surgery for now and treat Sol's cough.
Why is Sol coughing? Well at this point we aren't sure. There could be a whole slew of reasons why and they run the gamut from easily treatable to very serious.
So we are starting with the easiest, least invasive treatment. Sol was prescribed some meds to help reduce inflammation that is hopefully causing her cough. She has another surgery appointment for next Wednesday. At that time, if her cough is gone, she will have her mammory tumors removed. If the cough still has not gone away, she will be sedated so they can do a scope of her throat & trachea area to see if there are any abnormalities.
Thank you all for going on this roller coaster ride with us. Your support means the world to us. And don't worry, we have bottled up all your well wishes and are saving them for next Wednesday.
Update: Also, I forgot to mention it, but Sol is back home and snoring away at my feet. The first thing she wanted to do when she got home was eat. The second was sleep 
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Well, today is the day. We drop Sol off for her surgery first thing this morning and we will pick her up as soon as we are allowed.
For all your support, Sol would love to give you all some kisses. A Solsey kiss goes a little something like this: she gives your face a few quick sniffs all while tickling you with her whiskers. Then she gives you a big lick, takes a step back, looks at you for a second and then promptly sneezes in your face. Every. Time.
I will post updates as soon as I know something.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Yesterday, Benjamin, Henry & Sol all went to the vet and it was a whirlwind of a day. I wish I had good news to share about Sol's visit, but sadly I do not.
Sol went in because she was limping around pretty badly the last few days. We figured it was her arthritis but it seemed to be bothering her more than usual. So since we were already going in with the boys we figured it would be best to bring Sol along and have her looked at as well. The vet confirmed that her arthritis was the cause of the limp and as we were talking he checked on the small mammary tumors that were discovered when Sol had had the tumor removed from her mouth.
The vet is very diligent about checking on them each time we bring Sol in to make sure they have not grown and as he was doing his normal examination, I saw a wave of concern come over his face. Of course my heart sank and I knew he was not going to have good news to share.
He said that the consistency of the tiny tumors had changed and they felt more "rope-like" which was a sign they were beginning to spread. In addition to that, they were also now leaking!
Having heard the news, my first question is what do we do? The tumors were discovered months ago, but everyone advised me not to do anything as there was no indication they were cancerous or harmful to her at the time. Everyone, always said, "Keep an eye on them and monitor them for any changes." Well, here we were and changes were happening, so now what?
So the vet talked to me for a bit explaining that the changes he found do not necessarily mean the tumors are malignant. We won't know if they are cancerous until they are sent to be biopsied, but since they have grown, their consistency has changed & they were now leaking they should be removed.
The big BUT however was that they would need to do a chest X-Ray to make sure Sol's lungs were clear or else she would not be a candidate for the surgery. The vet explained to me that malignant mammary tumors most often metastasize in the lungs. So if they had reached Sol's lungs we would essentially be too late.
So he recommended that we bring Sol in on Tuesday to get a chest X-Ray. At that point, having a pretty good relationship with my vet, I told him that he was going to have to get Sol in for an X-Ray sooner than Tuesday because there was no way I was going to spend the next 5 days agonizing over whether or not Sol was a candidate for surgery. So he suggested Friday and, in my ever so charming way, I suggested today. He said 4pm and I said how about now. Knowing me, he took Sol back right then and did the needed chest X-Ray.
Sol was very cooperative and they had her back out to me in no time at all. At that point, we just needed to wait for the results of the X-Rays to be read. We had to wait maybe 20 minutes and during that time so many thoughts were swirling around in my head. But the overwhelming feeling was that if we were too late, then I let something I knew about get too far out of hand. I missed the signs, the changes, the everything I was supposed to keep an eye on. I replayed the last few months in my head and I remembered that Sol was in a few months ago for her upset tummy and at that time the tumors were holding steady. So, the changes that did occur have happened in the last few months and have been fairly quick.
Finally, the vet came back into the exam room and put the X-Rays on the viewer and as soon as he did, I could tell that her lungs were clear. I looked at him and he confirmed that her lungs were infact clear. A little bit of relief hit me like a ton of bricks.
So, Sol is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday, Sept 9. The surgery can be done at our regular vet's office and while the surgery itself is not extremely complicated, Sol will be pretty sore afterward.
Basically, she is going to have all the mammary glands removed from her left side, so she will have an incision that runs the whole length of her body on her belly. The incision is not deep, it doesn't even go below the muscle, but it will still be quite painful.
Once removed, the tumors will be sent for testing. At this point, Sol does not have any mammary tumors on her right side, but I asked if we should have those removed as well. I was advised that it wasn't necessary and even if the mammary glands needed to be removed on the right side they would not remove both in one surgery because it would be too painful.
As I have been processing all this, I think we got the best possible news we could in a bad situation. I don't want Sol to have to have another surgery, I don't want to have her be sore after the surgery, I don't want her to have had cancer in two different parts of her body, but the silver lining is that there is still something we can do. We are not helpless in this situation.
Wednesday will come and Sol will have her surgery and hopefully in a few months we will look back and marvel at her recovery just like we do with the surgery that left her with only half a jaw.
Sol is a constant reminder to me to live in the now and appreciate everyone and everything that you love while you can. And yesterday, she hammered home that message even more.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The boys go in today to get their annual checkups, but guess who gets to tag along with them? Sol. On Monday morning she started limping and favoring her front, right paw/leg. She favors her front leg from time to time because of arthritis, but over the last few days she doesn't seem to be getting any better. So, since we are already going to the vet, we figured why not bring Sol and have her get checked out too. The only thing missing today is an eye appointment for Luna.
Monday, August 3, 2009
On Friday, Luna went back for her second check-up to make sure the obstructed gland in her eyelid continued to heal.
When we arrived, Luna checked herself in and then chatted up a dog in the waiting room.
It was her turn before we knew it and Luna was a very good girl while her eyes were being examined. Here she is getting a Schirmer Tear Test.
Her tear production was fantastic. She measured 18 mm/60s in one eye and 20 mm/60s in the other eye. This is so much better than several years ago when her one eye wouldn't even register. Also, the extra eye drops we have been giving her cleared up the blockage in the gland in her eyelid. So it was a great report for the lucky girl.
The reward for such a great report? Luna doesn't have to go back for a check-up until January of 2010! Yay!
After all the good news, Luna slept soundly on the way home.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Luna got to go on a field trip to the eye vet last week for a re-check of the obstructed gland in her eyelid. I was feeling fairly confident that they would not have to drain the gland because it had greatly reduced in size since we started her on the prescribed medication. However, the bump was not 100% gone so I was unsure what they were going to say about that.
Luna's eye doc was pleased with Luna's progress and suggested that we up the NeoPolyDex drops that she gets in that eye from every other day to twice a day. Easy enough. We will do that and in 4-5 weeks Luna gets to go back to see how things are doing.
The only difficult thing has been remembering the new drop schedule. Luna has been on her current schedule for a little over a year now so breaking our routine has been a bit tricky.
Here is Luna's new drop schedule:
- Tacrolimus: 1 drop both eyes, twice a day
- Cyclosporine: 1 drop in the left eye once a day
- NeoPolyDex: 1 drop in the left eye every other day, 1 drop in the right eye twice a day
- Genteal Ointment: At least one drop in the right eye each day. May administer whenever the right eye is looking dry.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Yesterday, Luna & Sol visited the eye vet for their checkups. Sol's visit was just for a routine checkup. The last time we were there, they put her on drops to slow cataract growth and we have seen a great improvement in the cloudiness in her eyes. The Dr. agreed that Sol is doing well and we are going to keep the same drop plan for her.
Luna was not due for a checkup, but we brought her in with Sol because we noticed a small bump developing on her upper eye lid. Given her history, we didn't waste anytime getting her in to have it looked at. Her diagnosis was an obstructed gland in her eyelid. At this point we are hoping we will be able to clear this up with a few medications. In about 2 weeks time we will know if the medications are going to work and we will revisit the eye doc with Luna. Hopefully, things will have cleared up, otherwise, Luna will need to have a procedure to drain the clogged gland. She will not need to be put under, however. How they will drain the gland without putting her under is beyond me, but I trust that they have their ways.
The silver lining in all of this is that the blocked gland does not seem to be bothering Luna at all. They eye doc said that she would be pawing at her eye if she was experiencing any discomfort and we have not seen her messing with her eye at all.
She is a trooper. She takes all her many drops each day like a champ and has battled through all of her different eye maladies as well as anyone could expect. I feel bad for her because it seems like we never get any good news about her eyes, but overall, I think she handles her limited vision very well. She runs through the house with the rest of them and adapts very well to new situations. Over the years, we have learned her limitations and her weaknesses and that has helped a lot. It at least keeps her from doing face plants at the beach.
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