Thursday, April 23, 2009
A few days before his birthday, Henry was chewing a rawhide bone on the sofa. He was steadily chewing and I walked to the kitchen to do something. The next thing I hear is a surprisingly loud *snap* sound and when I look in the direction of the sound, I see Henry in mid air like a startled cat. As soon as he lands, he jumps off the sofa and is eyeing the sofa like it just attacked him. I walk over to see what is going on and I see Henry’s rawhide bone along with something white laying on the sofa. I look at the white thing a little bit harder and I notice that it is a tooth! I immediately turn to Henry and he looks fine, other than the fact that he is now afraid of the sofa. In fact, he is so fine that he wants me to give him his bone back so that he can finish chewing. I call him over, make him sit and pry open his mouth. Sure enough he snapped part of his fang off! Exactly, how he did this will remain a mystery, but I am thinking that he got his fang caught in the rawhide bone and used his paws to pull the bone away from his mouth. In doing this, he broke his tooth.
Other than being scared of the sofa, he had no reaction. He even went over to the toy bin and got another bone! There was no blood, and there appeared to be no discomfort on Henry’s part. So I did what any good pug mom would do. I made him get his picture taken with the offending bone and his tooth.
Monday, March 9, 2009
The theme for this weekend was rest. After we got Sol home and got her settled and I fixed dinner, I was out. I don’t even think it was 8:00 PM yet. I was just simply exhausted.
Sol has been resting, but I am pleasantly surprised by how well she is doing. It doesn’t appear that it is taking her much time to get used to her “new mouth”. She shows no hesitation when eating or drinking and her appetite is as healthy as usual. She still follows us from room to room and is always present whenever there is action in the kitchen. We had burgers on the grill on Saturday and she nearly went out of her mind. You would have never known that just two days earlier she had had part of her jaw removed.
Seeing how well she is doing just days after the surgery really helps me know that we made the right decision. I was very worried about her quality of life and that she may never adjust to having part of her jaw removed. However, she is doing remarkably well. It is like she doesn’t even notice.
Thank you all for your thoughts and well wishes through all of this. It really meant a lot to us. And I can’t even put into words how grateful I am to those who made contributions towards Sol surgery. Your generosity is simply amazing!
Check out the fantastic card that Penny from South Africa made for Sol. How awesome is that? Thanks Penny!
Monday, February 23, 2009
On Friday, we executed our very own Veterinary Stimulus Plan taking Luna, Sol & Henry to the eye specialist and Sol to the specialist to find out more about the malignant tumor in her mouth. All went well at the eye doctor. Luna’s eyes are holding steady, Henry possibly has some floaters and while Sol has cataracts she has pretty good vision. Her main issue is with her close up vision and the Dr. assured us that that is normal with aging.
The appointment at the specialist for Sol’s mouth was a doozy. Just being in the building is a depressing experience. It isn’t like being at a normal vet’s office where the waiting room is filled with dogs and cats most of which are just in for routine care needs. The waiting room at the specialist was quiet, filled with animals all needing care for very serious issues, many of which were life threatening. You could see the worry on owners’ faces. There were many tears being shed.
Unsure of what to expect, we quietly sat in the waiting room with all four pugs. Sol’s name was called and we went to her room with the pugs in tow. The vet tech smiled and made a joke about how Sol brought her pack for support. After a few minutes the doctor entered the room, introduced herself, met Sol and then proceeded to ask us many questions. We answered the questions as best as we could considering Sol has been in our care for less than two months. After the question and answer session, they took Sol to the back for her examination and we went back into the waiting room. After about a half an hour they called us back to the room to discuss the examination and to discuss the possible treatment options.
They confirmed what we already knew. Sol had a gingival pappillary (verrucous) squamous cell carcinoma in her lower right jaw between the incisor and canine firm. During her dental cleaning a tumor approximately 8mm in size was removed for testing. Their recommendation was to do a set of chest xrays along with testing of fluid from the mandibular lymph nodes (if they were able to get a sample). These tests would help determine if the cancer had spread or stayed localized. If the results came back clear, the recommended treatment plan would be a CT scan and based on the CT scan results a hemi, partial or rostral mandibulectomy would be in order. In regular terms, to get rid of the cancer they would need to remove part of her jaw. How much and which direction they would need to go would be determined by the CT scan.
As they were delivering the news, I was trying my best to take everything in but it seemed like with every word they spoke 5 more questions popped into my head. By the time they got to discussing the possibility that Sol might need radiation if they did not get “clean margins” on the tumor removal my head was pounding. Really? This is the recommended treatment plan?
We talked with the doctor and got answers to many of our questions. But even though our questions were being answered my confidence in what to do and how to proceed was not getting any stronger. After hearing what was involved, I asked the doctor what she thought was the right thing to do for Sol given her age (now upped to 13 as per the eye specialist just an hour ago). I let them know that I hadn’t given up on her because she is on the older side, but I also wanted them to know that my main concern was her quality of life. Would a surgery to remove part of the little girl’s jaw be more than she could handle? They assured me that Sol could handle the surgery and that they would not recommend that treatment plan if they didn’t think she would be able to make a full recovery. Her bloodwork was normal, her kidneys and liver were all operating properly, her heart sounded good. Except for the fact that she had cancer, Sol was a perfectly healthy 12 (or 13?) year old pug. As long as her chest xrays and the lymph node tests came back clear she was an ideal candidate for the surgery. The answer only gave us more things to ponder.
We also asked them, what would be the treatment options if we did not have the surgery. Pain management was their answer. Given the nature of this type of tumor it will continue to grow both above and below the gumline. As the tumor grows into the jaw bone it becomes quite painful. At some point, Sol would need to be put on medication for the pain. The medication would help her manage the pain, but when taken long term it would also put a strain on her liver and/or kidneys (I can’t remember which one or both they said at this point) which would most likely result in failure after about a year’s time.
My next line of questions all pertained to radiation and how they would make the determination if it was even necessary and how this is administered to a dog. (Again, reflecting on the recent trauma Sol’s Grammy had endured.) Radiation would only be recommended if they did not get clean margins when they removed the tumor. What clean margins means is that the edges of the tumor do not test positive for cancer.
We talked for a bit more and then we gave them the go ahead to do chest xrays and to try to test the fluid from Sol’s mandibular lymph nodes. We didn’t need to make a decision that moment and those tests might make our decision for us. We went to sit in the parking lot to wait.
After about an hour they let us know that Sol’s chest xrays were clear and that they were uanable to get any fluid from her lymph nodes. The lymph nodes were very small, which was a good sign in itself. They also took a urine sample to send out for a urinalysis. The results of that test will be in on Monday and if all is well, Sol will be ready for a CT Scan. The CT Scan will show them where exactly the cancer is and will dictate how much jaw they will need to remove and in what direction. There is a possibility that the CT Scan will show that the cancer has spread too far and surgery is not a viable possibility. However, they do the CT Scan the day of the surgery so we will not know what the scan reveals until we have already made our decision.
As I write this, I can honestly say we have not made a decision yet as what to do. The surgery seems so invasive and the thought that radiation might be needed is too much to even think about. All I want is for Sol to live out her last years healthy and happy. We could have the surgery, they could get clean margins and Sol could adjust perfectly fine (they say dogs adjust very well to their new jaw after the surgery). Or we could have the surgery, they might not get clean margins and then we would have to face radiation and it might not fully rid the cancer from her mouth. Or we could do nothing and monitor her pain and wait until it is necessary to put her on pain medicine at which time we know it is the beginning of the end. What’s the right answer? What is the best treatment plan for Sol? What is best for Sol is the only thing that I trying to let influence my decision. I’m trying not to think about the money aspect either because none of this is cheap. At this point we are talking thousands and if radiation is necessary we will be approaching the 5 figure mark. I am just trying to look into Sol’s eyes and find the right answer. An answer we can all live with regret free.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
As you may have read earlier, Sol went in Monday for what we believe to have been her first dental cleaning. She also had the growth removed from her eye. Additionally, she had a skin tag removed from her knee. We were prepared for all of the little “extras” of the procedure. However, we were somewhat surprised to learn that the vet discovered a tumor in her mouth during the routine dental procedure. They removed the top piece of what they described as a “wart”. Since this oral growth was of particular concern, a biopsy was performed. The eye growth and the knee growth were not bothersome to the vet and those did not warrant a biopsy. The vet tech described that these types of mouth warts are common in dogs and that while they can be cancerous, they generally are no big deal. She told us to expect the results within 7-14 days. Waiting a week to two weeks seemed like an eternity until today. The results came quickly. I would have waited the 2 weeks to find out this news because unfortunately, the results were not good. It is Pappillary (verrucous) Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Cancer.
The good news is that it is considered a low grade malignancy. While the vet referred us to a specialist, they mentioned a couple of options. These were aggressive vs. non-aggressive treatments.
The aggressive would be to remove the tooth in front and behind the tumor and the entire tumor which would likely include a significant piece of the mandibular (jaw) tissue. The “problem” with this is that this type of cancer will reoccur and even if we took care of it, it would come back.
The non-aggressive treatment would be to simply monitor her bloodwork every 6 months to see how her lymph nodes are functioning and perhaps the cancer is such a slow growing variety coupled with the fact that she is already 12 years old she would not really be affected for the rest of her relatively short remaining life expectancy. The “problem” with this solution is that we feel like we are “doing nothing” because we would be doing next to nothing.
We will of course consult with the specialist and determine which treatment plan to follow. The specialist is “conveniently” located adjacent to Luna’s eye vet. So, at least we are familiar with the area and while it is not “close” (about 50 miles away) we are due to bring Luna, Sol & Henry to the eye doctor soon. We’ll just double up the appointments on the same day.
There is a particularly sad irony to all of this. It has been barely a year since Sol’s Grammy here in Florida was also diagnosed with oral cancer, received major surgery, had radiation and is just beginning to feel the benefits of being on the road to recovery. As I sit here I am still in somewhat of a denial filled fog. I just have to ask, “what are the odds that your mother and your dog both are diagnosed with oral cancer within a year’s time?” The quick response to that when asked aloud was, “well, obviously better than winning the lottery”. Too true.
Needless to say, there were some tears shed in the OBP household tonight. Between reflecting on the last year dealing with human cancer and imagining the upcoming year dealing with puggy cancer, the emotions got the better of us. Albeit temporarily. We have hope for a positive outcome. We will grab that cancer bull by the horns and fix poor little Sol as best we can. She made it our way for a reason. The reason now is crystal clear. We are here for her. She has a forever home filled with love and support.
For the curious, here is a picture of Sol’s tumor. They took it while she was under for her dental.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Last Friday, we took Sol & Luna to the vet. Luna was going in for her annual exam and shots and Sol was going in for a thorough checkup, shots, microchipping, blood work and an overall evaluation on her current health.
Luna went first, took her shots like a champ and got a great report for annual checkup. Her blood work came back fine, her heart sounded good and everything appeared to be in working order. Her eyes continue to be her weak area and while they are by no means normal, we are doing the best we can to maintain her tear production and keep her vision from getting worse. She will be going to the ophthalmologist in a about a month to get her eye checkup.
Sol was up next and she was very well behaved while on the table. The doctor estimated her age to be between 10 - 12 years old (probably closer to the 12 end of the spectrum than the 10). We had a complete Senior blood work panel ran for her and received her results earlier this week. We were very relieved to find out that everything was in the normal range. From her exam, we learned that she doesn’t have any chronic issues, just some of the normal issue that can occur with aging. She has moderate arthritis in her hips and lower back. We will be putting her on Synovi soft chews (the same thing that Henry takes) to help with the arthritis for now. One day she may need to go on medication for her arthritis, but for now it is not necessary. She has a cataract in her one eye which impacts her vision a bit (mainly depth perception). And one of the things that hit me the hardest is that she is almost completely deaf. I had a sneaking suspicion that she didn’t hear very well, but the vet confirmed it with a little hearing test. She had virtually no response to the test.
She will be going in for a much needed dental in February and while under she will have the growth on her eyelid removed. I was worried about putting her under for a dental considering her age, but the vet assured us that she has no health issues that would make putting her under for a dental troublesome.
We are very relieved to find out that Sol does not have any pressing health issues other than those associated with aging. Her cataract is concerning, but I feel like we are very prepared to handle that issue. Luna has taught us a thing or two about caring for eye issues and we have a very good relationship with Luna’s eye specialists. When we take Luna in for her checkup in a month, we will take Sol and have her eyes looked at as well. I will be relieved to have a better understanding of her current situation and I would feel more comfortable having a baseline so that we can monitor things over the coming years.
The thing that has been weighing on my mind the most is her hearing. A deaf dog is new to me and I have been trying to digest as much information as humanly possible on the best ways to communicate with Sol and make her feel comfortable. Its hard because my only office mates are pugs and I pretty much talk to them all day long. Benjamin, Henry & Luna rely heavily on verbal cues and come on my whistle without fail. Even the cat comes on my whistle - most of the time. She is a cat after all.
My main worry is that one day she will be without two main senses - hearing and sight. Even though her vision is not great now, it is still a huge asset for her. Around the house, I don’t worry so much. Everything is pretty much dog proof and she can’t really get into to much trouble. However, I worry when taking her out for walks. I know that Luna’s lack of vision has gotten her into trouble a few times in the past and I worry that Sol’s lack of hearing puts her at a huge disadvantage when out and about.
The good news is that these are all my worries. Sol gets along very well. She isn’t timid at all when on our walks and is learning to trust and take cues from the boys and Luna.
I know I am going to learn a lot from this little girl.
Oh, and if you are wondering why we are taking Sol to our vet and planning on taking her to the ophthalmologist, check this out. Come on, you didn’t really think we weren’t going to be foster failures, did you?
Monday, October 13, 2008
After two great wins against Dallas and the Eagles, we finally got a taste of what it was like to root for a winning team. Riding high from those wins we were really looking forward to this Sunday’s Redskins game. Even Henry was sporting his Redskins cap before the game.
However, with Sunday’s loss to the Rams, we snapped back to reality. And Henry wasn’t quite the happy fan he was earlier in the day.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
A few months ago, the pugs were outside for the final potty of the night and Henry was smelling around in the grass. Dead tired, I was waiting for everyone to do their business so I could get to bed already. As Henry is smelling around, I see him jump straight up in the air like a frightened cat. Assuming a frog or some other Florida creature startled him, I am practically rolling on the ground in laughter. It was quite a sight. A few minutes later, Henry goes potty and everything seems normal.
A few weeks after the first incident we are taking a nighttime walk with the pugs to beat the summer heat and as we are walking along on the sidewalk, Henry does the same frightened cat jump straight up into the air. This time, however, I know there was nothing there. He looks around and is a bit on edge for about a minute and then we are on our way and he seems fine.
Over the last few months, these little incidents have continued, but they have only occurred outside when it is dark out. Not dusk, but dark. However, last week, we were watching TV and the pugs were chewing a bone. There was dim lighting in the room from the TV and a lamp and while switching bones with Benny Henry springs up in the air like a frightened cat. He did it two more times while chewing that night. He was scheduled for his annual in about a week so I made a note to be sure I remembered to tell the vet.
During the annual exam, I describe Henry’s nighttime behavior to the vet who was slightly amused by my description of the events. I tell him it is almost like he sees things that aren’t really there.
The vet does a thorough examination of his eyes and then breaks down what he thinks might be going on with Henry. Two things come to his mind and he is leaning towards one more than the other. The first thing he tells us about is seizures. He says it is possible, the the jumping in the air is a form of a mild seizure. He went on to explain that sometimes you will see dogs involuntarily snap at the air and this is in fact a mild seizure. But he doesn’t think it is seizures because they have only happened at night. If it was some type of seizure, it would not just be a nighttime behavior. So he wants us to pay very close attention to make sure we are not seeing any of the same types of symptoms in Henry during the day.
What the vet really thinks is happening is that Henry is developing cataracts on the back lenses of his eyes. The vet thinks that he sees very small cataract development now and that these cataracts are affecting the way light passes through Henry’s eyes causing him to see things that aren’t really there. Since we take Luna to the ophthalmologist frequently, he suggested we make Henry an appointment and let the specialists look into this.
Luna’s is due for her next ophthalmologist visit at the end of the year. So we will have Henry tag along with her at that time and get thoroughly checked out.
Interestingly enough, Henry has not had any incidents since we went to the vet.
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