Sunday, September 27, 2009

Test Ride

Sol's first ride in her stroller Saturday morning.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Results

The results of the pathology report came back and unfortunately it is not good news. The tumors sent for testing were malignant. The silver lining to this dark cloud is that there were clean margins. The pathology report also notes "no evidence of lymphatic or vascular invasion is seen." The tumor is what they consider a grade II mammary carcinoma (intermediate grade of malignancy) and the overall prognosis is guarded. The recommended next steps on the pathology report is to have a chest x-ray because this type of tumor has the potential for metastasis and usually does so in the lungs. Luckily, we had a chest x-ray done before she even had surgery and we know the lungs are clear at this time.

Where do we go from here? Well, no where really. We have dealt with things pretty much as best we can. The tumor has been removed and we have clean margins, which is absolutely fantastic. But the reality is that Sol has had two malignant tumors removed in less than a 12 month window.

We are appreciating every day we have with Sol. Each night when that little lady props her butt up on my pillow, I give her a big 'ole kiss and say, "Good night Solsey Baby!" And when I wake up in the morning with a stiff neck from sharing my pillow with her I look forward to all the little things that just make Sol Sol.

I don't know how things are going to play out and I'm not sure if I want to know. I had my day of doom & gloom yesterday, but now I am trying to be more positive. No matter how many tomorrows there are it will never be enough. So I am just hoping that the ups and downs of this roller coaster are all at the beginning and that we can have a smooth ride for a bit.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Latest Addition

Well, I relapsed this weekend and the pugs are now the proud owners of a new dog bed. This bed is memory foam like and should be easier on the joints so I thought it might be good for Sol. We shall see. So far the pugs seem to like it.

Sol did pretty well over the weekend. She is definitely back to her old self. She even went for a little walk on Sunday - at a reasonable hour even.

I anticipate getting the pathology results later this week. I have been trying to put them out of my mind as I am not a very patient person. Good news or bad news I prefer just to know.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Miscellany

Sol continues to do well. She slept most of Thursday, which was to be expected. Her appetite is back in full swing which is always a good sign. The biggest problem we are having is that the little bugger can a find a pill in pretty much anything.

For the curious, here is a picture of Sol's incision on her belly that I took the night of her surgery day. If you are squeamish or you happen to be eating breakfast feel free to skip right over that link.

The 2010 calendar submissions came to a quiet close earlier in the month. We received over 1,250 amazing pug photos! I was happily surprised. A huge thank you to all that submitted pictures.

I have been hard at work on the calendar whenever I have a moment of downtime. I am hoping to send it off to the printer by the middle of next week, which would keep things on track for an early October release date.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! You all deserve it! I'm sure everyone is tired after sending all those well wishes to Solsey Baby.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Our Little Trooper

I am happy to report that Sol is doing so much better this morning. When we picked her up last night she was completely zoned out. She had no reaction to seeing us, on the ride home she did not move an inch and when you looked into her sweet little eyes she just looked blank. When we got home, we set her up in her favorite puff ball bed and she got some must needed rest.

I would have been happy to let her stay in that bed all night, but I had no idea when the last time she went potty was. So, we let her snooze until about 8pm and at that time we thought we better take her out to try and go potty.

I scooped her up and we took her out front. I walked over to to the edge of the driveway and tried to stand her up in the grass, but she refused to stand up. She would not straighten her back legs, so when I tried to stand her up she would sit and then within 5 seconds she would just fall over. So, I picked her back up and put her in the puff ball bed and she snoozed a bit more.

Around 9pm, I was thinking that she must really need to go potty now, so we went back outside. Same result as when I took her out at 8pm. While she was laying there, we offered her a tiny bit of baby food. The vet said to offer her a tiny bit of food in the evening and see what she does. Plus, we had to give her two pills and hiding them in her food would get that task done quickly.

She was laying there with the food bowl at her feet, looking interested in yummy baby food, but also looking like eating is so much work - "I will need to move my head about 3 inches to get to the bowl." So I grabbed a spoon and that did the trick. So there we were laying in the middle of the driveway and I am feeding her baby food off of a spoon and Benjamin, Henry & Luna are standing at the door feeling ever so neglected because I never spoon feed them in the driveway.

After she ate, she resumed sleeping in the puff ball bed. At 11pm, all the pugs went out for their final potty of the night and once again, Sol would not stand up. So we were headed off to bed and Sol had not gone potty all night. I was a little worried about that and wondered what she was going to do in the middle of the night when she realized she had to go.

We put the puff ball bed in her normal sleeping spot on the bed thinking that if she did have a potty accident that the dog bed would be the only bed affected. Plus, she was very content sleeping in the puffy bed, so we didn't want to change things up.

She fell back asleep fast and about 2:30am I wake up to her panting. When I sit up to get a look at her she squirms to sit up too. At this point, I am thinking she surely has to go potty. So I scoop her up and take her outside and wouldn't you know she can walk! She stumbles around in the grass and finally goes potty. I bring her back in, put her in her bed and pet her a little bit and I can tell by looking at her eyes that she is feeling a ton better. Not a 100%, but much, much, much better. She has that Solsey look in her eyes again.

We all fall back asleep and around 3:30am she is panting again and looking a little restless. I pet her a bit, but she is not settling back down. I offer her some water, but she is not interested. I'm pretty sure at this point she is hungry. So off we go to the kitchen and I sit her down on the rug so I can get everyone's food ready and she comes running over to me doing her feed me now bark. I was so happy to hear that bark. She was tickled pink to be eating and this time no spoon was required.

After she ate, I took her out to try and go potty once again. I took her out front thinking she would go potty at the edge of the driveway and I would be able to see what she was doing better. I didn't put her on a leash because it was 3:30 in the morning and I kind just expected her to sit down or stand at the door to go back in.

Out we go and there goes Sol trotting down the driveway with me right next to her. I am pretty sure I know where she is going, a little spot at the end of the driveway, but she passes right by it and is on her way across the street like she does when she goes on a walk. Here it is at 3:30 in the morning and Sol is feeling like she wants to go on a walk. As tired as I was, I was so very happy because in the few hours since we had gone to bed, Sol was feeling and looking so much better!

Once we all settled in bed again, everyone slept soundly until it was time to get up for work today. Right now, Sol is sleeping in her normal spot in my office and while she is sore & tired, she is doing much better than she was last night. It is amazing what a few hours of sleep can do!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Surgery Day - Take 2

Today, is try number 2 for Sol mammary tumor surgery. I think this time will be a go. It has been days since she has had a coughing fit and she seems to be doing much better.

I will do my best to keep everyone updated. Thanks for all your well wishes!

Update (1:00 PM EST): Sol just went into surgery.

Update (2:45 PM EST): Sol is out of surgery and doing OK. The vet successfully removed the mammary tumors. They refer to them as a "chain" and the whole chain has been sent out for testing. We should get the results back in 7-10 days. The results will tell us the official name of the tumor, the prognosis and if the margins of the tumors are clean. Hoping for the best on that report. We also had Sol's teeth cleaned while she was under. They had to remove her last canine tooth, but in the grand scheme of things that is really nothing. We can pick her up after 5pm today. I will give another update on how she is feeling as soon as we get her back home. Thanks for all your support! We are on the road to recovery now!

Update (7:30 PM EST): Sol is back home and sleeping soundly. She is wiped out. Between the anesthesia, pain meds & the pain she is completely zoned out. The incision on her belly looks very tender, but is no where near as long as I thought it would be (I thought it would go farther up her chest). Right now, she is sleeping on a towel in the puff ball bed and seems very content there. I am going to go lay there with her and just watch some TV for the rest of the night. I will give a more thorough update in the morning. Although, I imagine that tomorrow's blog post will be a little late. Thanks again for all your well wishes. Each day will get better from here.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Through Her Eyes

I think it would be interesting to see the world through the eyes of a pug. They don't see a leg to a bookcase, instead they see a perfect place to rest their chin.