Last night Rio’s oncologist called with the pathology results. As I already half expected, the results are less than great. Since her cancer has resurfaced post-chemo, we knew going in that it was likely to be a more aggressive version of the disease. Also since it was in the region of a lymph node we knew there was every likelihood that it could be in those tissues as well. Although the path report shows that the tumor was encapsulated and hadn’t spread into the surrounding muscle tissue, it does show that the lymph node cells have evidence of the disease. We are still waiting to see what the c-KIT test tells us. I’m trying not to be too pessimistic about the outcome of that test, but it stands to reason that we will see mutations in the cell proteins since her disease is recurrent. Either way, it will simply determine what course of chemo treatment we run this time.
Meanwhile, we are doing our best to make sure that our regular vet has plenty of job security. We had her do a fine needle aspirate on a lump on Tosca’s back yesterday, and now we are waiting for the results on that (fingers and paws crossed). And Zephyr is so bored, stressed, whatever, that she’s venting by chewing her paw pads until they bleed. I took her to play with a buddy this afternoon, so hopefully she’ll be too tired to chew for a bit. When we got home, I wrapped them up with tape and gauze to limit her access, and now she looks like the victim of a suicide attempt. Sheesh!!!
Tomorrow, Rio gets her staples out. Her incision has healed nicely, although she’s showing signs of irritation near the staples, so I think she’s gonna be happy to get them out. Yesterday, she climbed a flight of stairs by herself when no one was looking, and today she had a short play date with an old friend. He’s 13 and both rear knees are shot, so they were a perfect match. They just kinda wandered around his backyard and sniffed and peed for about 15 minutes, then she started getting cold and wanted to go inside. She’s pretty tired this evening, but had a great day! She’s definitely got her Woo back!
Sounds like the path report I got on Maggie- lots of cancer mast cells in the lymph node removed with the leg. I know Rio has been fighting MCTs for awhile. Mag only had one (that I found) before her amp. She did have about six cutaneous MCTs removed at different times after her amp.
Good to hear she is recovering well.
Keeping the vet in business sounds familiar too… the week before Mag’s last chemo treatment I found the first of what turned into 3 MCTs on Mag’s little sis Tani.
Karen and the pugapalooza
Hopefully Tani is doing okay now! Tosca’s lump is benign! Phew!
I just saw your blog tonight, but I wanted to respond to something you were wondering in your first or second post. I’m not here due to an accident or bone cancer. My dog, Dakota, did lose his leg to cancer (just a week ago), but it was a soft tissue sarcoma. You were saying it seemed like most everyone here was impacted by bone cancer. I think it is the prevalent disease here.
It makes me feel somewhat guilty to realize that many of those other dogs will likely have a shorter life after their amputations than mine will. Of course, nothing is written in stone. I could get hit by a truck tomorrow and be gone, and Dakota could get hit with me. You just never know. Still, his prognosis is excellent and he should live just as long as he would have if he’d never had cancer. If I can stay away from trucks…
Shari, Dakota’s wrangler
I, too, feel sad for a lot of the doggies I’ve read about here, because Rio’s prognosis is better than most. But I agree, you just never know, and so you have to live every day like it could be the last!
Fight on Rio, you can kick this cancer’s butt. After all, you’ve got the everlasting Woo!