One reason a dog can be such a comfort when you're
feeling blue is that he doesn't try to find out why. ~ Unknown
Hemangiosarcoma is a huge, ugly-sounding,
complicated word. So is its parent - cancer. It’s mean, and it’s selfish, and
it takes no prisoners. I didn’t know my dog was sick and hurting… until I found
him collapsed on my kitchen floor in a pool of his own urine. Called my father,
and he rushed over to help me take him to the vet to put him to sleep (so we
thought). Asa weighed 80 pounds, so I needed help just to get him into my car.
My loyal buddy groaned this excrutiating noise and
lost control of his functions all over my shins and feet as we lifted him and
carried him to the car. Found out later his spleen had ruptured, and he was
bleeding internally and in a ton of pain. Even though I thought I would have to
put him to sleep that day, I couldn't drive to the vet fast enough. I just
wanted to ease his pain, make him feel better as fast as possible.
Fast forward a couple of hours, and we were leaving
the vet (with my dog still in the game) and heading to the University of Georgia's vet school, about
45 minutes away in Athens, GA. His vet (Dr. N.C.) diagnosed his ruptured
splenic tumor via ultrasound and determined that he had a significant amount of
internal bleeding. She told us he might make it if we got him to surgery
fast enough.
Upon arriving at the vet school, everything
happened in a blur: he was taken into the back, but my dad and I had to wait
in the lobby... saw several vet residents and vet students... Emergency
specialist, Dr. S.O., said he was bleeding out quickly... connected him to IV
fluids... my mother arrived too... got to see him... my gorgeous, fiesty lab
mix was a meek, exhausted blob of fur lying on a rolling cart with tubes and
IVs everywhere... I sat down on the floor next to him, and he flopped his
head on my hands when I offered them... Vet Surgeon came in... 2 options -
surgery which he had a 50/50 chance of surviving because of the blood loss...
or put him to sleep. Since he would be under anesthesia and not in pain, I
was willing to give surgery a shot... blah... Go home, and I'll call
you by 2am... blah... but first, do you want to sign a DNR?... oh and we need a
credit card for a HUGE deposit... blah... blood transfusions... blah...
potential things that could go
wrong......................................................................
He lost approximately half of his blood from the
internal bleeding and the surgery, but he survived (thank you, doggie blood
donors!). Huge ruptured tumor on his spleen but no other tumors, nodules, or
spots in or around his stomach, liver, lungs, and all those other necessary
organs. I thought we'd already been through a lot, but that was only the 1st
hurdle... He stayed in doggie ICU for 2 days, and I came to visit him each day.
To the vet tech he bit the day after surgery,
SORRY!!! Surgeon actually apologized to me instead - said Asa gave them a
warning growl when they checked his EKG pad things, and they knew better than
to corner a wounded dog, but they kept messing with him... His chart now has
the scarlet letter stamp of shame - WILL BITE.
Fast forward a few days, and Surgeon called me with
the biopsy results. The worst possible results. It was hemangiosarcoma. A word
I couldn't say correctly until I practiced it. Chance of survival past 6 months
is less than 5%, and that 5% is almost exclusively comprised of dogs they catch
before their spleens rupture. He was probably going to be on the lower end of
the 2-6 month scale because all that contaminated blood had been pooling in his
abdomen, microscopically metastasizing its hatred. This cancer is aggressive,
and it obediently follows the average prognosis, almost to the day.
I took the rest of the day off and spent the
afternoon lying on the floor next to him and crying. He licked my tears off my
cheeks. He's thoughtful like that.
Tell me about your experience:
1.
How did you realize your dog was
sick?
2.
What decisions did you have to make?
3.
What helpful resources did you find
and use (people, websites,
etc)?
What an amazing story! Thank you for sharing this. What a blessing you were HOME the day he collapsed, so you could get him help STAT! Looking forward to reading more about this incredible DAWG!
ReplyDeleteBurst into tears reading about him licking your tears! What a sweet boy! What tough choices you had to make very quickly!
ReplyDeleteReading this post really brings me back in my own experiences, Katie. Thank you so much for sharing!
DeleteI still remember when I found out... We were checking Cupcake out for a bad tummy and the vet thought she felt something. Turned out to be a big, softball-sized tumor. Right then and there, she told me that it was cancer and that Cupcake didn't have long to live. We could do surgery, but it might only extend her life up to three months. And then we'd have to do chemotherapy, and maybe we'd see six months. And I had 45 minutes to decide whether I'd do the $3000 surgery today. And where I would do it (specialty or at our current vet).
I remember crying so hard as I drove down to pick Cupcake up at the vet, where I had left her to received an ultrasound. I brought her home and lay down and cried with her on the floor. My boyfriend left work early, hearing that it might be Cupcake's last hours, and we all lay there with her crying.
Needless to say, I missed that 45 minute deadline, but over night we decided to take Cupcake to the specialty hospital first thing the next morning.
Since the surgery, the rest has been history. The biopsy came back, and the terrible diagnosis was confirmed: hermangiosarcoma, "the worst type of tumor," the surgeon said. "I was so sure she didn't have it because she did well after surgery."
From there, the rest is history. It's a very similar story to Katie's. Cupcake is on adriamysin every three weeks and starting metronomic therapy starting this week. We are praying for a miracle. It's such a hard path to take. And we are so thankful for people like KATIE who have reached out an open hand to share and support!!