i heart tripods

Why I Need a Chimp

Where's My Book Deal?

My amazingly talented friend Sara Lyle has started a site in memory of her friend Heather Lyn Martin who passed away on December 7, 2005 of cervical cancer at the age of 28. IHateTumors.com is a place for people to share their stories about fighting, surviving, and succumbing to cancer. I'm honored to be included in this project. I hope you enjoy my piece.



And if you have room from one more shirt in your closet I would strongly recommend you get one of these.

Results

Got a call from Lulu's doctor today. The biopsy results came back and the tumors are grade II. Not great, but not bad either. It's also the same grade her previous mast cell tumor was. At this point there isn't much we can do other than hope it doesn't return. So that's what I'm doing. 

Other than the surgery, Lulu's doing really well. Flirting with boys on our walks, running around the fresh snow, and just being as cute as ever. Our only other hiccup is an on-again, off-again bout with the D. She's on a chicken, carrots, and rice diet and is taking supplements to help boost liver function. It seems to be helping, but things are quite as firm as I'd like them to be. If she's still loosey-goosey on Friday when we go get her stitches out she'll go on another round of antibiotics. It's neverending with this little one, but I still adore her.

This is it, right?

Just got back from the vet with Miss Lu. She's pretty out of it due to the sedatives and pain killers, but still in it enough to give me the cold shoulder. Hopefully her limited memory span will help her forget. 

The incision is a lot bigger than I prepared myself for. To be fair, the doctor did warn me that they needed to cut out more because there were two tumors and these were reoccurences, but it's still about 7 inches long.She's on pain meds now, but the doctor didn't send me home with any due to Lulu's GI issues these past few weeks (GI is medical code for diarrhea). They're hoping her pain won't warrant pain meds. Crossing my fingers for that scenario.

Biopsy results should be back in the next three to five days. Holding my breath until then.

Under the Knife...Again

I dropped the Lu off at Hope Vet this morning. She'll undergo surgery to have the two mast cell tumors we discovered removed. Since this is a reoccuring tumor, they'll be taking a larger than normal chunk out of her side to ensure they've gotten all the cancer cells. The section will then be sent to be biopsied. Grade I is what we're hoping for. This grade can be completely removed through surgery alone. Grade II is a bit unpredictable, and some doctors advise giving radiation to the site to ensure the tumor doesn't return. Grade III is the most aggressive -- animals with grade III only have about four to five months to live. I don't remember what Lulu was graded at last time, but I believe it was grade I. I'll ask the doctor when she calls me post-op. 

I'm always so nervous when she goes into surgery. That said, it was really nice to see how happy and energetic she was on our way to the clinic. It's amazing that despite everything she's been through, along with her age, she's still a sprightly young thing.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Off to the Vet We Go

 

Oh crimey! Lu and I are headed to the vet again tomorrow. We're getting an early routine lungs x-ray to make sure the little monkey is in tip top shape for tumor removal. If everything goes smoothly Lu will go under the knife once again (sometime in the next couple weeks) to get those damn skin tumors removed -- or at least that's what we're telling the press. If she just so happens to look 10 years younger and have a perfected snout it's just coincidence. 

 *seriously, have you seen a cuter dog? I mean, jesus.

Happy Valentine's Day

kisses + licks, sonia + lulu 

p.s. we talked to the oncologist and she said we should remove the tumors, so I'm now waiting to get a call back from Lulu's regular doctor to set up an appointment for the surgery. Phone tag, you're it!

I hate tumors

In August of 2005 Lulu had surgery to remove a mast cell tumor from the left side of her belly. They were able to cut all of what was present out and grade the tumor as a low-grade tumor, meaning it probably wouldn't spread. The problem with mast cell tumors, which is a common skin cancer in dogs, is that they are incredibly hard to diagnose and even harder to predict their course.Last Wednesday Lulu and I went for an impromptu appointment at Hope Vet because I noticed two bumps in the same area as her previous tumor that looked almost identical to what she had a year and a half ago.

The doctor took a needle aspiration and sent it to get tested. On Wednesday morning I got the call that indeed these bumps were mast cell tumors. The good news is that since they’re in the same spot, it's unlikely the cancerous cells have spread within her body. The bad news is that with her history of osteosarcoma and chemotherapy, her regular doctor wasn't sure if we should proceed as normal or if her other diagnosis should be taken into consideration when deciding what to do with these tumors. The doctor sent the lab results to Lulu's oncologist at Fifth Avenue Veterinary specialists to get some advice.

I got a message from Dr. Turner, Lulu's oncologist, yesterday informing me that luckily the chemo we did for the osteosarcoma is not related to the mast cell tumors that have appeared. Meaning we should go ahead and proceed as normal by removing the tumors surgically. We’re supposed to talk more on Monday, so I can find out if there’s anything else we need to do to ensure that they don’t come back again.

Obviously this was incredibly crushing. I had hoped that we wouldn’t hear the words “tumor” or “cancer” for a while, but just two months after she got through chemo we now need to go through this. That said, the one thing that keeps me from not losing my shit is that Lulu is still totally happy. She’s still running around in the yard, pushing me around in the house, and being her usual boisterous self. I suppose I can’t really ask for anything else.

I'm sorry it took me so long to spread the news though. I kept starting and every time I would close the window before I was finished. There was something in me that felt that if I wrote this down it would be real. If I didn't, Lulu and I could ignore it for a little bit longer. Unfortunately the histamines excreting out of the tumor has made it hard for either of us to ignore it any longer. The tumors are itchy so Lulu has started licking and biting them raw. Now it's just a matter of having a plan and making sure Lulu is ok with sticking with the plan. She seems to be. She's a fighter.