I haven’t been in the truck since early summer because of the weather and the air-conditioning. So when Mom said, “Daisy, let’s go!” I came running.
I smacked into everything on the way out–this cone is really a pain in the tail– but the truck! Oh, the truck! I love the truck.
We drove to Dr. Aaron’s where Mom took off the cone. I stretched out on the floor while we waited and Mom rubbed my belly. I wagged my tail at everyone that came in, showing off how much of a good girl I was.
I wagged my tail at Dr. Aaron and his helper, who Mom calls, The World’s Greatest Tech (TWGT). They looked at my wound, and then they talked.
Mom said, “I’ve been thinking and I’m just not ready to let her go yet. She gets around great, she’s happy, and I think I want to take off the leg.”
Doc said, “Okay. Let’s run a chest x-ray and see if she’s got any spots on her lungs. If she does, you don’t want to have the surgery.” I’m not sure what that meant, but Mom evidently did.
I never give Dr. Aaron or TWGT any trouble, so my x-rays didn’t take long. He brought them back in and they are clean. Except for a BB that is lodged between my ribs. Mom just learned I’d been shot before. I would have liked to have told her, but that’s beyond my communication skills.
Turns out that these punctures would never heal if either the mass isn’t cut back or my leg doesn’t come off. Mom was right… again. Again, they went over odds: the 47% risk of metastasizing with a reduction, and then having to possibly amputate, or just amputate out of the gates with much less, maybe even zero, risk of a ticked-off tumor going haywire.
They talked about what Mom should expect. Apparently the surgery is very straight-forward, and recovery is about pain management and healing stitches. I heard him say that I might not have to wear that cone! I also heard him say “She can do what she wants to.” That’s always good. More sleeping on the couch. More truck rides.
NO CONE!
I went with Mom to get more food for me and everybody else, and to the gas station, then we came back in and I got my dinner. I seriously love that stuff. Taste of the Wild — feed your dogs this. It’s yummy goodness all the way around and guaranteed to get the helicopter tail going. Which is different than the “Life is Good” back and forth wag.
The boys came home and the first thing Eldest said was, “Where is Daisy’s leg?” I looked at him. Really? I mean… Are you blind?
Mom laughed. There’s evidently a joke there that I don’t understand. Meh. Eldest did something new to the couch and made it bigger. That is a cone-sporting, diaper-wearing dog’s heaven!
I go see Dr. Aaron and TWGT on the 22nd.
Note from Mom:
Daisy has a draining wound in a cancer lesion. Because of the cancer, the surrounding tissue is not healthy enough to heal itself. The draining wound will never heal. If you reach this point or something similar happens with your dog, now is the time to take action. The cancer can no longer be “left alone”. The dog needs to be seen by a veterinarian as early as possible to prevent gangrene (and other infection) from setting in while you are considering options.
As to the chest x-rays: Commonly, if an STS has metastasized, it will do so in the lungs. Lesions in the lungs would indicate a very poor, likely short-term, prognosis–amputation surgery can’t help at this point. While a clear chest x-ray does not guarantee the cancer hasn’t metastasized somewhere else, it does significantly improve the dog’s long-term prognosis.
Daisy Dog 