MORE SURGERY

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."

-- Mark Twain

Hi dearest friends,

This is me, doing what I'll be doing for awhile, at least 4 - 6 weeks any way, in my near naked state, resting, not moving, no jumping, no roaching, no playing....
"I might as well just be in jail, dang it." "Sorry Mona, this will hurt me more than it will you." "WHAT?? I'm gonna be in jail!!" It's just not fair, so I'm just gonna let Mommy fill everybody in of my condition.

{they stole my tummy hair}


Mona had her appointment this morning with an oncologist and it has been decided she will need additional surgery. This picture was taken before she was taken for X-Rays and an Ultrasound. Notice the difference in the picture above and the one below. She had to be shaved on both sides of her belly for the ultrasound. I am not good at explaining things in my own words so thankfully they gave me a summary report, so all you read was taken from that report. The (goods) and (not so goods) were my reaction to what was said.

Her diagnosis, per what Dr Briles had sent over to Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists was:

Grade 2 mast cell tumor removal from the axilla (armpit) with narrow surgical margins, mitotic index of less than one.

Dr Endicott, her oncologist, said the pathologist that had done her tests after her first surgery noted that the mitotic index was less than one which is a good sign. However her surgical margins were narrow at less than 1 mm (not so, good).

Mona had already had the blood work she needed but the X-ray and ultrasound was done to look for evidence of metastasis (spread). Per Dr Endicott, screening lab work performed prior to surgery where unremarkable (a good thing). Her chest x-ray showed clear with no evidence of lymph node enlargement (a good thing). On her abdominal ultrasound liver, spleen and abdominal lymph were normal (a good thing). However there was a fair amount of debris within her urinary bladder that could indicate a urinary track infection (not so good). As a precaution a urinalysis and culture were done. We are awaiting those results, hopefully by tomorrow or Wednesday.

Per her doctor, for grade 2 tumors without evidence of metastasis, the goal is to address the tumor locally to achieve surgical margins greater than 2 mm with radiation therapy if complete removal is not possible.

Dr Endicott ( a woman doctor) said:

"In Mona's case her surgical margins are very narrow, so I am concerned about the possibility of local recurrence. I would strongly recommend a second surgery to archive wider surgical margins."


What this all comes down to is that my girl is scheduled for what is called "Scar Revision Surgery" this Friday. She also has to take several medications that are helpful in the long-term treatment of mast cell tumors....Benadryl and Pepcid AC. In 10 to 14 days after surgery, they will remove the new stitches, review the surgical results and discuss the long-term follow-up plan. So we wait again.

Mona will be upset about 2 things. She HATES taking pills!! I have tried many different methods over the years, usually failing most attempts.


This is the direct approach.........

this is the end result, after she spits the pill out.

This approach works every time..........

stick it in some peanut butter!!!

Yummylicious!! Lip smacking good!!

Not so messy, and since I didn't have any peanut butter, stick it in a "Kraft cheese bite", 2 pills = 2 bites of cheese.

The other thing, Mona will hate the most....for 4 to 6 weeks....she will have to be crated when I am not at home. The scar will be very long and according to the doctor she can't do any jumping or hard playing because she can't stretch her armpit or it could cause some damage (not sure what this means but will talk to the surgeon Friday).

I am so happy she had this last weekend to play and enjoy some fun time with her friends. She and Harley tore the face off this creature, not to mention some other stuff on it. It used to be a hand puppet.

She also played tug of war with this ribbon toy.

I tried all day yesterday and today to load a video of all the dogs playing where you could seem them all tearing up the puppet but IT WILL NOT LOAD!! It was too cute but I threw in towel in after about 5 times trying

We will give a complete report after this next surgery but Mona might have to stay overnight so it might not be until I can get her home Saturday.............Oops! Guess that's 3 things she won't like, and me either, we hardly ever spend the night apart.

Love, kisses and {{{huggies}}} from Mona & God Bless you all....Sarah