McCarthy

Sadly little McCarthy was not well last week. He was admitted to hospital and stayed overnight on a drip on Friday night (20th June) and was given a course of anti biotics. He also had blood work done to check kidneys and liver. He picked up an infection of some kind – high white blood cell count. His immune system is likely compromised post surgery and he’s little body isn’t fighting fit.  😰

However, as the week goes by, he is looking perkier, which is great!

The specialist called this evening (14/6) to advise on the long awaited pathology report, which revealed that they got clear margins of the tumor when they amputated his toes but there was destruction to the bone in those toes (it’s an aggressive cancer), which means there might be microscopic spread, no one will be able to tell for sure at this stage. As a precaution he suggested four treatments of chemo over an 8 week period. Some dogs do fine on chemo, others not, and 1-2% can die from it. The other option is to leave it and do another CT scan in a few months to see if it has spread and only do chemo then. Amputating the leg isn’t recommended as we don’t know if there was microscopic spread, so that operation may not make a difference if it has spread microscopically which the scans won’t pick up. I’m glad we don’t have to amputate the leg. But now I must make the big decision on chemo as a precaution or not. It’s such a rare cancer so the specialist can’t even compare to previous cases and treatments as there aren’t any from his experience. Other cancers have had a good response to chemo in dogs. If I’m going to do it I’ll rather do it now than wait, but I need some wisdom and more prayer with this decision as I don’t want to ruin his quality of life if chemo makes him very sick, but dogs apparently respond better than humans to chemo. Regarding the weekend hospitalization and tests, his renal blood tests are on the high end of normal, but not abnormal. He might have to have

Regarding the weekend hospitalisation and tests, his renal blood tests are on the high end of normal, but not abnormal. He might have to have bloods taken again this week to make sure the infection from the weekend has cleared, if not, longer course of anti biotics will be necessary, but if he looks well enough, then probably don’t need to retest. He looks better tonight than he has since last week and ate well for the first time in a week, so hopefully the infection is clearing. It’s been such an emotionally stressful time.

If any of you have had any experience with a little dog with Eccrine Carcinoma being treated with chemo, I would love to hear from you as to the outcome…

Sent from my iPhone

So, on the 18th May 2016 I dropped my baby off at Tygerberg Animal Hospital for his CT scan. I was advised that he would be on a drip before, during and after the procedure as some dogs react badly to the iodine dye they are injected with for the contrasted CT scan. I felt incredibly stressed as I’d already researched what could go wrong and I also knew that they stop the dog breathing for 30 – 45 seconds when scanning the lungs – this too freaked me out! I left there feeling emotionally drained and went for a drive to calm down before going back to work. It was the longest wait of my life to hear how McCarthy was doing and to find out whether his organs had been affected. I was so grateful to God to hear at 3:45pm that he was doing well and that the cancer hadn’t spread to his organs. When I fetched him at 8pm that night he was bouncy and happy – such a relief. He was then booked in for surgery to remove the two affected little toes on Friday, the 20th May. Another stressful day, but not as long a wait. By 11:45am I received a lovely message with a photo of my bandaged up little dog from the hospital saying he was awake and out of theatre. They said they would let me know how long he’d have to stay in hospital, but at 3pm I received a call saying he was doing so well that they were happy to discharge him. I couldn’t wait to fetch him. He was a little unhappy and unbalanced on Friday night and fell over when trying to wee, still getting used to using only one foreleg and holding the bandaged one up, but by Saturday he was hopping around so quickly – I had to run after him. He has been such a little trooper and I’m amazed at how well he is doing. Tomorrow he goes back to hospital to be sedated for the first bandage change. The amputated toes are currently with the pathologist and I will only hear in about two weeks’ time whether they got clear margins of the soft tissue and whether there is no cancer in the bones. I really hope and pray that they got it all, but if not, he will have to have that little leg amputated…

My beloved little 11 year and 9 month old Yorkie developed a mysterious cut on the third toe of his right foot in March 2016. He was stitched up and treated with anti-biotics, but it wasn’t healing and was very swollen and the swelling started spreading to the second toe and underneath the pads too. A further dose of anti-biotics was given, but still little healing, so a biopsy was taken on the 29th April 2016. On the 11th May 2016 I received the shocking news:  Eccrine carcinoma!! This is a very rare and aggressive cancer of the sweat glands. The prognosis on the pathology report said: “cautious, further complications as regards local infiltrative growth and distant mestastic spread could be expected.” Apparently an important differential in these cases is mestastic carcinoma from the lung.

My heart felt broken in an instant. Little McCarthy is the sweetest, most loving and joyful little being I have ever met. He loves life and has no idea how small he is in size. He used to run 10km races with me and up until he was around 9 years old he was still regularly running 6 – 8km’s on the road or in the mountain with me. As he has aged we now do more walking, which his brother, Higgins prefers. (Higgy is also a Yorkie, and a day younger. I adopted them both on the same day in 2004. The breeder had two different litters, born a day apart). McCarthy and I have a very special bond, he never leaves my side. I adore them both, but I think McCarthy imprinted on me. It felt that way from the minute I saw him. When I took them home with me in September 2004, Higgy cried for a while, then curled up and slept all the way home. McCarthy sat straight up in his little box staring at me all the way home 🙂

I now step into unwanted and unfamiliar territory. Next week he has to go for a CT scan to see if the cancer has spread. If not, surgery of the foot / amputation is indicated. I will have to wait until my consultation with the specialist on the 17th May 2016 to get more detail as to what the best will be for my little doggy. The saddest part of all this is that he doesn’t seem to be in any pain and carries on as normal, so I want to ensure that whatever I decide to do is not going to cause him unnecessary pain and suffering.

My heart is incredibly sore, and this is only the beginning….

I will post again once I have more information.

 

Read this for important information!

Welcome to Tripawds. Please read on for important tips. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging. Don’t miss our helpful WordPress tutorial videos if you need help getting started with your new Tripawds blog.

Do not reply to this post!

Please publish a new post (or edit this one) to share your story. The Tripawds community is only notified of new blog posts in the Recent Posts widgets found throughout the News blog and discussion forum pages. Members will not be notified of any comments made on this default first post. You can also choose to edit or delete your sample page.

• See the Help videos in your blog dashboard or post in the Tech Support forum with any questions!

Publish a blog post or your site may be deleted!

Please be sure to publish at least one blog post to let us know you that you may use your blog. NOTE: Failure to do so may result in your site being deleted. If you upload photos to your Media Library, but fail to publish a post, we’ll never know they are there and they may be gone forever!

Another way to ensure your site does not get deleted, is to upgrade it with a Tripawds Supporter subscription.

By default your site will be indexed so Tripawds members will be notified of your update in the Recent Posts lists throughout this community. If you change your Privacy settings to discourage search engines, your posts will not be indexed! 

To limit the amount of spam you receive, any first comment a reader makes on your blog will require moderation. Be sure to “Spam” any inappropriate comments, and approve those from your readers so their future comments appear immediately. You can change your comment options from the Settings -> Discussion tab in your dashboard.

Tripawds Blogs shall NOT be used for fundraising purposes.

Direct appeals for financial assistance to help cover care expenses will be deleted without notice. Everypawdy in the Tripawds community faces their own share of high expenses related to surgery, recovery and care. Veterinary financial aid resources can be found in the Tripawds News blog. Please see the Tripawds Fundraising Appeals Policy for more information. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you for sharing your story, and happy blogging!