Heather's update
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Help and Suggestions needed, Long
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Mast Cell Tumors
Good morning, everyone: I'd like to thank everyone who has emailed us with encouragement, support, suggestions, hugs, belly rubs, cookies, and especially prayers! What a wonderful group you all are. I'm overwhelmed by the number of emails sitting in my in box waiting to be answered. I'll get to them as soon as I can and respond to each one personally. Heather's incision site continues it's slow healing, two steps forward, one step back, sometimes two. We found ourselves back at the vet again yesterday, as the retention sutures/stent in place over the tumor site continue to cause the surrounding skin to slowly come away from the site. Her drainage has slowed somewhat, but it's still a considerable amount, and we're having the vet, with whom we have a good rapport, keep close tabs on everything. He changed the protocol we were using to cleanse the site, and has decided to delay removing her sutures until things look a bit more healed. Barring any further problems, we won't see him until next week, and Heather will remain confined to her x-pen, with her NoBite Collar in place, taking her antibiotics, and getting lots of love. Hannah and I are finally at a point where we can look at each other and not fall apart crying. We're determined to put on a happy face for the dogs, while figuring out how to heal our girl. My husband's message from Guam when he is apprised of each day's progress: "Eee". Thanks, honey! LOL... Again, thank you all, and we'll be in touch with progress reports. Hugs, Jaye Carl, Lucy and Heather, the Sonrise Girls
Re: Mast Cell Tumors
Thanks for your email and encouragement, Pat. Doesn't it seem like just yesterday we were in Leila's garage, taking photos of my newest little baby Heather...watching her explore...I think she was about 8 or 10 weeks old at that pointsigh... The tumor was on her side, near the lower end of her rib cage, 3-4 cm. in diameter. Unfortunately, with dirty edges. No other apparent involvement that the vet noted while checking her over. Nodes are OK, nothing remarkable there, but of course the dirty edges are a huge concern. Heather is her usual happy-go-lucky self, smiling and wanting to play, but we're keeping her quiet. Her appetite comes and goes, which also causes us some concern. She is now day 8 post-op. Our vet took quite a bit of tissue surrounding the tumor, so Heather has an almost 7 inch incision on her side. It's been boggy since we brought her home, which is to be expected, as the body shuttles extra fluid to the area for healing. Yesterday morning, however, she had a large amount of bloody drainage suddenly (where she had not had any up to that point) and now she is in a collar, on antibiotics, and confined to her x-pen. Back to square one! She hates the confinement. The first place I went for info was berner.org. I abandoned that, however, because I couldn't read my screen. Something in my eye. I appreciate your help and support (from everyone) and Lucy (who is almost 9I can't believe that, either!) and Heather say thanks for the hugs and belly rubs. Jaye Carl, Lucy and Heather, the Sonrise Girls
Mast Cell Tumors
Good morning everyone: It's been quite some time since I posted to this list. I hope that you all are well, and your Berners healthy! This week we received the news that our beautiful Heather, who is now five and a half years old, has cancer. She had a grade 2 Mast Cell Tumor removed last week. We, as you would all expect, are devastated. I would appreciate anyone who has personal experience dealing with the same situation emailing me with thoughts and suggestions. We need to make some decisions on how to proceed, and hearing from those who have navigated these waters before us would be a huge help. I am specifically interested in hearing about your experiences with chemo/radiation, and what the results were for you and your dog. I want my girl's time left with us to be happy and as pain-free as possible. My 13 year old daughter is beside herselfthis is "her" dog.and she wants to know why there isn't a pill we can give Heather to make this better...plus with my husband being out of the country on business since before this saga began, and not due to return for almost another 2 weeks.help! Very sad this early morning in MI... Jaye Carl, Heather and Lucy, the Sonrise Girls
