Best. Dog. EVAR.
Tag: Frances
This Dog
I asked Frances if she could lick out the empty peanut butter jar while wearing her cone. “What a ridiculous question!” she said.
She hates having her incision iced, but not so much that she couldn’t fall asleep during it.
The Shop’s Still Open
Frances had her second surgery to remove the remaining mammary tumors two days ago. As I mentioned, her pre-op exam turned up an unrelated tumor on her vulva. A fine needle aspirate showed mast cells, and the vet removed it during her scheduled surgery, since she was already going to be anesthetized. He also wanted to get it off her ASAP, because mast cell tumors are malignant.
We’ll know more about that and the remaining mammary tumors when the histopathology report comes back next week. In the meantime, this surgery ended up costing about $500 more than anticipated. That’s a huge chunk of money for me, especially given that I’d already used up all my padding with the previous surgery.
But guess what? You can help by buying stuff! Everything shipped to US addresses will be sent Priority Mail with tracking, usually the next day (same day when possible), and if you order soon USPS swears it will be delivered before December 25th.
Home Again
Ice Pack Time
Ear up!
Meds Schedule
Frances is home again. She had a rough day. I expected the second surgery to be more difficult for her, because there was so little recovery time after the first one. She’s doing great, considering.
Unfortunately the vet found a totally unrelated tumor on her vulva, when they were prepping her for surgery. They did a FNA, which contained mast cells. We won’t know for sure what it is until the histopathology report comes back, but it’s likely a mast cell tumor. Hopefully we caught it early and the vet got good margins, because mast cell tumors are malignant.
Because of that, she’s on two extra meds this time: Pepcid and Benadryl. Mast cell tumors cause increased histamine and stomach acid production.
In retrospect, I should have suspected there was something else wrong, because Frances has been itchy. She’s also done a lot of nighttime lip smacking the last week or so, which I ought to have realized meant her stomach was upset. Hindsight is 20/20, right?
The Big Day
Fourteen Days Post-op
The sutures and staples came out this morning. The vet said the incision looked good, so the second surgery is a go. They’ll call me when they’re finished with her, and assuming everything goes well, I’ll be able to pick her up tomorrow.
Thirteen Days Post-op
Frances gets her staples and sutures out tomorrow. If all goes well–and I don’t foresee any problems, but who knows with this dog?–she’ll also be having her second surgery to remove the rest of her mammary tumors.
I’ll be really glad to have this all over and done with.
Eleven Days Post-op
Her incision keeps looking better and better. And while she hates the cone with the heat of ten thousand suns, she isn’t letting it get in the way of her begging.
Eight Days Post-op
The bruising is almost gone, and everything looks great. Frances has been such a good sport about this whole thing. She gets frustrated with the cone sometimes, but she doesn’t let it get her down.
Pitball
Seven Days Post-op
The incision looks pretty good, I think. Frances is over the whole cone thing, but she’s being a trooper.
The histopathology report is finally back. The vet called this afternoon with the results. One tumor was malignant, but they gave it a grade 1 and the margins were good, so I’m cautiously optimistic that it hasn’t metastasized. Frances will need a second surgery to remove the remaining tumors, and that’s scheduled for next Wednesday.
In the meantime, we’re finding ways to entertain ourselves. There are few things more ridiculous as a dog in a cone trying to get carrot slices out of a treat ball.
Also, because I haven’t spent enough time sitting on my ass, waiting for other people, I got up at 6am so I could get a shower and run to the grocery store before maintenance came to fix some stuff in my apartment. And then I rushed home to put away groceries and frantically clean the bathroom and kitchen. And then I say on my ass all day and waited. And waited. And waited.
Maybe they’ll show up on Friday?
red paper boat 