Check Up - 6th December 2010

A big check-up. Today I had an xray of my chest to look for cancer, a poke and prod of all my lumps and bumps (also looking for cancer) and an xray of my leg to make sure the bone is healing.

And guess what???

It's all good. I am continuing with my rehab on the leg, but I can now go into the yard and up and down the stairs under supervision. My cancer checks all came back clear. Other than physio and water treadmill, I'd don't have to go the vet for a whole three months.

Yippee.

Now I just need to sleep off the anaesthetic.

Pathology Results - 3rd December 2009

Well, Dr Rod left a message and Mum rang him back as soon as she could. 

And received very bad news.

The margins around the tumour, despite being large, were not clear of cancer cells. Which means some of the cancer cells have been left behind. 

I need treatment with radiation. Dr Rod tells Mum I will need 19 treatments, starting as soon as possible. He emails mum an information sheet explaining the way the treatment works, the side effects and what will happen.

Mum rings Dad and shares the bad news.

They are both upset when they get home from work. I do my best to cheer them up, but they both look sad as they talk about the radiation treatment and whether or not they will give me the treatment.

Dr Rod makes an appointment for us on Monday morning (the 7th). We will talk to him and Dr Val, the radiation specialist, and if we proceed, we start Monday.

Another long, long weekend.

Hospital Trip -19th/20th November 2009

Thursday the 19th... Radical surgery day.

No breakfast again today. I am admitted early, given an abdominal ultrasound, chest xray and a CT scan of my upper jaw to see where the fibrosarcoma has grown. Then off to surgery for a premaxillectomy. I stay in overnight and they treat me like a queen.

Dr Rod has taken the tumour from the inside, so there are no cuts in my skin, they didn't even need to shave my muzzle. I feel different, but I'm not sure if I look different. Mum and Dad ring and the nurses say hi to me from them.

On Friday the 20th, I am discharged home. Mum and Dad are so happy to see me. I have a pain-relieving patch on my leg, and I will be having some Metacam each day as an anti-inflammatory.

If you look at the photos, you wouldn't even know I'd had the operation. 

Fibrosarcoma - 16th November 2009

I woke up feeling hungry and knew immediately that I was heading to the vet - no breakfast! The vet is across town from us, at least an hour in the traffic going through the city and about 45 minutes if we travel via the Gateway Motorway. I like the trip through town better because I get to stick my head out the window. But we're going Gateway, and the window is up... Bummer.

Our pathology is back. The tumour is an Oral Fibrosarcoma, one of the "big four" oral tumours. It is a local type of tumour, in that it rarely forms secondaries. Even so, because I have had a melanoma (which does form secondaries) I need to have a chest xray and an abdominal ultrasound before we go too far. Just in case.

Mum feels relieved that the tumour is not a melanoma, but doesn't know anything about fibrosarcomas. Dr Rod explains that he can remove the tumour by cutting away part of the top jaw (Premaxillectomy)  - save the canines but remove all the teeth forward of these. He will take wide margins, which means he will try and cut out a wide enough area that any small tumour cells in the tissue are also removed.

I am booked in for surgery on Thursday 19th.

All about Gromit

I was born in October 2000, one of four pups born to a labrador cross mother at Peninsula Animal Aid north of Brisbane ( http://www.peninsulaanimalaid.com.au/ ) and at 12 weeks of age I was adopted into my pack. My early years were great - regular trips to the dog park, walks twice a day, trips to the beach and to the farm. I loved my new pack, especially when they took trips in the car. There was one other dog called Wallace and Mum and Dad.

In 2007, my carefree existence came to a temporary halt. A little bump on my rear was diagnosed as a melanoma. No worries though, Brisbane is home to the Brisbane Veterinary Specialist Centre, so in May 2007 I went in to have the melanoma removed. And everything was great again because my fabulous surgeon Dr Rod made sure all of my cancer was gone.

2007 was not a good year. In October I did my cruciate. So off to hospital I went to have it repaired. This leg gave me niggles all through 2007/8 but eventually came good as we welcomed 2009. I continued to have physio/hydrotherapy into 2009 and I loved going "swimming" on Mondays with my mum.

2009 was looking good health wise for me, but Wallace's arthritis and health was going downhill and we were all devastated when she went to dog heaven early one cold winter's morning. I was lonely without her, and later that Winter, mum and dad took me across to the RSPCA ( www.rspcaqld.org.au ) and with my help we recruited a new pack member, Misty.

Life was looking great again. It was hard getting used to a new pup, but we were surviving. Mum had enrolled Misty in dog lessons, Dad was making sure I had plenty of attention, taking me for trips to the farm and for long walks while Misty ran off her energy at the dog park (off limits for me since my cruciate troubles).

We celebrated my ninth birthday with a cake while Mum and Dad were on holidays. At the start of November, they went back to work and our routine went back to normal. On the 7th November, we went for a trip to the farm and everything was fine. On Monday, I was a bit off my food, which sometimes happens after a big weekend. Nothing unusual though.

But on Tuesday 10th November, everything changed.