Mast Cell Tumor Update

This is a bit of an update from Sam's March 28th post. Sam's out at the moment on his afternoon walk with his mom. He's probably at one of the local coffee bars hanging out with his mom and eating his (more than) fair share of a blueberry muffin or banana bread after hitting up treats from the local shops that know him on sight.

We took Sam in for his usual 2-week exam today and things have definitely gotten worse since our March 28th post. The original tumour has increased in size and it is "angrier" looking and not helped in the least by his licking of it yesterday, displacing his bandages and soiling his bedding with blood when it became too much of an aggravation.

The tumour has spread, forming additional bumps along his right front leg and neck. His attentive vet is cautioning that we will need to be "prepared" but we're at a loss for "how".

He seems to still have the need to go for his walks, often insisting where we go, the routes that we'll take and his reluctance to even "turn" for home. He'd just rather be out there walking. Such an attitude for a mobile two-legged dog.

We're not regretful in the least that we opted not to have surgery performed on Sam back in March/April, the inability to even get clean margins given the location of the original tumour would have given the tumour an increased likelihood of it coming back after surgery.

And with Sam's significant cardiac issues and advanced age and other attendant issues, the odds were definitely stacked against him and so we opted then as we have now, on letting him live out his days in the loving care of his family and his friends.

He can still easily bring a stranger to a halt and a smile to their face. That's my boy. I love him more than anything in this world.

Hey, that nice nurse put a little red heart on my bandage 😀

Hand over that muffin mom!!!

New Racing Wheels

Hey dad? Yes Sam, what's up? 

Well I know that my new wheels from Eddie's Wheels (https://eddieswheels.com/) arrived the other day. 

 So when are you going to install them? My old wheels are getting pretty worn down.

Well Sam, let's do it now. You can supervise as usual, okay? Sure dad, let's do it.

How's that looking Sam?

 

Ooooo, new racing wheels! Let's go try them out dad..... 

Thanks dad. Good job!

My Busy Saturday

Hi everyone, I had a pretty busy Saturday. First up was an early morning drive out to the groomers. Here's me after they finished grooming me up. I certainly am glad that's over with. Don't I look fluffier? Let's go home.

After a snooze, it was off for my afternoon walk. I wanted to stop in at my favorite treat emporium. What it's closed on a Saturday afternoon???

 

Are you hiding in there?

 

  I can smell you....

 

Hey Sam, there's a note on the door.

 

It's almost 3:20 PM now. Let's wait a few minutes. And as soon as the door opened, my mom spotted blood on the linoleum floor and then my dad saw it too and they both "freaked out" a bit. Once they figured out that the blood was coming from my nail because the groomers had mistakenly cut too close to the quick and in fairness, my nails are black, my mom and dad relaxed a bit and put me in my wagon for the ride home. 

 

 

I don't have any photos with me getting groomed. Anyways, thanks dad for following me around with the wagon. Oh yes, my mast cell tumor has decided to slow down. My mom says that a patch of skin has covered the wound. My vet says that it looks good. But my mom thinks that we should still change the dressing every night to ensure that it stays clean. My mom says that I'd probably lick it raw and we don''t want that.

I have a few problems.....

Hello everyone, the following post will be a combined effort between Sam and his dad. Sam has a mast cell tumor growing on the backside of his right-front leg. The surgeon said that there's not a lot of flesh and stuff there to get "clean margins". Currently it's an open wound that's under treatment with Sam's mom changing his bandages every night. Yes "vet-grade" Manuka honey is being used. We do not know whether it's malignant or benign. To find out, we'd have to biopsy and put him under anesthesia. So we might as well do the surgery, if we went that route.

Sam also has a large lipoma hanging from his right front armpit/chest area and the surgeon and vets are suggesting that we remove that as well, if we're going to do the right-front arm tumor.

Sam has a serious heart murmur that's being managed with medication, supplements and whatever else his vets recommend. He gets a cardiac ultra-sound, chest cavity ultrasound and chest x-rays every 4 months to see if anything has changed (gotten worse, fluid in lungs, that sort of thing, etc.). Owen, Sam's brother gets the same thing. My mom and dad's retirement fund is taking a bit of a beating but "WTH" (my dad said that).

Sam also has a collapsing trachea to top things off. So we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. To do the surgery or not.

Sam walked for over 2-1/2 hours this past Saturday and about an hour and a half on Sunday. He's a happy boy and lives for getting outside to walk, breakfast and dinner and being with his family. And for lots of special treats (gee they're all special treats), weekly lasering and monthly visits with his favorite chiropractic vet.

The surgeon is also worried about having to do skin grafts a couple of weeks after surgery (after some tissue grows back first). The doctor says that the skin graft surgery is more worrisome than the tumor and lipoma surgery. I think that my dad's face dropped even lower at that point and he looked way more concerned.

The surgeon is unsure whether my tumor is the really bad kind or not and if the tests come back that it is, then the only solution for that is amputation and my dad said that we'd never do that, ever.

Taking all this and more into consideration, we've decided as a family to leave Sam exactly the way he is right now and allow him to live out the rest of his days, with his family and friends.

My dad says that I'm still a "pain in the ass" but that I'm his pain in the ass and that my dad and mom will look after me. So cheer up. I'm okay. Love Sam.

Sam goes to college

Hey dad, let's go for a walk to the local college, maybe there's something happening there.

It doesn't look like there's much going on in here on the weekend dad. 

Well Sam, maybe all the kids are studying for exams or doing homework

Sounds a little boring dad. Well Sam, do you remember when you were a little pup and we took you to a bunch of classes like puppy kindergarten, obedience 1, 2 and 3? As well as a bunch of others?

Yeah, kind of....

Yea that's what I figured Sam. But it did teach you how to behave and be nice to other dogs and it did help you to become a better, all around "good dog" and a fine member of this family.

Let's go dad. It's kind of quiet and boring here. Let's go to the dog park to see who's there.

Know anyone Sam?

Nope. Let's head into the community center. Maybe there's stuff happening there.

Let's go outside. It's kind of boring in here too.

Smells much nicer out here.

Bye for now.

Sam - It's Snowing in Vancouver

Sam, it's snowing and we should head back home before you get too cold.

Dad, I know it's snowing but we just started our walk. I've been stuck in the house 

since my morning walk and I like the snow.

But Sam, you're already starting to walk slowly and I'm worried that the excessive salt and snow and ice melter that people have been using so much of has started to irritate your pads. And you only have your front legs to carry you through life.

 

I think that it's best that I take you home Sam. 

Dad, I want to stay out. Grrrrrr.....

 

It's now 5:39 PM and it's still snowing. We've had almost 5 hours of snow and it's still coming down. We have 5 inches of snow outside but the main roads look good. It's the residential side streets that'll be a challenge with snow clogged sidewalks (tough to navigate using a wheelchair) and speeding drivers. Stay safe everyone.

 

 

2018 Christmas Photo Shoot

My dad's been forgetting things...like posting anything, anything at all on my blog. So we're sorry that we're way late with this post. We hope that everything went well for everyone during 2018. And for those things that happened that weren't so good. Hopefully, with time, they'll be easier to deal with. We wish everyone peace and good things throughout 2019.

Sam

 

 Owen

 

Jetta

 

Tuvia