PET CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Cancer is an illness never far from my thoughts since Annie's Christmas and New Year surgeries. Do I consider my baby a cancer survivor? Now that we are approaching the post-surgery six-month mark, yes, most definitely I do consider her a survivor. Every day I wonder how much longer Artie and I will be fortunate to have her in our lives. She is our joy, our comfort and our unconditional love.

Yesterday I came across a few articles mentioning May as Pet Cancer Awareness Month. Current research figures indicate that approximately 30% of older pets succumb to cancer and it does not matter if they are pure bred or mixed breeds. That percentage is very shocking to me. I remember a day when the words 'cancer' and 'pet' were never spoken in the same sentence.

What causes cancer in pets? My guess would be the same things that cause them in humans. Do they come from the environment, cleaning products, additives in foods, exposure to the sun, a glitch in the reproduction of aging cells? The fact is we do not know.

Personally I feel cancer can come from all of these things and probably more. My concern is to try and prevent it from occurring in the human and animal members of my family. That is why I began a home cooking program for Annie and Buddy; to improve their health and give them longevity. 

I would consider Buddy a success with 2 years 9 months of renal failure made smooth sailing with home cooking and the proper medical protocols my little man had the best quality of life until the end. Buddy was also a cancer survivor, living almost 4 years after amputation of his tail. (The location of the growth did not leave enough area to obtain good margins.) Annie's urinary tract infections have been less frequent with home cooking. The cancer diagnosis was upsetting but if cancer is caused by what we eat, Annie has only had the benefit of home cooking for a few of her 10 years.

My cousin recently lost her 13 year old dog to cancer. We lost our dog Buster to Lymphoma just a few months shy of his sixth birthday. Devastating does not begin to describe Buster's loss to us. What we thought was a case of swollen glands swiftly became a cancer diagnosis that ended with his death 3 months later. The diagnosis was particularly hard on my father since Buster and my Dad were inseparable buddies. Buster's death was the only time I ever saw my Dad cry. That was more than 20 years ago. If Buster received the same diagnosis now, he would have a fighting chance with new medical advances.

Our furry family members need what our human family members need to prevent cancer - for all of us to be aware and to work towards a common goal of eradicating cancer in our lifetimes.  Start educating yourself about cancer in pets by following this link to The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation website:

http://www.akcchf.org/canine-health/your-dogs-health/canine-cancer/

Also, The Magic Bullet Fund website, an organization dedicated to educating people about pet cancers and providing assistance is a good source of information as well: http://www.themagicbulletfund.org/

The ASPCA has information on cancer in cats and a corresponding page on cancer in dogs: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/cancer.aspx

BLOODWORK

As I mentioned in my takeaway blog, Annie's medical issues were by no means over. After much battling, we finished her course of antibiotics and a mere 2 and 1/2 days later there was blood in her urine.

Artie and I were very concerned that a recurrence of her urinary tract infection happened so quickly. Then again, I was concerned the recurrence was an indication of cancer elsewhere in her body. To think Annie went through all she did only to find she wasn't cancer-free was too much to bear.

We called emergency to tell them we were bringing Annie in for a recurrence and to find out  if we could also meet with the Oncologist a week early. If we could get to emergency by 4 PM, the Oncologist would see her for her 3-month visit and another doctor would see her for the blood in the urine recurrence.

Off the 3 of us went. A few hours later, we were home after meeting with 3 doctors, 2 examinations, 3 x-rays, a sonogram, drawing of urine and a 14-day round of a new antibiotic. Now we were very apprehensive - the x-rays turned up several calcifications on Annie's lungs, a sometimes marker of metastatic cancer. Now we had to wait not only for the results of a urine culture but for results from a Radiologist reading of the x-rays.

Easter was about a week away - another holiday spent wondering what was going to happen. In the meantime, life with Orphée was definitely developing in new, interesting directions. The trick was to get through to the diagnosis without undue stress for Annie (or ourselves) and continue to integrate Orphée into the routine of family life.

THE CANCER SAGA CONTINUES

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were as depressing as Christmas. I was nervous over the different possible outcomes of the surgery; I hoped for the best but I was expecting the worst. Artie, on the other hand, was extremely angry about how this played out; the possibility of losing Annie so soon after losing Buddy was very distressing. Both of us were upset that by trying to avoid any surgery Annie now had to go through not one but two operations.

Friday, January 4, 2013, the day of the follow-up surgery arrived. Annie's appointment was for 7:30 AM. Her surgery was scheduled for morning. I received a call during the afternoon from Dr. Cherrone, the surgeon who performed the operation. She sounded very upbeat as she reported Annie went through the surgery successfully and was recovering nicely, however, we would have to wait for the biopsy results to determine if the margins were clean and whether or not we had to go forward with radiation therapy.

Both Artie and I were emotionally totaled, counting the hours until Annie could come home. 6 PM Saturday we were at VERG waiting to collect Annie, get post-op instructions and leave for what we hoped would be an uneventful evening at home. When Annie entered the exam room, we were stunned to see her acting completely normal. The only evidence of surgery was the big bandage wrapping her entire midsection. She was alert, thrilled to see us and busily exploring the room, smelling the floor and furniture and, as always, begging for attention from the Veterinary Technician and us.

Annie was on medicine and we needed to keep the bandages on for awhile until we were sure any residual bleeding or oozing from the wound stopped. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to pick up Frankenweenie but that is exactly what Annie looked like with her long scar closed by staples! The pictures below were taken about two weeks after the surgery. A significant amount of swelling at the surgical site had already gone down and her hair was starting to grow back.

My next post will continue with our post-surgery experiences.

Annie resting prior to our daily exam of her sutures.

The second surgery incision was twice the length of the first surgery.

Close-up of staples; you can see swelling especially at both ends of the incision.

Another close-up of Annie's surgery.

ANNIE'S CANCER SURGERY

Quite a while ago I promised to write about Annie's surgery once I could bring myself to do so. Now is the time.

As anyone following this blog will know, Annie had a lump at the bottom of her rib-cage for more than a year. Both myself and Artie as well as Annie's doctors were monitoring it. The lump felt like a fatty tumor. At the time of Buddy's death, Artie wanted to have it removed; I did not want to put her through surgery if it wasn't necessary because of her age as well as the dangers associated with surgery and anesthesia. We decided to continue to monitor the lump.

Around Thanksgiving we noticed the lump was bigger. Not by much but now we were concerned with 'quality-of-life' issues - would it be uncomfortable for her to lie on her side? If we didn't remove it now and it became bigger wouldn't surgery be riskier as she aged?

Annie went for an office visit December 13th. We discussed our concerns with the doctor and a sample was taken. When the cytology report came in December 15th, the findings were as follows:

"No significant inflammatory response was evident. The spindle cells displayed minimal atypia. Findings may reflect a benign fibrosing cystic structure, cystic spindle cell tumor (fibroma or low grade malignant potential sarcoma), or other underlying nonexfoliating fibrosing cystic structure."

At that point the both of us AND the doctor wanted it removed. Surgery was performed December 20th; Annie came home the same day. She was still somewhat under the effects of the anesthesia, on Rimadyl, not interested in food or water and did nothing but sleep. It took a few days for Annie to return to her usual self - a sure sign that my girl is older now.

Christmas was a somber affair as we worried about the biopsy results. The results of the biopsy came December 26th and the lump definitely was cancer. The report characterized it as a slow-moving soft tissue sarcoma. The surgery did not produce clear margins; Annie needed to have additional surgery. If the second surgery did not produce clean margins, she would need radiation therapy. We were referred to Dr. Cohen at VERG (Veterinary Emergency Referral Group) and an appointment was made for the next day.

Early the next day, Artie and I took Annie for her consult with the oncologist. Dr. Cohen was wonderful and Annie fell in love with her. After the exam, Annie was taken for a series of x-rays while we waited in the examining room.

Dr. Cohen returned with the x-rays and reviewed them with us. Annie had several points in her favor.

1. Her behavior was normal which Dr. Cohen assured us was a good sign.
2. There were no visible tumors on any of the x-rays - a good indicator that the tumor most likely wasn't metastatic.
3. Radiation would only be needed if the second surgery did not produce clean margins.
4. Annie had a good chance of a 100% recovery if the second surgery produced clean margins.

We discussed radiation therapy which would be done over a period of eighteen days if needed. My mind was reeling from the logistics.  There were 3 places Annie could go to, the Animal Medical Center in NYC, a facility upstate or a facility in New Jersey. She would go on an outpatient basis which meant going in and coming home daily or she could stay for 5 days coming home for the weekends. Dr. Cohen suggested not thinking about next steps until we had the post-surgery results. The follow-up surgery was scheduled for January 5th and we all went home to wonder what 2013 had in store for Annie health-wise.

I will pick up this narrative in a second post along with post-surgery photos.

A WINTER WEEK

It's been a typical winter week. Both Annie and I have been under the weather with human and doggie colds.  When that happens we sleep in, cuddle, listen to music, read and above all, Annie receives plenty of hugs, pats and massages which she thoroughly loves.

Orphee is still staking claim to the outer hall, but he comes to the apartment door more often now. The door is left open in the evenings even though he doesn't come across the threshold. We're hoping his curiosity will get the better of his fear of Annie and he will begin exploring new space. As soon as his neuter surgery is done that will change; Artie and I intend to begin a regimen of getting him adjusted to being in an apartment.

Also, there is the matter of Annie's end-of-the-year cancer surgery.  The initial surgery is now about 2 months behind us and I'm ready to write about this episode in depth.  I intend to cover it in a few coming posts by documenting the events leading up to, during and after the surgeries as well as trying to set some proactive guidelines so others can possibly avoid what we went through. More on this shortly.

I'M NOT READY...

Even though Annie is doing well, I find I'm not ready to post about her surgery. At some point I will but frankly I'm still emotionally flattened by what happened. It upsets me to write even these few sentences. Everyday I look at her and wonder how much longer will I have her with me. For now, Annie is happy and she appears healthy but I'm aware the clock is ticking. I want my sweet girl to be a cancer survivor like Buddy was.

Buddy had an amazing 5 years after his cancer surgery. What will Annie have?