Month: April 2014

Took my Shilo to UPenn for suture removal, some blood work and to get the first two weeks of study meds.  Shilo slept in the car all the way down (lucky girl).

As fate would have it, walking to the Med Building Shilo pee’s.  Its not like she hasn’t been in the car for the last two hours.  Guess what they first thing they say they need?  If you guess urine sample you win!  After filling out a questionnaire about how Shilo has been doing, we give Shilo water then walk/run/wait for my little Malamute to pee.

Here’s what Shilo looks like NOT peeing into a cup while everyone waits for Shilo to, well, pee in a cup.

Pro tip: (and I have no idea why the vets never heard of this) USE A PAPER PLATE TO COLLECT PEE!!  For a female dog I have never, ever had any luck trying to quick jam a cup under them while they pee.  But a paper/wax/plastic plate is more than big enough so you only have to ‘get close’ and still get a sample.  For toy/small dogs get the little ‘cake plates’.  Its a lot easier with such a large ‘target’.  Because NOT getting pee’d on by your dog is a good thing.  Male dogs can use a paper/wax/plastic bowl.   You’ll still get some ‘splatter’ but at least you’ll get the sample.

In the end they send me home with some sample cups to get some dog pee before I give her the first dose of meds.  At 11pm that night I got a few CC’s (I hope its enough) and geve her the pills.

I asked about the study and Shilo is the 4th dog (out of a planned 12 total) to start the drug trial.  The first dog has been on the drug  2 months as they say its doing fine (I forgot to ask breed/sex/age).  But two months post amp and still healthy is a good sign.  As many cancer dog owners know the grim reality is usually weeks, not months post amp.  So I am happy to hear that there is some very good, albeit very preliminary results.

 

It was about this time last week I got that call that Shilo came through the amputation with flying colors!

A week goes by so fast when you are doting on your puppy to get them healthy again.

Other than some minor scratching/licking (solved by an old t-shirt) Shilo is basically herself again.  I did find that for her, being away from the other dogs was very beneficial (she has been at my parents house for the last week).  With the other hounds there was always the urge to play, bark when the others did etc etc.  Not a very calm environment for a just out of surgery dog.  When I took Shilo to see everyone once she realized she was in a house with no dogs she found a spot and went right to sleep.  So we agreed to let her stay there till she was back to 100%.

So today I make the appointment for next week’s stitch removal and I think the first day with the trial drug.

Checked my voice mail and got some good/bad news.

Bad news:  Shilo has bone cancer.  They told me the scientific name but I can’t spell it.

Good new: Its the ‘right’ cancer to be included in the trial.. so she’ll be admitted and get the cancer drug on her next visit.

So Shilo is officially a dog of science!  Yay?

 

Shilo is AMAZING.  That dog has been absolutely great the past 4 days.  Hardly ANY swelling an no trace of the dreaded ‘blood boob’.

I guess the vets at UPenn must really, really, really know their stuff.  My poor TJ was black and blue from chest to tail when the local vet amputated his arm.

I guess Shilo is really the ‘perfect’ candidate for amputation:  young, healthy, no arthritis.  Its good that she is up and about with no pain… she just finds the nearest person and snuggles up to them for some scratchies.

The new food is getting gobbled up.  Will have to have chewy.com send more food every two weeks.  Shilo was sort of a fincky eater… but with the OS and amp its time to move her up to a food that she will eat no questions asked.

One of the things I never considered with TJ was to change his diet.  Since Shilo is still very young, active, and a picky eater. I decided to find a good wet food that is low in carbs and would not break my budget.

I decided on “By Nature 95% Beef, Chicken & Liver Canned Dog Food” from the lowest cost online site I could find:

http://www.chewy.com/dog/by-nature-95-beef-chicken-liver/dp/38242

$16.34 for a case of 12 13oz cans, $5 next day delivery (they ship from Harrisburg, PA less than an hour from my house).  I may set up the automatic delivery to get free shipping.  So far Shilo loves it.

 

Picked up Shilo at the UPenn Vet center at 1630.  She was up and walking and nothing like how TJ was when I first picked him up.

The ride home in rush hour traffic was OK, Shilo had her head out the window for most of the ride.  At every rest stop she was walking and sniffing and doing fine.

Then we get home.

So Shilo evidently didn’t like the t-shirt the had wrapped around her.  She was constantly whining till I realized it and removed it.  She did get in a couple licks and scratches while I was not looking, but most of the night she was quite and well drugged (fentnyl patch PLUS tramidol).  But she still was whining.  I finally figured out that she was not laying flat, rather had her head up while her body was flat.  I guess it felt better for her.  So I finally get a pillow under her head and I could see her tried eyes finally close and get some sleep.

The night was then up every 4 hours for more tramidol, petting and making sure her head was supported.  But her incision is not bleeding, her seroma is not at all like TJs was (but it you can see some bruising and minor swelling).

I had to hand feed her as she is not super confident with standing (walking is no problem). She’s outside now laying in the sun.

Here’s Shilo (and her incision) happy looking out the window at UPenn.

 

Just got off the phone with the vet and Shilo is pissed.  Seems that she’s been ‘nipping’ at everyone so they doped her.  To me that means she’s scared and wants be back in familiar settings with the rest of the gang and me.

With any luck I’ll have her some tomorrow so I can start to smother her with love and attention.  I think she will like that.

She’s always been an active dog, so controlling her will of getting up and outside is probably going to be job 1.  But I hear they make drugs for that.

So first day a tripawd is in the history books.  Can’t wait to get her home and calm.  No super looking forward to blood boobs, but its part of the deal.

Got a call from the Vet at 0930 saying that Shilo’s blood work and x-rays were done and she was getting prepped for surgery.

At 1231 the Vet called back with a post amp update that Shilo did fine, with the exception of waking up.  Evidently Shilo had a little ‘wake up spaz out’ but other than a little bleeding she was sedated again so she would get some time to recover.

I did ask if the bone looked like cancer and the Vet said that bone was ‘spongy’ when she cut into it, but only a biopsy would confirm cancer and exactly what type.  IT will be interesting to find out what exactly its called.

So another update is expected around 6-ish.

After a few back and forth emails to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine about getting Shilo enrolled into a study today she met the vet team and was given an exam.

I signed some papers, talked about what was going to happen and hugged Shilo goodbye.

Tomorrow 4/15 in the AM she is scheduled to get a chest x-ray to confirm no lung mets and then off with the arm!  I know in the short term the amputation will stop the pain (Shilo is limping and that means she’s in pain) but I hope that the study drug will do what is has done when used on other forms of cancer:  stop it or outright kill it.

So Shilo’s in Philly, I’m at home and will have to try and sleep tonight knowing that Shilo’s will be promoted to the official rank of ‘TriPawd’.

 

So why am I putting my Shilo into an experimental OS study?  First reason is the cost of the treatment is free.  I am a firm believe in amputation to relieve OS pain (this is my second go around with OS) and I have seen first hand the relief a dog gets from the pain of bone cancer.  Shilo’s OS was found very early, but tramidol and NSAIDs only go so far before the pain cripples a dog.   Shilo is young, healthy and already acclimated to life on three legs (well, somewhat).  Second, there is a chance that the drug may cure her.  The drug is known to be highly successful in treating mast cell tumors and they thinking is that it could be equally as successful in treating OS.  But the vet’s just don’t know for sure.  Shilo is going to die from cancer.. that cannot be helped.  But she also has the very, very rare opportunity to be treated by some top notch vets, at a prestigious vet school, for free.  I could not turn down that opportunity for Shilo’s care and to maybe find a viable treatment for OS.

I’ve mentioned cost a few times.  I know that an amputation is $1500-1700.  Chemo is $400-$1000 PER SESSION.  Radiation treatment is $600+ per session.  When you need 4-6 radiation sessions and 2-4 chemo treatments you are at $4-$5k easy.  Many dog’s never survive the chemo due to the cancer metastasizing in the lungs… so even if you spend the money you are still rolling the dice.  Vets say that radiation and chemo could add months of quality life.. but it could also do nothing.

So my cute little malmute is at UPenn doing her part to save the world… sort of 🙂