Another Minor Surgery and Test Results

Wow has it been a crazy week! Before I get into everything that has been going on let me say first that Pheona is finally starting to feel better today (other than the oppressive heat). She even showed passing interest in a toy twice! I also have great news, that I am saving for the end ;-)

Saturday was surgery and she came home Saturday night pretty groggy and wobbly from the anesthesia and narcotics. She seemed to progress slowly but steadily all day Sunday and seemed to be over the worst of it by Sunday night. We went to bed feeling so relieved that the worst of it all was over. On Monday morning though, things were much worse suddenly.

Pheona woke up Monday morning refusing to put any weight on her right rear leg. Not knowing if this was a surgery complication or what we gave it enough time to make sure her leg wasn't just "asleep" and then took her right up to the SFVS. They immediately noticed that one of her toes was pretty swollen and did an xray to make sure her toe hadn't somehow gotten broken.

When they brought her back after the xray they said it wasn't broken but they thought it looked like a bee sting or spider bite. They gave her a big shot of benadryl and told us to double the dose of it we were giving her as part of her mast cell tumor treatment. We brought her home and worried about what kind of insect we had in our home (I was bitten by a brown recluse several years ago and am now terrified of spiders).

Her foot continued to swell on Tuesday but we thought it would stop soon, but when it was still swelling on Wednesday we called SFVS. They said we didn't need to bring her back but to pick up an antibiotic for her since it sounded like the bite/sting had become infected. We picked up the medicine and started giving it to her immediately.

By Wednesday night the foot was still swelling but I was hoping I just needed to give the antibiotic more time to work. By Thursday morning her whole leg was starting to swell and her foot was huge, looked like it was splitting open and was starting to ooze plasma. We didn't bother calling, we went right to SFVS. (Thankfully we have the dog stroller a wonderful person bought us off the wishlist, the wagon we bought fell apart and she can't walk right now).

This time when the ER vet looked at it they found what they thought was a puncture wound through the bottom of her foot and out between the toes. We had to leave her there to undergo another (minor) surgical procedure. They sedated her and made 2 small cuts in her foot to drain 2 pockets of infection they found. No wonder her foot was so swollen and painful! They "aggressively" looked for anything that might be lodged inside but found nothing. The vet said it most likely traveled through but left enough bacteria behind to start an infection. The surgery and steroid may have made her less able to fight it also.

With the timing and how long an infection takes to "cook" into what we saw Monday morning we think it happened Friday, the day before surgery. We took her to Golden Gate Park that day to have some fun before going in for surgery the next day. I remember seeing her appear to stumble and limp for 3 steps but recovered and went back to playing so I didn't think anything more about it. I believe now, thinking back, that is when she was injured.

We picked her up last night and brought her home. (2 trips to the ER, an x-ray and the lancing procedure were an additional $800 but we had to take care of it.) We could tell already that the swelling had gone down slightly. She has a different antibiotic and we have some antiseptic solution that her foot needs to be soaked in 3xs/day for 5-10 minutes. As today has gone on I have almost been able to see the swelling decrease. Her foot is still swollen some, but nowhere near as big as it was yesterday. She is still favoring it, but she will walk to go outside now, with very little 3 legged hopping. It is also obviously much less painful than it was yesterday. It is such a relief to see her finally starting to feel better.

And finally for the really good news: the tumor was not cancer! When the original vet looked at the cells under a microscope they showed "purple granules", which is how they diagnose mast cell tumors he said. They also told us back then, though, that couldn't know for sure until after it was removed and tested. This lump was actually a "perianal edema", but it still needed to be removed. Since it was not actually cancer to start with there is NO CHANCE it can "return"!!! I have never been so relieved to hear that something was incorrect! While this edema thing is benign Dr. Kidd said it would have needed to be removed anyway, so it isn't like this was for nothing. (This also means she doesn't need all the Benadryl and Pepcid, and we can wean her off the prednisone quicker than originally planned. That alone has made her perkier!)

It is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to my baby's life, so I'm glad the lump is gone. She will do just fine without her tail and I know now that she is going to recover from this surgery (and injury) and be absolutely her old self again soon. Thank you all again, so much, for donating, sharing and cheering us on. Words will never come close to expressing the enormous gratitude and love that I feel toward the generous donors for making this surgery possible. Her stitches come out in just over 2 weeks and after that we will have a day at Dolores Park when anyone who wants to come meet her can. I am sure she will be ready to play after all of this!

Pheona Woke Up with Foot Pain

We are home now from the SFVS ER. One of Pheona's toes on her right rear foot is very swollen and she can't walk on it. They did x-rays to make sure it isn't broken, and it isn't thankfully. They examined it and believe it is a bee sting or other nasty insect bite/sting. They gave her a shot of Benadryl and doubled her regular dose of it for 5 days.

You can tell it is bothering her quite a bit, she won't walk on it (we had to use the wagon to take her there and back), she keeps moving it as she is just laying around and she wants to chew at it. She has to wear the cone right now, she is leaving her stitches alone while we are up with her but she won't leave her foot alone. I imagine it probably itches as well as being very painful. Swelling is pain that isn't relieved by medication in my experience so I feel so bad for her.

Thank you all for your well wishes and concern, hopefully this new foot issue will resolve itself quickly. She seems to be doing so well from the surgery, this should only be a temporary set back. I will keep everyone updated as things change.

<3

Julie and Pheona

An Open Letter to the Angels Who Helped Heal Pheona

To the ANGELS on Earth who helped Heal Pheona;

Pheona got through surgery well. She had an epidural to block the pain and "the plan" was for her to spend the night at the hospital but she came home last night around 9 pm. She was able to walk some and was so anxious about being away from us the surgeon thought being home would be better after all. They called us as we were heading up for visiting hours to ask if we would be OK bringing her home after our visit. We got a wagon for her to ride in and she rode all the way, except for the last 2 blocks. She did a little potty and walked home like she was in a hurry. We had to slow her down because she was still so unsteady! I am sure she just wanted to make sure we weren't heading back to the hospital!

They left a bit of nub and she has a lot of stitches. They didn't go into her rectal wall, as doing that would leave her fecally incontinent but it also increases the risk of not getting all of the cancer cells. They basically said a fecally incontinent dog has no quality of life because the pooh starts to burn their skin and causes health issues. It could also be a health hazard to humans to have pooh everywhere. Since coming home she has had a little trouble holding it, a few small "turdles" have escaped but most likely because that area is still numb from the epidural. She is able to hold most of it until she gets outside and it should get better within a few days.

She doesn't seem to be in unbearable pain, but she is obviously not feeling the best. They have her on a morphine patch for 3 days and she also has some morphine-like pain pills. The poor thing is pretty doped up, but I am glad she seems to be fairly comfortable. I had been so focused on raising the money for surgery I hadn't thought much about how much pain she would be in after. She has only cried a little, mostly to let us know she wanted help up on the bed or to go out.

Luckily she is so well behaved she doesn't need the "cone of shame", at least not so far. She wanted to lick at her bum once but we told her no and she listened. When she is less medicated we might have to put it on, but for now she is happy to just rest. I have a feeling she is going to be her old self in no time! Doctor has her on restriction for 2 weeks and we are sticking to that, even if she seems to feel good.

We will hear in a few days what the biopsy results say about the grade and stage of the tumor. Because of the location they used the kind of sutures that need to be removed and plan to leave them in a little longer than usual. She will be seeing them for a recheck and suture removal in about 3 weeks. Since the oncologist and surgeon said to wait a few weeks to do her vaccinations we have an appointment for around the same time to get her up to date with them too. The oncologist said that since one is a rabies vax, which is required by law, they can give me a "note" that excuses Pheo until she is more healed. Hopefully by the time she can get her vaccines she is feeling her peppy old self again!

I am blown away by the outpouring of love that has been washing over us for several weeks now, especially from our local community. I hope the future holds something very special for everyone who donated, shared and cheered for us, you are amazing. Thank you all again, so very much. Pheona is going to be OK and be with me for many more years now, thanks to wonderful people like you. We literally owe you her life. There are just no words to express my gratitude. Thank you from us both.

Love,

Julie and Pheona the tail-less wonder dog!

P.S. The gofundme site is continuing to run a “stretch goal” as we still need help with some supplies, her aftercare and upcoming routine maintenance issues like the vaccines. <3

The bumbum still has a bit of a tail nub. The stitches aren't visible in this one but
they are a straight horizontal line between the tail nub and her anus.

Really wasted when we picked her up but she was able to walk about 2 blocks.
She really hated the wagon, I'm surprised she rode for as long as she did.

Surgery!!!!

Ultrasound and blood work shows no sign of cancer or other abnormality anywhere else in her body! Whooo hoooo! Surgery is planned for immediately after a 10:15 am appointment with the surgeon tomorrow morning, September 27, 2014. I am sooooo relieved! Thank you so much to everyone who donated, shared and wished us luck!! We couldn't have done it without YOU!

Vaccine Booster and Fundraising Updates!

Being silly while taking a break from hanging
posters in our neighborhood.

It has been quite a while since I posted anything and I apologize for that to those who have been following our journey. I have been fundraising like a mad person, trying to get the money together for surgery. I'll get to all of those updates in a moment but first, we got a reminder notice from her old vet about vaccinations. I will be talking to the surgeon, but several people in the veterinary world have suggested I wait at least 2 weeks after her surgery to do the vaccines. She needs all of her immune system to heal post-op, a vaccine could theoretically lower her immunity for a short time. She WILL be getting her shots though.

Wednesday is our ultrasound, to say we are getting anxious is putting it mildly. As long as the cancer hasn't spread we go forward with surgery as planned. It is starting to actually feel like a reality now too. The reality of there being no tail anymore is kind of hitting me. I wrote this about it the other day on my Facebook:

"Now that we are getting so close to our surgery goal for Pheona we have been starting to think about the reality of her tail being amputated.  It is sad, in a way. I am more than happy for it to be amputated to save her life, I obviously love HER more than her tail. *Butt*... I am going to miss the fun it had! Miss Pheona's tail is as expressive as her eyes and I will miss it knocking on the wall or beating my leg when she is happy. I will miss seeing it wag so hard her whole body bends in half when she sees me after even the shortest of absences. I'm going to miss seeing it stand straight up in joyous domination of young pupper-snappers she meets on the street and the slight curling under of uncertainty when she is nervous. I'm going to miss it, how she looks with it and will have to get used to her new look. 
We are thinking of trying to do something special to say good-bye to her tail within a few days of her surgery. A "Good-bye Tail" party or something, especially since so many of our private donations have come from people in the local area. I plan to make a video with lots of footage of the tail in all its different moods but I would like to do more to memorialize the fuzzy baseball bat (that thing is hard and powerful when it gets going and suddenly stops against your leg! LoL). I am open to other creative ideas on how we can say good-bye and make something to memorialize the tail after it is gone. What do her friends think? What do the creative people in our life think?

(Yes, I am aware saying good-bye to the tail is more about me in reality since she has no clue what is coming. She will get the attention though, and she LOVES human attention. A party might give donors a chance to meet her in person as well. So, yeah I am slightly motivated by my own need to deal with this loss but it is all for my girl in the end.)"

The reason we are feeling so close to surgery being a reality is because our fundraising efforts have really been paying off! We have gotten so many donations lately it has made my head spin! I'm confident at this point we are going to achieve our goal, one way or another, and this surgery is going to happen. For the past week, instead of doing the bake sale in the park we have been hanging posters in our neighborhood. Boy oh boy, does that make a difference!

The last few weeks Pheona seems to have
a lot more energy again!

My fellow San Franciscans (and other Bay Area neighbors) have been absolutely AMAZING! I was worried about spending any money on posters so I paid for the first 100. When we started getting donations almost immediately I knew it was worth the expense. We have been buying 100 posters @ $10 every other day and have been getting at least $100 back in donations every 2 days! The response has truly been awe inspiring. I knew that I lived in an incredibly progressive city but it sure is a generous one too. I can't thank our donors enough, including the ones who have donated to the charities that are helping us. (The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund, The Onyx and Breezy Foundation, Paws 4 a Cure, Dylan's Heart, Aid-A-Pet, Canine Cancer Awareness, and the Mosby Foundation have all donated to Pheona's surgery. Their combined donations are $5,000!!!)

Ignoring another dog in favor of her toy
at the new dog park under the freeway on Duboce.

We just heard today from the final charity that we were waiting to hear from, the Reidel and Cody Fund. Their board just met and they had a lot of applications to choose from. They weren't able to offer us a donation, I am assuming since we are already so close they felt someone else could probably use it more than we can. I am sure that someone who really needed it was able to help their pet with the money. I am so grateful for these agencies, even if they can't help me specifically. We wouldn't even be half way to our surgery goal without these amazing organizations.

Things are looking very good for us at this point. With Pheona feeling so healthy, and even energetic at times, I have great hope that her ultrasound is going to show good news in 2 days. I have great hope that when it does, Dr. Kidd is going to donate and we will be ready to schedule surgery! The only thing left to do after that is to make our plans for saying good-bye to that beautiful tail.

I wonder how she is going to adjust, especially when she
is swimming. She really uses her tail then, as part
rudder/part propeller. 

Huge thank yous and virtual hugs to everyone who has donated, shared our story or just cheered for us with you heart. None of this would be possible without help from all of you. We love you all!

A quick look at the tumor over time. Not much difference
except healing the raw skin at the start.

Ultrasound Scheduled!

We have scheduled our ultrasound date for September 24th. We are supposed to drop Pheona off between 7-8:30 a.m. and they will call us to pick her up when they are done. She will be having her belly area scanned to see if there is any evidence of the cancer spreading to the internal organs. The doctors really don't think it has spread, but we need to be sure. There will also be some blood tests and things they will do. All but one charity has a rule that states they can't pay for these tests, the staging tests. I will have to pay cash for at least a portion, if not all of the staging costs.

I heard from the Onyx and Breezy Foundation on Tuesday and they have pledged $500 to surgery also! Once we get that all clear from the ultrasound then Dr. Kidd and the SFVS will each be donating $500 toward the surgery, putting us even closer. I am still hoping to hear from the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund which would put us within a couple hundred dollars of the surgery cost!! If you would like to help us reach our goal you can donate to our fundraiser or purchase items on our Amazon wishlist. You can also help by purchasing items from my Etsy store. Now that we are so close, we need individual donations more than ever!

The past week or so Miss Pheona has been feeling much better. She has even felt good enough to get some playing in last Friday. I was called out at the last minute to do a wedding at the Palace of Fine Arts and afterward we went to the beach by Chrissy Field. We haven't been to the beach in a while, maybe not since before Pheo got diagnosed, and she was in heaven!

The two charities that I am waiting to hear from say they will give a reply within 2-3 weeks, so hopefully surgery will be scheduled within a week or so of the ultrasound. Right now is tough, we just wait and keep fundraising. I hope that within a month the surgery is over and Pheona is on the path to healing completely. I want my girl to be able to have some time free of meds and cancer again, she deserves the best. 

More Pledges!! OMG!

Wow, things are really starting to happen! We got our $1,000 pledge from Canine Cancer Awareness on Thursday but last night the fundraiser blew up again!

Aid-A-Pet confirmed a $200 pledge and when I forwarded the award letter to the vet's office I got even more good news. Dylan's Heart has pledged $500 as well! But that's not all...

We are ready to schedule Pheona "staging", her ultrasound, blood tests and other tests to investigate for "spread" (cancer spreading to her internal organs). Since one of our pledges expires in just a couple of weeks Andrew at SFVS suggested we use those funds in the next week or so to cover the tests. These tests decide the next step but they also will tell us whether we qualify for another $1,000 pledge from Dr. Kidd and the San Francisco Veterinary Specialists!

If there is no spread then we will be really buckling down to raise the final $2,600 we need to cover the surgery. We will also be eligible for this generous donation from SFVS and Dr. Kidd via San Francisco Aid For Animals. Dr. Kidd will donate $500 of his Aid for Animals fund and SFVS will match his donation for the total of $1,000.

I am just waiting for the verdict (or another request for more information) from The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund now, they said if approved our pledge could be for as much as $1,800. They wanted me to outline my plan for raising the remaining money, which I have just updated them regarding. They might want to wait to respond until after staging since our game plan will depend on those results.

I am also in progress with The Onyx & Breezy Foundation, they just requested more info from me the other day, and The Riedel & Cody Fund. I believe both of those agencies have a maximum pledge of $500 each. The Gandalf Fund was one of the first places I applied with and I haven't heard a word from them yet so I called yesterday and left them a voicemail. The application was a form submitted online so I want to make sure they actually received it.

The final agency I am waiting to hear from right now is Land of Pure Gold Foundation. They only accept Service and Working Dogs, but only specific kinds of Service Dogs. I'm not sure Pheona's service is covered by them. I sent them an email asking if she would be eligible to apply with them or not. I am not going to count on this one, but it would be awesome if she was covered.

Life is a huge waiting game for us at the moment. I got the email about getting started with the staging tests late last night so I have to wait until Tuesday when everyone is back at the vet's office to start discussing scheduling the staging appointment(s). Then we wait for the appointment and who knows how long for the test results. If there is no spread and no significant tumor growth we should pretty much be in the clear. Once she gets her "good" prognosis that should open the door to more donations and the waiting for surgery begins.

We haven't discussed what our game plan will be if there is spread, significant growth or we are unable to raise the entire amount because we are not allowing those possibilities to exist. Besides, I don't even know what the options might be to even begin considering it yet. Not going to let myself worry about that unless it happens, and it won't. I refuse to let it. We are too damn close!