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!
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