o_rooly

I didn't consult with anyone locally. When my vet called to report the path results, I asked her if she could recommend any local oncologists, and she paused, at which point I just blurted out that I would send the report to OSU for a consult, explaining that there's a greyhound wellness research program there (GT reflex, I suppose ). I did call and leave a message with the GHWP @ OSU that day requesting information on how to proceed with a consult, but ended up contacting Dr. Couto directly soon after (I never heard back from OSU). I initially sent Dr. Couto the backstory on Aston's case, along with the path report + xrays and a blood culture report that were used in diagnosing his severe foot infection. He responded saying that he needed more information, and from there we had a few days of back-and-forth between him and me, and me and my vet. My vet was very cooperative with running updated bloodwork, a urinalysis, etc., even though she wasn't completely on-board with some of Dr. Couto's thoughts on greyhound blood markers (since Aston's high-for-a-greyhound globulin was well within the "normal dog" range). It felt pretty awkward to call my vet a few times a day with updates and further requests from a mystery oncologist on travel in Spain , but oh well. I'm sure that there are great oncologists locally, I don't mean to discount them at all. However, it's hard to beat getting to pick the brain of a leading researcher in how cancer presents in greyhounds.

I consulted with Dr. Couto on the two separate (and each a different type) soft-tissue cancer diagnoses that we received in the path report for Aston's two recent lumps, and after requesting copies of recent blood cbc/chemistry tests and a urinalysis, he asked me to ask my vet to call the pathologist back to check and see whether one lump was actually just repair tissue from a recent severe infection -- turned out that it was. He also confirmed that the other lump was indeed cancer, but a slow-growing type; we can elect to have a second surgery performed to get cleaner margins, but it doesn't have to be anytime soon. Aside from his knowledge, I was amazed at his response time (despite being in Spain to teach at a veterinary congress during Aston's case) as well as his friendly manner. An incredible asset to the greyhound community Edit to add: I hope you are able to get some answers soon. A hug for you, and scritches for Ms. Macy May

Good news!!! Give Rudy a hug and scritch for us

I understand completely -- I've had to take Aston to the vet eight times since September 23rd, with lots of stop-ins to the vet on my own in-between, so now I want to throw up every time he even looks at me crosseyed -- but try, try not to cross any bridges before they exist. Rudy looks quite alert and chipper and, there are MANY things that can get stepped on in snow, causing minor ouchies.

Best thoughts!! There are a million NON-cancerous reasons for lameness. One of Aston's front feet presented with a ton of swelling overnight once and he couldn't bear any weight on it, and it was tendinitis. Resolved in a few days. Rudy reminds me so much of my guy!

Sending best thoughts for your sweet hound.

Good to hear that he's improving, and most of all, still enjoying himself

I'm currently sleeping on the couch downstairs while Aston's recouping strength to go upstairs. When he goes up, I go, and he has a bed near our bed. Aston would TOTALLY sleep in our bed if it were up to him, but my husband and I share a Full . If Aston doesn't feel up to going upstairs on his own (and my husband isn't around to carry him up), he and I have a slumber party downstairs, and he sleeps MUCH more soundly than if I fall asleep upstairs while he's down by himself. (otherwise, he paces audibly and eventually barks from down there, wondering why we're up there without him )

I'm no Giselle, but maybe work on a few things using clicker-training inside (when/where she is better accustomed, with fewer possible triggers present) for the time being, to get her to start focusing on you? Then start taking it outdoors when she is picking up on being more attentive? again... I'm NO Giselle

She is beautiful, and looks like a sweetheart!! Here's a link to a thread about Look at That! training: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/191307-curbing-leash-reactivity/ It's really helped Aston -- he used to zone in on barking, or ANY other dog within eyeshot, stare, cry and dance around. His threshold was REALLY low at first, so it was initially this barrage of CLICKtreatCLICKtreatCLICKtreatCLICKtreat... if I waited a second too long, I'd lose him. However, his threshold raised really quickly, and he eventually stopped (over-)reacting to everything. Hope this helps!

Best thoughts for Dunk, and you! How did he handle being at the vet?

I checked with my previous vet about trying different allergy meds on Aston, and the vet just said that any of the OTCs are okay as long as they're the "regular" version and not the -D version (the version with pseudoephedrine); he didn't mention a change in dosage. I've now given him regular people-doses of generic claritin, generic allegra and benadryl (benadryl dosed per weight, per the vet)... none of them made a difference in his post-nasal drip.

Another vote for the Invacare bed pads. They have been indispensable through Aston's prednisone regimen. They are very heavy-duty and wash/dry well.

Welcome back!!!

Called the vet when she got on-duty tonight and asked about getting a new CBC to check globulin in particular, as Dr. Couto mentioned that if it still comes back high, he recommends a protein electrophoresis. Vet then responded saying that the blood-chem run yesterday already included globulin (oh, derp). Aston's globulin read 3.7; Dr. Couto said that greyhounds should run <2.5. My vet wasn't worried about it, as it fell well within the normal range given on the lab printout.. I requested the electrophoresis anyway, but the clinic doesn't have a code to charge for it in their system, so I'll need to wait 'til Monday to take Aston in (Lab's not open until then, anyway). Latest urinalysis results came back this morning -- normal with the exception of pH (7.5) and microalbumin (5.6). Microalbuminuria note underneath that reading had all sorts of fun things listed that I can start Googling while insomnia sets in. My vet will also call the lab on Tuesday (next time she's on duty while the lab's open) to ask about whether the newer foot mass could be granulation tissue. Sent these notes to Dr. Couto, and also asked whether Aston could still be battling the original pseudomonas infection in his leg? We're only halfway through his Zeniquin regimen. I still feel so awkward calling my vet with the latest installment of Dr. Couto Says, especially when greyhound-specific items aren't within her worry-radar. She's been very agreeable to running tests even when she doesn't feel that they're necessary, but I wonder if I'm getting to be one of THOSE owners. oh well. If I don't advocate for Aston, who will? I'm very disappointed/saddened that we weren't able to make it to our adoption group's picnic earlier today. I was going to enter Aston in the Halloween contest dressed as not a dog, but a Unique and Delicate Snowflake.

No advice, but hoping that your hounds heal up quickly, and hope your husband heals as well. A very unfortunate situation, which is easy to dissect in hindsight, but so shocking and hard to deal with in-the-moment. Godspeed to the dear cat, either way. We have a an un-collared tortoiseshell who hangs out in/under our condo complex's mottled shrubs, COMPLETELY camouflaged -- if it doesn't choose to move at all, you can't see it until you (and your hound) are about two feet away. That's when it decides to hiss (it's either quite ballsy or quite stupid... perhaps a mix of both), at which point Aston's eyes turn to roast turkeys and he tries to lunge. I have chosen to avoid shrubbery/trees and other "close quarters" around the complex because of this.

Thank you so, so much everyone, for your support :heart Dr. Couto responded overnight saying that a new CBC is recommended, as the one from a few weeks ago has levels that are not okay for a greyhound (high white-cell, globulin / low albumin. My vet's on duty again at 8pm tonight (e-vet shift), so I'll check in with her then about the urinalysis results, getting a new CBC and asking the pathologist about GRANULATION tissue. Yay for autocorrect He also asked whether Aston's been tested for ehrlichia/anaplasma. He said that Aston's symptoms are not commonly seen with these, but that he has seen dogs with ehrlichiosis and intermittent leg swelling. Tick-borne diseases are just so strange...

This morning, I took Aston in for his scheduled bandage/suture check + a blood chemistry recheck to see if his liver values are still elevated. The vet was very happy to see how the incision from the foot biopsy was healing: She even said that based on how good it looked, she was starting to second-guess the spindle-cell sarcoma diagnosis. His chest incision looks good, too: Also, in regard to liver values -- his ALT is back to well within normal range, and ALP is only slightly elevated. Yay for Denamarin!! I emailed Dr. Couto at ~9pm last night with the pathology & blood culture reports, along with the x-rays and a rundown of what's led up to this point during the past few weeks. He responded at about 4am confirming that he's in Spain at a Congress, but would try to get me some preliminary data by "tonight" (Spain local time). He emailed again this afternoon saying that he needed more information: a CBC, urinalysis and could my vet please call the pathologist to make sure that the foot mass isn't actually graduation tissue? and that sarcomas usually don't appear overnight. We only ran blood chemistry this morning at the vet, so I sent him the CBC from Sunday, October 6th, and took Aston back to the vet this afternoon for a urine sample for urinalysis. I asked my vet about calling the pathologist, but she wasn't sure what graduation tissue is, so I asked Dr. Couto to provide some background. Waiting for his response... but in the meantime, things are tentatively looking better, again. In light of the potentially inconclusive results from the pathology test on the foot mass, my vet also requested that the original corn that was removed on September 23 be sent for testing as well. I picked it up (sitting pretty, dried-out in a test tube) from that vet office and transferred it to my vet for sendout. I was hoping that the basic pathological testing would entail investigating to see what the tissue consists of in general (i.e., whether viral pathogens are present, etc.), but the vet said that the basic test would only look for cancerous material. oh well. I'd love to run a bunch of tests on the corn to see what it's actually made of, but insurance isn't covering anything related to the corn, its removal or the infectious complications thereof (since the corn is a preexisting condition -- we just signed up for Aston's current policy in January). Maybe when I win the Lottery... Otherwise, Aston did well today, was in good spirits -- tried to goose every.single.person who walked through the waiting room at the vet, and tried to nose everything off of my desk when I snuck him into work between vet visits: who, me? We'll see what tomorrow brings. Tonight, Aston's getting a well-deserved nap. Also -- is it odd that I'm not going through a local oncologist? I figured I would send the test results/etc. to Dr. Couto for consult, and thus far I'm just requesting stuff through the same vet who's been treating Aston since October 6. When she called to tell me about the biopsy path results, she recommended that I consult an oncologist for the spindle-cell sarcoma, at which point I just blurted out "I'm going to send all findings to Ohio State!" GT reflex? I figure that if Dr. Couto concludes that cancer is indeed in the picture, then I'll get a referral or find an oncologist locally to run treatment? or should I be getting my "first opinion" locally? My brain is fried.

I'm so, so sorry...

Bumping this back up, since it just came in handy for me. Definitely good to have on hand, just in case. Joejoesmom -- thanks for posting this info!

This is very encouraging -- thank you!! Aston's all ears.

It sounds like amputation of the originally-affected toe is not an option -- an x-ray performed on Sunday, October 6th revealed that the next toe over (the "other" middle toe) has a bone spur and severe arthritis, presumably from supporting the weight shifted from the bad toe all these years, so removing the corn-toe could exacerbate pain/issues in that toe, perhaps? Also -- the spindle-cell sarcoma is really present just proximal to the metatarsal-phalangeal joint(s), if I'm seeing it properly -- here's a photo of the lump from which the punch came: And here is the xray of the affected foot... the corn-toe is second from the right: Thank you so much, everyone. Ours is a small park in the San Gabriel Valley.

Another update in Post 1.