[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Chancy had a better night last night. She still got up once or twice to swap beds with the other pups, but that's not really unusual here. She certainly seemed to breathe a bit more easily. Her tummy seems the same so far. Still enlarged and firm.

 

Of course something had to keep me awake, so now something's up with Marla. She paced the floor for a long while during the night. I was so wiped out and tired from stressing about Chancy and fending off a cold, I finally made hubby get up and try to get Marla to relax. Not sure what's going on there, as she seems to be fine, but just didn't want to lay down. I manipulated her legs, palpated her tummy, rubbed her back... no reactions. :

 

Oy. It's always something, right? I'm going to choose to not freak out about Marla.

 

 

Yet.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Chancy's heart is "slightly" enlarged. We have started her on Enalapril for that, and aminophylline to try and help her breathing a bit. Vet said that med won't help the LP, but might help open her bronchial passages a bit, making it a little easier for her to breathe. The vet asked us to call him with an update on Monday. I do like this guy.

 

Now I'll go read up on those meds... after I have a nap. Stupid sore throat...

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Chancy had another restless night last night. She was wheezing loudly (LP) and couldn't seem to find a comfortable position. I gave her another Previcox at about 1:30am and she seemed to settle after that. This morning I really had to coax her to eat her smoothie. That may have been because hubby had tried offering it to her unblended first. She did eventually eat all of her meal though.

 

Hubby is taking her for the chest xray in 15 minutes, as I have to host my M&G this morning. I'm not sure what to hope for right now. Clear xrays which would mean her heart and lungs are good but we'd still have no answer as to what's wrong, or finding something so we can actually start addressing the problem...

 

Oh, and now I have a sore throat. Figures.

[Update On Bodie's Skin Condition - Skin Culture Results]

I would bring him. I'd say let him come along to the wineries as long as he's perky, and when he seems tired, bring him back to your room (assuming it's okay with your hosts) for rest breaks. That's what I'm planning to do with our senior gal Chancy. Leaving him home with your daughter would be fine I'm sure, but the lack of transport if he needed to go to the vet would make me a nervous wreck. There are vets in the area at Grapehounds, I saw some info on their website if I recall...

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

I don't know if this'll help or not, but Luluaz's little girlie Gypsy had what was either an NLH or pseudotumor of the spleen:

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=168472&hl=

 

It stumped the pathologist for several days; I dug up the paper on pseudotumor (which mimics NLH), and although I never looked at the tissues, it certainly sounds similar.

 

So- lots of potential causes with respect to swelling of the spleen, but Gypsy is still with us, last I heard!

 

Holy crow what a CUTE little face!

 

Thanks for the info, I'll read up...

[Asking For Lots Of Prayers For Judge]

Oh I'm so so sorry. I started to type something earlier, but just couldn't find the words. How terribly sad and frightening. I'm sorry for your loss.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

The vet felt that possibly an enlarged/compromised heart could cause "congestion" of the spleen, or something along those lines. To be honest I really couldn't follow everything he said after "It's not cancer..."

 

If it is a heart problem causing the enlarged spleen, it may be medically treatable without other surgery. I'd love to avoid surgery on my ol' gal if possible.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

IT'S NOT CANCER!!!!!!!

 

I just got a call from our vet who was as shocked as I that our results came back so quickly... All samples were cancer-free! There is still clearly something going on, but as long as it's not cancer, I'm so freaking relieved I can barely type...

 

Chancy's going in for a chest xray tomorrow, so they can evaluate her heart and lungs. It's possible that a heart problem could be causing the splenic enlargement. I don't recall the details word for word of his explanation/theory, because my brain was busy screaming NOTCANCERNOTCANCERNOTCANCER...

 

Chancy's not out of the woods, but at least there might be a way out...

 

Thank you all for your positive thoughts. It's far too easy for me to drown in my own gloom at times like this. Thank you all for helping keep me afloat.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Well, here's the sort of mixed-bag good news: We will go on the Grapehounds trip. I called the oncology dept at the U (I'm pretty sure my vet doesn't do chemo, so we'd end up at the U) and explained our situation, asking a lot of "ifs."

 

If it is lymphoma, and if she is a candidate for chemo, how soon would we be able to get in for a consult and first treatment?

 

Their first opening is August 1st. Which means other than pain management, there's nothing we can do for Chancy before then.. if it is lymphoma. This means I see no good reason to not go on the trip.

 

Unless Monday's results turn out to be something other than cancer...

 

But at least for now, I feel much better about taking Chancy on this trip. I'll just have to make a detailed list of E-vets along the way, just in case.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Chancy was pretty spunky after we got home yesterday. I think the ice cream really cheered her up. But she had a restless night filled with much panting and readjusting her position. I had given her some melatonin before bedtime, but possibly it was too early to hold her through the night. At about 3:30am I gave her some Previcox our vet had prescribed at my request (asked for an alternative to Rimadyl to spare Chancy's liver as much as possible). I don't know if that actually helped her settle down, or if I was just too tired by then to continue noticing... Needless to say, none of us slept very well.

 

But it was a nice cool morning (finally!) so we walked our old route of about eight blocks. It was slow going, but thoroughly enjoyable. I think she was expecting to go to work with me again today, as she pranced and gave me her "Crazy Paw" and her gummy smile as I was getting ready to leave. Sorry honey, not today. We'll lounge on the grass later this afternoon.

 

Thank you all again, for continuing to think of my sweet ChancyFancy. She's just the gentlest soul on Earth, and I hope to spare her any suffering if I can...

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Chancy was soooo well-behaved during the ultrasound, not that I expected any less. They let me help hold her and watch the procedure, which I very much appreciated, even though I can't make heads or tails of those ultrasound images. (frankly I've never seen the baby in any baby ultrasound images either, nor can I see the "images" in those 3D hidden pictures either. I think it's all a big conspiracy to frustrate me. ) Anyway, I helped hold her legs, keeping her straight up on her back while a tech held her front end. The tech was in love with Chancy within minutes. She cradled Chancy's head and slathered smooches on Chancy's schnoot and rubbed her fuzzy chest the whole time. Chancy withstood the ultrasound and even the needle biopsy with perfect aplomb. My brave gentle tigerdog.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Donna, thank you for your experience. I may be contacting you for more details.

[Miss Jackie]

Oh I'm so sorry. I'm facing a probable lymphoma diagnosis as well with my 12.5 yo Chancy. I hope you have many many wonderful days left together.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Ultrasound is done. Spleen is enlarged, which we already knew. There were several small areas of "density" in her liver. They did a needle biopsy of her spleen. The specialist, who prefaced his statement with "I'm not a cytologist..." said he saw "a lot of funky looking cells" and said he strongly suspects lymphoma. It will be Monday before I get a confirmation. We were planning to leave Wednesday for our road trip. I'm somewhat inclined currently to continue planning this trip. If it is lymphoma, it has likely already metastasized elsewhee, but if it's early enough, she might be a candidate for chemo.

 

I wonder how much time chemo typically buys... I don't recall much from the oncologist meeting for Sissy last year. She had been too far along by the time we figured out what was wrong to be eligible for treatment.

 

After running all over town, first to the ultrasound, then to our regular vet to drop off cell slides, I figured Chancy deserved a special treat for being such an exceptionally good girl. We stopped at DQ and shared some french fries and she got her own bowl of vanilla soft serve. : We picnicked together in the back of the van:

 

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

My stomach is flip-flopping with apprehension. Once in a while I have to remind myself to take deep breaths, and keep in mind that what will be will be. If Chancy's spleen is affected without metastases elsewhere, it may be operable. If it is metastasized cancer, we'll just keep her as comfy as possible for as long as possible.

 

Even if it is possibly operable, I'm still not sure she's a good surgery candidate. And if we do choose surgery, do we want to try the scope/tieback at the same time? It all seems like so much, too much for my poor sweet old girlie. Lots to think about...

 

Yesterday she chased Sparks (a grey we're pupsitting) once around the yard. She was having soooo much fun, but I had to stop her for fear of her getting hurt or having a breathing crisis.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Here are new pics of my Stripey tigerdog. This is from Sunday, on our way home from a picnic at the beach. It's inside Chancy's chariot, our new minivan.

 

 

And this is from two minutes ago, Chancy by my desk at work. Workdays are always improved by the presence of dogs.

 

eta: cameraphone pics, sorry they're blurry.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Ultrasound appt is today. My stomach has been in knots all morning. I brought Chancy to work with me today so we can go straight from here. She's resting comfortably on her bed by my desk.

 

Her appetite is still fine as long as I keep serving her meals in "smoothie" form. : On our am walk she scared me a bit. It was a tad cooler today, so we went three blocks instead of one. But about 3/4 of the way home, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, closed her mouth and stared into the middle distance for a full minute. I saw drool falling from her lips. She looked like she was going to vomit, but was not heaving. After that minute, I coaxed her to continue walking another 15 feet or so before she did puke. Just a few tbsps of yellow bile. Chancy is not a puker, so this scares me more than it would on either of my other two dogs. After that she seemed fine. Ate her breakfast "bisque" like a champ.

 

I'm not looking forward to today's appointment. I know it's silly, and is the least of my worries, but I wish they didn't have to shave her fuzzy tummy. It just reminds me far too distinctly of Sissy's ultrasound, where I was well aware she would not live long enough to grow her beautiful fur back.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Carole, Chancy loved digging in your doggie pit that day we visited. You're right, she really does forget she's a senior. She's eternally young at heart. It's one of the many many reasons we adore her.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

Chancy's update for today...

 

Her appetite is okay, now that I've discovered a new trick. I noticed yesterday that she wanted to drink the gravy on her food, but didn't want the solids. So since then I've been making "Doggie Smoothies" for her, which is basically the same mix of food, with extra water and/or chicken broth added and blended until smooth. So far she really seems to like them. Soon she'll be expecting a "boost" of bee pollen or some such extravagance.

 

The ultrasound is still set for tomorrow at 2pm. We went to the regular vet yesterday and got an abdominal xray which showed that her spleen is enlarged. It was good to know it's not fluid (which means her heart is not compromised and her liver hasn't failed completely), but of course not good that her spleen is in overdrive. We'll know more after the ultrasound. If it's cancer of the spleen (a strong likelihood, though our vet kindly didn't want to use that "C" word), we'll need to determine if it has metastasized anywhere else. If it seems to be only in the spleen, it may be operable.

 

We'll know more after tomorrow.

 

Our vet laughed hard when he heard me refer to Chancy's ultrasound as her "spa appointment for her Brazilian..."

 

Thank you all again (and still) for the kind thoughts and wishes. For now she's hanging in there. The heat and humidity of these last few days has been tough on the poor ol' gal. We're doing our best to keep her comfy, at the expense of our AC bill . Our travel plans are up in the air until we know what we're dealing with. We still intend to go, but tomorrow's findings may change that.

 

 

[Pannus]

I don't use Doggles. My hounds are not outside very much, and my vet ophthalmologist is confident that Tip and Marla's eyes are well controlled.

[Pannus]

Tipper and Marla both have pannus. They are both on maintenance doses of Neo-Poly-Dex ointment. Caught early, it's very easily managed. Waggin' will be just fine!

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

I have an appointment with my regular vet today at 3:45. The ultrasound is still set for Thursday, but I want to see if there's anything we can do to give Chancy some relief in the meantime.

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

I agree, it seems like fluid in her abdomen. It's exactly like the swelling Sissy had when she had excess fluid in her belly. I can't get an ultrasound any sooner than Thursday unless I take her to the U (where I don't trust them for various reasons). Even then I'm not sure they'd get me in unless it's a dire emergency. Can the fluid be drained prior to the ultrasound? My fear is they'd need to be guided by ultrasound so they don't do further damage while trying to help...

 

Vet opens at 9am. I'm having a hard time determining how much of an actual emergency this is, and how much is me just freaking out with worry...

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

I was lucky to get this appt. I can go to the U if it becomes an emergency, but I'll avoid that if possible. I don't like/trust the U very much (nor does my vet).

 

I'm hoping we can get some new pain meds Thursday too. I have Rimadyl on hand, but because her liver is already compromised, I won't give it to her unless it's a dire emergency. It's hard to tell when she's hurting, as she's soooo stoic, my tough ol' tigerdog. She pants a lot, but it's hard to tell if that's because of pain or just her breathing problems...

[I Lost My Sweet Chancy]

For some reason (probably mainly that I am a doofus) I had your puppers confused and was thinking that Chancy's problem was the dislocated toe and I wondered why you were so obsessively worried about it.

 

That was Tipper's toe, and I was obsessively worried about that until this took up all the worry-space in my brain.

 

Chancy's belly is still firm and enlarged. She was restless again last night. Her breathing is worse, and this morning she would only eat 2/3 of her breakfast. Chancy has NEVER skipped a meal. Maybe she's losing ground not so slowly now... Thursday seems so far away.