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Just how much can a person take

J

JerseyWendy

Hi everyone,

As most of you know, my mom passed away last week. Even though it wasn't completely unexpected, one can never quite be ready for news like this.

On Tuesday I took my older Bernese Mountain Dog (Simon) to the vet because another one of his sebaceous cysts had ruptured. He's been through 5 surgeries already, the last one was only 1 year ago. Of course we ran a bunch of tests, and a little while ago my vet called me with the results, which don't look promising at all at this point. Simon is anemic, his liver enzymes were elevated, and his white blood count was way off. I had to hear the dreaded "C" word, which is a possibility. We decided (the vet and I) to run another series of tests, which will be conclusive as to whether he indeed has cancer or not. We should have the results on Monday. IF Simon does have cancer, we will not have him operated on, but will somehow have to deal with the currently open wound on his right buttcheeck (hip area).

I am devestated! Simon is 11 years old, and our "miracle dog" for so many reasons. He's had ailments his entire life, and nobody ever expected him to live as long as he has. He flatlined during his second surgery, but my vet brought him back. Succeeding surgeries were done by administering gas instead of general anestesia.

How many bad news can one person deal with? :'( The thought of losing him in the near future is devestating right now.

Thank you all for listening.

---
Wendy
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
So sorry, Wendy. Hopefully he'll beat whatever's ailing him this time too. {{hugs}}
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
That sucks, Wendy!

My oldest dog, Girls, in a 9 yr old rotty, and she's hard multiple surgeries as well, the last one earlier this year @ the red bank vet hospital. It resulted in a $5k bill and the removal of part of her jaw. Being a rotty, they cut her tail off as a pup, then she had cancer in one foot, so a toe was removed. Now her jaw.

I just wish I had all the extra parts so I could make a new dog when she's gone. :'(

Good luck...We're rootin' for ya over here!
 
J

JerseyWendy

Thank you all for the heads up and the kind words, and the much-needed hug.

I will have to take it a day at a time, and hope and pray the news on Monday won't be too devestating.

Subliminal, I'm so sorry to hear about your Rotti girl. We lost our Golden 5 years ago to cancer. He was 12, and he had traveled the world with us - literally. We weren't going to buy another dog for a while, but Simon went into a deep depression, lost 20 lbs, refused all and any food, and howled non-stop. So we bought Max, another Bernese Mountain Dog. Simon bounced right back as soon as he had company.

I'll keep you all posted, that's for sure. Right now I only wish he'd have somewhat of an appetite, but he turns his nose, no matter what I offer him. (both my boys have been on a home-cooked diet for the past 5 years)

---
Wendy
 
N

needreefunds

Geez, That's tough Wendy

I had a similar stretch a few months back. A friend died in a motorcycle accident. Shortly after, my Uncle died suddenly. And while dealing with both of those, my Nano-cube, which would normally provide me an escape from life's troubles, was hit hard by a fungus. Only a few polyps survived.

Hopefully your tanks and their beauty are providing you some comfort.

Here>>> Sending more hugs and best wishes your way. :)

I do hope everything works out for the best

You hang in there and take good care!


Richie
 
J

JerseyWendy

Richie,

Thanks so much for the hugs. And I'm so sorry you've experienced something so similar. How did you pull through without losing your mind?

I promised an update.

Well, I was expecting to hear from my vet yesterday about the pathology results. By noon I had made the first call. At 3PM, the second call. At 5PM my vet called me to let me know there were no results yet, but that they should be in TODAY.

It's today!
I called at noon. An unknown receptionist answered, and I tried to be as polite as possible. Explained everyting, and told her I expected to hear something back SOON.

I just called AGAIN (5:10PM)
Same receptionist picked up. I told her I was ticked off. Once I found out she didn't forward my first message to my vet I really lost it.

My vet is VERY good at returning phone calls. In fact, he calls just to see how his "patients" are doing out of the blue.

So, I am still waiting.....

Simon, in the meantime is doing great. No, his wound (open sebaceous cyst) hasn't gotten much better with the antibiotics, but he's full of energy, joy, and mischief. :)

Please keep your fingers crossed that I won't be thrown for a loop with bad news.

---
Wendy

PS. Here he is, my boy Simon, nicknamed "Face".

Simon41.jpg
 
N

needreefunds

JerseyWendy said:
Richie,

Thanks so much for the hugs. And I'm so sorry you've experienced something so similar. How did you pull through without losing your mind?

I promised an update.

Well, I was expecting to hear from my vet yesterday about the pathology results. By noon I had made the first call. At 3PM, the second call. At 5PM my vet called me to let me know there were no results yet, but that they should be in TODAY.

It's today!
I called at noon. An unknown receptionist answered, and I tried to be as polite as possible. Explained everyting, and told her I expected to hear something back SOON.

I just called AGAIN (5:10PM)
Same receptionist picked up. I told her I was ticked off. Once I found out she didn't forward my first message to my vet I really lost it.

My vet is VERY good at returning phone calls. In fact, he calls just to see how his "patients" are doing out of the blue.

So, I am still waiting.....

Simon, in the meantime is doing great. No, his wound (open sebaceous cyst) hasn't gotten much better with the antibiotics, but he's full of energy, joy, and mischief. :)

Please keep your fingers crossed that I won't be thrown for a loop with bad news.

---
Wendy

PS. Here he is, my boy Simon, nicknamed "Face".

Simon41.jpg
Click to expand...

How did I pull through without losing my mind? Um, I'm not sure that I did! ::)

I just worked hard at the only things I can control.

Do my job the best I can each day, and do all I can to care for my family.

And my tanks, even when "off", provide an escape by keeping me busy.

After a while I started feeling normal again. ;) What else can we do?

I do hope all works out for the best. Simon is quite handsome. And he does have a face on his face huh?

Hang in there Wendy.
 
J

JerseyWendy

Richie, please take no offense, but your reply made me laugh more than once.

More often than not I actually think I have lost my mind. :-[ (It was SO unlike me to be obnoxious to that receptionist, but I couldn't help it...I hope she forgives me)

And yes, he does have a face on a face, doesn't he? LOL.

---
Wendy
 
J

JerseyWendy

The vet called me about 45 minutes ago. Been celebrating since. :)

Everything indicates that his results were due to his open sebaceous cysts. NO cancerous cells were detected.

We'll make a decision regarding his wound next Tuesday, when we go for the follow-up.

Today was a GOOD day.

---
Wendy
 
C

Candi

Wendy, I've been out of the loop for awhile. I'm so sorry to hear about your mom :::HUGE HUGS::: my heart was on a roller coaster reading the posts, so glad to see a happy result to the tests! Your pup is gorgeous, the kind of dog you can just wrap your arms around and hug... love that! Heres to hoping he remains in good health as long as possible!
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

JerseyWendy said:
The vet called me about 45 minutes ago. Been celebrating since. :)

Everything indicates that his results were due to his open sebaceous cysts. NO cancerous cells were detected.

We'll make a decision regarding his wound next Tuesday, when we go for the follow-up.

Today was a GOOD day.

---
Wendy
Click to expand...

YAAAAY! ;D
 
J

JerseyWendy

Candi, thank you so much for the hugs. One can never get enough of those - seriously. And thank you for the well wishes, too.

And Phil, I hear you - loud and clear. :)

Ok, even though our next vet visit isn't until tomorrow morning, I felt an update was in order, especially since Simon's been managing to drive us berserk.

His open wound is quite large. It's located by his right hip area. We shaved the area about 8" around, and the open sore itself is about 2" in diameter. We shaved him so that extra large Band Aids would stick, and it worked really well in the beginning.

Last week Simon figured out he can reach the area and began EATING the Band Aids. One by one. Or better yet: About a box/day. Needless to say our next concern was his digestive system, with all those BandAids and gauze. :eek: A call to the vet confirmed we should give him a "gentle" laxative, so he could pass those without problems. Well - he passed them all right. ::)

We did not/do not want to resort to the Elizabethan Collar/E-Collar. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it's a cone shaped, plastic funnel type of thingy placed over his head. We used that once, and it made him mad.

So we had to be resourceful. For 2 days a bathtowel wrapped around his neck worked, but then he found out he could still eat off the BandAids with a little extra effort.

Then we came up with the idea of putting a T-shirt on him, but on the wrong end. Here you go, meet Diaper Boy:
Simon11-12-071.jpg


If he's looking a bit unhappy it's because he hates having his picture taken, and he's barking at me. Here he is again, barking harder:
Simon11-12-072.jpg


And lastly a non-bark picture, but Max (my younger Berner) insisted on being in the picture.
SimonMax11-12-071.jpg


I'll let you all know what will happen next after tomorrow's vet visit. :)

Again, thank you all for your continued support.

---
Wendy
 
J

JerseyWendy

Simon will have surgery next Wednesday. Hopefully he'll pull through that one as well as the previous ones. His wound looks pretty darn nasty and has been bleeding quite a bit, but the doc measured it, and it actually shrank 1/2cm. So he'll continue on antibiotics until next week.

It'll be a looooong week for me.

---
Wendy
 
J

JerseyWendy

Subliminal said:
I just got a call from our vet. My rotty is bleeding internally, probably due to cancer.

Life sucks sometimes.
Click to expand...

OMG, I am so SO sorry. What will they do? Are they going to try surgery? They have to do something to stop the bleeding.

My thoughts are with you and your Rotti. :(

---
Wendy
 
J

JerseyWendy

Just a quick update.

Simon had surgery on Tuesday. We took him in at noon, they were ready and waiting for him. He was done at 3PM, and back home at 5PM. :)

He has about 40 stitches, the cut is approximately 9" long. The masses were completely removed, but in order to do so, the vet had to separate the muscle from the skin. Since we're talking about a huge muscle (thigh), Simon was/is in quite a bit of discomfort one should think. Well, the first thing he did when we got home was steal Max's bone. ::)

He's still in a diaper/t-shirt because depending on how much he moves, he bleeds a bit through the stitches. I'm padding the sutures with a .... feminine pad. I know how this may sound, but it's quite effective. It's absorbant AND soft, cushioning the area somewhat.

Stitches are scheduled to be removed December 4th. :)

So glad this is behind us.

---
Wendy
 
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