Another Thanksgiving and Christmas have passed successfully. whew! Those of us in the professional pet sitting business know what that means - a chance for a breather before Easter, Spring Break and the vacation season hits.
As always, the critters helped with the gift wrapping, so we went through about twice as much paper as we really needed. Pretty sure there are a couple of bows and a roll of tape under the sofa.
Harvey didn't get his usual candy cane, since we've cut all sweets out of his diet, even his beloved orange slices. But he did enjoy some chicken gizzards and hearts for part of his holiday meals.
In past Christmases, Harvey has worn his Santa suit while we trimmed the tree and decorated the house, but we didn't do any decorating this year because of our new addition, Rusty the Beagle. (Or Captain Destructo, as we like to call him.)
In spite of the lack of visible holiday cheer on the front door, we're very encouraged that Harvey's feeling frisky, full of energy and tolerating his full dosage of Neoplasene well. We'll have a checkup next Monday with Dr. Towle to assess his progress.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Lazy day for the boy
Harvey's sleeping a lot today. I think it's because it's too cold outside to do much else and we don't have enough snow on the ground to make romping in it worth the effort quite yet.
He ate very well at breakfast and is certainly alert enough to bark at the neighbors and Rusty the Beagle, but I find I'm seeing all sorts of dire symptoms in the simplest of behaviors. Things Harvey's done his entire adult life - leaving a little food in his bowl, asking to take his naps in the bedroom away from the other dogs - now are causing me to over-analyze those behaviors, looking for any sign that he's not feeling well.
I don't want this cancer to turn me into a hovering doggy mom because I know Harvey would wonder why I'm constantly checking his gums, or his breathing, or his heart rate .......... He certainly doesn't need the stress of my overprotectiveness.
We're doing all we can now to give him the best chance of holding off this cancer. Perhaps - if we're fortunate, to even be one of the rare few who experience a remission - so I'm trying to not let him see me worry. We're so bonded to each other that he'd certainly pick up on it.
Still, this awful disease touches every part of our day and is always there, quietly whispering in my ear that it intends to take my boy from me. It makes it difficult to just enjoy our usual routines, since the thoughts are always present......"How many more cuddle times will we have like this?", "He ate well this meal, will he have an appetite at his next meal?", "Does the cough (sneeze, scratch, lick) mean something is happening that I need to get on top of, or is it no different that the thousand other times he's coughed (sneezed, scratched, licked) at any other time in his life?"
"Make as many happy memories as possible", I've been told. But, right now, that seems like giving in to some inevitable fate that I'm not ready to acknowledge, for fear that it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and steal whatever chance we have at fighting this thing, possibly winning that elusive remission that few other dogs have experienced. I know those remissions are possible, because I've talked with other pet-parents whose hemangiosarcoma dogs have survived long past initial prognosis. A few have survived, and thrived, as long as 2, 3 even 6 years post-diagnosis. Very, very rare, but my boy is an odds-beater from way back.
So, we're just trying to keep the day to day as normal as possible. Yet, the HSA always there, just whispering, reminding me that it's waiting, biding it's time .................
He ate very well at breakfast and is certainly alert enough to bark at the neighbors and Rusty the Beagle, but I find I'm seeing all sorts of dire symptoms in the simplest of behaviors. Things Harvey's done his entire adult life - leaving a little food in his bowl, asking to take his naps in the bedroom away from the other dogs - now are causing me to over-analyze those behaviors, looking for any sign that he's not feeling well.
I don't want this cancer to turn me into a hovering doggy mom because I know Harvey would wonder why I'm constantly checking his gums, or his breathing, or his heart rate .......... He certainly doesn't need the stress of my overprotectiveness.
We're doing all we can now to give him the best chance of holding off this cancer. Perhaps - if we're fortunate, to even be one of the rare few who experience a remission - so I'm trying to not let him see me worry. We're so bonded to each other that he'd certainly pick up on it.
Still, this awful disease touches every part of our day and is always there, quietly whispering in my ear that it intends to take my boy from me. It makes it difficult to just enjoy our usual routines, since the thoughts are always present......"How many more cuddle times will we have like this?", "He ate well this meal, will he have an appetite at his next meal?", "Does the cough (sneeze, scratch, lick) mean something is happening that I need to get on top of, or is it no different that the thousand other times he's coughed (sneezed, scratched, licked) at any other time in his life?"
"Make as many happy memories as possible", I've been told. But, right now, that seems like giving in to some inevitable fate that I'm not ready to acknowledge, for fear that it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and steal whatever chance we have at fighting this thing, possibly winning that elusive remission that few other dogs have experienced. I know those remissions are possible, because I've talked with other pet-parents whose hemangiosarcoma dogs have survived long past initial prognosis. A few have survived, and thrived, as long as 2, 3 even 6 years post-diagnosis. Very, very rare, but my boy is an odds-beater from way back.
So, we're just trying to keep the day to day as normal as possible. Yet, the HSA always there, just whispering, reminding me that it's waiting, biding it's time .................
Thursday, December 11, 2008
A rose by any other name.....
Harvey's name. I'm always curious about why we choose the names we do for our animal companions, so for those who may share that curiosity, I thought I'd share the origin of Harvey's name.
Nothing profound at all, but we picked Harvey up the weekend following Jimmy Stewart's passing. Jimmy Stewart is my favorite actor - I'll stay up until the wee hours if one of his movies is scheduled. Thank goodness for DVR nowadays!
As we looked at the little roly-poly baby dog in that milk crate, we tried to think of a name that would suit him best. We ran through a few names that just didn't strike me as fitting.
Then, I thought about his birth mom, Molly the Beagle, and it dawned on me - what do Beagles do? They hunt rabbits, of course. As the passing of Jimmy Stewart was on my mind, the name of one of my favorite films came to me. Harvey. Of course! What better name for a dog of rabbit hunting lineage than to be named after the biggest rabbit of them all, Harvey!
So, to give credit to our boy's heritage and in honor of one of our finest actors and a genuinely nice man, Jimmy Stewart, our boy became Harvey.
Now, we always sit and watch the film together whenever it comes on AMC.
Nothing profound at all, but we picked Harvey up the weekend following Jimmy Stewart's passing. Jimmy Stewart is my favorite actor - I'll stay up until the wee hours if one of his movies is scheduled. Thank goodness for DVR nowadays!
As we looked at the little roly-poly baby dog in that milk crate, we tried to think of a name that would suit him best. We ran through a few names that just didn't strike me as fitting.
Then, I thought about his birth mom, Molly the Beagle, and it dawned on me - what do Beagles do? They hunt rabbits, of course. As the passing of Jimmy Stewart was on my mind, the name of one of my favorite films came to me. Harvey. Of course! What better name for a dog of rabbit hunting lineage than to be named after the biggest rabbit of them all, Harvey!
So, to give credit to our boy's heritage and in honor of one of our finest actors and a genuinely nice man, Jimmy Stewart, our boy became Harvey.
Now, we always sit and watch the film together whenever it comes on AMC.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Treatment begins
Today's the day we start treating Harvey's cancer in earnest.
Hemangiosarcoma is one of the most aggressive and difficult canine cancers. It's a cancer of the cells lining the blood vessels, so it can cause tumors anywhere in the body, but the most common locations seem to be the spleen, liver, heart or lungs.
Harvey's tumor was on the spleen, causing a rupture two and a half weeks ago. He was finicky about eating for about two weeks prior to the evening of 11/23. Results from bloodwork was unremarkable, though he did have a slightly elevated white blood cell count. We took him home from his exam with some antibiotics and planned to keep an eye on him for additional symptoms.
That Sunday, the 23rd, I noticed he just didn't look right and, upon examination, I found that his mouth tissues were very pale, his abdomen felt "spongy" and his extremities were cold to the touch. We rushed him up to Circle City Emergency Clinic, where they immediately began diagnostics to determine a cause.
The attending vet, Dr. Towns, ran bloodwork, took x-rays, put him on a heating pad to bring up his body temperature, then came to tell us that the signs pointed to hemangiosarcoma. She suggested doing a blood transfusion, but said that it "might just buy him a couple more hours". We were distraught.
We thought we might lose him that night, so we decided that we wanted him home in his own bed, not left alone in a kennel at the clinic, if it was to be our last night with him.
I stayed awake all night, monitoring his breathing, checking his gums and mouth tissues, as Dr. Towns had suggested. Around 3 AM, I thought I noticed his gums starting to look pink again. I was sure I was imagining it or it was just wishful thinking. Sure enough, by morning he was feeling energetic and was eager for his car ride to our primary vet, Dr. Kim Skibbe, for an exam and follow up to the previous night's crisis.
Dr. Skibbe set up an appointment for an ultrasound for our boy at Veterinary Specialty Center in Carmel, IN, the same facility that had done such a fantastic job with Harvey's hemilamenectomy when he ruptured 3 discs in his back in 2006. They did find a mass on his spleen, but saw no other signs that would indicate any other organ involvement at that point. Hemangiosarcoma (HSA) was a very real possibility, but it could also have been a benign mass or a different type of cancer. A splenectomy was recommended, since it was very likely that whatever it was would rupture again and he could bleed out, even from a benign growth.
That was on 11/26/08. The biopsy did come back as HSA, so the prognosis was grim. The good news, if there can be such a thing with this disease is that his liver biopsy showed no metastasis and the surgeon, Dr. Stauffer, felt his other organs and tissues "looked fine".
After consulting with a highly respected oncologist and doing a ton of research on my own, we have decided to try an alternative treatment called Neoplasene, instead of chemotherapy. Chemo offers very little hope of doing anything more than extending his life by a few months, so we feel we're not losing anything by trying something different, outside of the typical protocols for the treatment of this disease.
Neoplasene was first mentioned to me by Dr. Towle when I called her for advice even before we received the pathology report. It hasn't been widely used for this type of canine cancer, but has shown promise in quite a few cases. Frank and I feel that it's our best hope at this point and, at the very least, it doesn't seem to come with as many risks as chemo.
Harvey had his first dose tonight with his dinner, along with some supplements that Dr. Towle suggested. We're praying as hard as we can that this is our answer to a long term remission and a lot more quality time with our special little guy!
Hemangiosarcoma is one of the most aggressive and difficult canine cancers. It's a cancer of the cells lining the blood vessels, so it can cause tumors anywhere in the body, but the most common locations seem to be the spleen, liver, heart or lungs.
Harvey's tumor was on the spleen, causing a rupture two and a half weeks ago. He was finicky about eating for about two weeks prior to the evening of 11/23. Results from bloodwork was unremarkable, though he did have a slightly elevated white blood cell count. We took him home from his exam with some antibiotics and planned to keep an eye on him for additional symptoms.
That Sunday, the 23rd, I noticed he just didn't look right and, upon examination, I found that his mouth tissues were very pale, his abdomen felt "spongy" and his extremities were cold to the touch. We rushed him up to Circle City Emergency Clinic, where they immediately began diagnostics to determine a cause.
The attending vet, Dr. Towns, ran bloodwork, took x-rays, put him on a heating pad to bring up his body temperature, then came to tell us that the signs pointed to hemangiosarcoma. She suggested doing a blood transfusion, but said that it "might just buy him a couple more hours". We were distraught.
We thought we might lose him that night, so we decided that we wanted him home in his own bed, not left alone in a kennel at the clinic, if it was to be our last night with him.
I stayed awake all night, monitoring his breathing, checking his gums and mouth tissues, as Dr. Towns had suggested. Around 3 AM, I thought I noticed his gums starting to look pink again. I was sure I was imagining it or it was just wishful thinking. Sure enough, by morning he was feeling energetic and was eager for his car ride to our primary vet, Dr. Kim Skibbe, for an exam and follow up to the previous night's crisis.
Dr. Skibbe set up an appointment for an ultrasound for our boy at Veterinary Specialty Center in Carmel, IN, the same facility that had done such a fantastic job with Harvey's hemilamenectomy when he ruptured 3 discs in his back in 2006. They did find a mass on his spleen, but saw no other signs that would indicate any other organ involvement at that point. Hemangiosarcoma (HSA) was a very real possibility, but it could also have been a benign mass or a different type of cancer. A splenectomy was recommended, since it was very likely that whatever it was would rupture again and he could bleed out, even from a benign growth.
That was on 11/26/08. The biopsy did come back as HSA, so the prognosis was grim. The good news, if there can be such a thing with this disease is that his liver biopsy showed no metastasis and the surgeon, Dr. Stauffer, felt his other organs and tissues "looked fine".
After consulting with a highly respected oncologist and doing a ton of research on my own, we have decided to try an alternative treatment called Neoplasene, instead of chemotherapy. Chemo offers very little hope of doing anything more than extending his life by a few months, so we feel we're not losing anything by trying something different, outside of the typical protocols for the treatment of this disease.
Neoplasene was first mentioned to me by Dr. Towle when I called her for advice even before we received the pathology report. It hasn't been widely used for this type of canine cancer, but has shown promise in quite a few cases. Frank and I feel that it's our best hope at this point and, at the very least, it doesn't seem to come with as many risks as chemo.
Harvey had his first dose tonight with his dinner, along with some supplements that Dr. Towle suggested. We're praying as hard as we can that this is our answer to a long term remission and a lot more quality time with our special little guy!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Were you born in a barn??
Yep! Well, more of a shed behind the house, actually.
Welcome to the story of Harvey, Beagle/Labrador - we call him "the Beagador". Harvey was very recently diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma, so this blog is to document our journey together through his treatment, as well as to share the joys he has brought to us for the last 11 years.
My name is Becki Bradford. I've owned a professional pet sitting service since 1996, after working for the former owners for a couple of years.
When I first starting pet sitting, I thought it would be a great way to enjoy spending time with animals, since my husband, Frank didn't want pets, especially a dog. After growing up surrounded by critters, I found that working with other people's pets only served to make me miss having a dog even more, since it seemed everyone had one but us.
At the time, we shared our home with two beautiful cats, Bother and Snuggles. I loved them dearly and we still have Bother with us, but being a dog person, there was a gap in our family that could only be filled with the wagging tail of a canine.
On a visit to a friend's home one weekend in 1997, he told us that there were two pups left from a litter recently born and asked if we wanted to see them. If Frank has a soft spot for animals, it's the babies - tiny kittens, squirmy pups. Who can resist those faces?
We headed out to the shed to see the furbabies and there he was, this precious little furball, running away from Frank as he tried to catch him to pick him up. He fit into the palm of my hand with his little legs hanging over the edges and his tiny tail resting on the pulse point of my wrist. I think that's the moment when his puppy magic seeped into my veins and found it's way to my heart.
Tommy, our friend, half-jokingly asked if we wanted to take one of the pups home with us. Frank looked panic-stricken. I, of course, said yes immediately. We put the pup back down with his sister and headed inside to visit for a while.
Before we left, Tommy reminded us to go get our pup. I think Frank was convinced he'd gotten away with making it to the car and heading back home sans puppy. Tommy and I weren't giving up, though. Frank did his best to convince me that he'd be back up that way the following week and could bring the little guy home then, but I knew that if we left the driveway without that puppy, it just wasn't gonna happen! It was that night or never.
So home we came, carrying the tiniest little baby dog in a wooden milk crate with a towel in the bottom.
Welcome to the story of Harvey, Beagle/Labrador - we call him "the Beagador". Harvey was very recently diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma, so this blog is to document our journey together through his treatment, as well as to share the joys he has brought to us for the last 11 years.
My name is Becki Bradford. I've owned a professional pet sitting service since 1996, after working for the former owners for a couple of years.
When I first starting pet sitting, I thought it would be a great way to enjoy spending time with animals, since my husband, Frank didn't want pets, especially a dog. After growing up surrounded by critters, I found that working with other people's pets only served to make me miss having a dog even more, since it seemed everyone had one but us.
At the time, we shared our home with two beautiful cats, Bother and Snuggles. I loved them dearly and we still have Bother with us, but being a dog person, there was a gap in our family that could only be filled with the wagging tail of a canine.
On a visit to a friend's home one weekend in 1997, he told us that there were two pups left from a litter recently born and asked if we wanted to see them. If Frank has a soft spot for animals, it's the babies - tiny kittens, squirmy pups. Who can resist those faces?
We headed out to the shed to see the furbabies and there he was, this precious little furball, running away from Frank as he tried to catch him to pick him up. He fit into the palm of my hand with his little legs hanging over the edges and his tiny tail resting on the pulse point of my wrist. I think that's the moment when his puppy magic seeped into my veins and found it's way to my heart.
Tommy, our friend, half-jokingly asked if we wanted to take one of the pups home with us. Frank looked panic-stricken. I, of course, said yes immediately. We put the pup back down with his sister and headed inside to visit for a while.
Before we left, Tommy reminded us to go get our pup. I think Frank was convinced he'd gotten away with making it to the car and heading back home sans puppy. Tommy and I weren't giving up, though. Frank did his best to convince me that he'd be back up that way the following week and could bring the little guy home then, but I knew that if we left the driveway without that puppy, it just wasn't gonna happen! It was that night or never.
So home we came, carrying the tiniest little baby dog in a wooden milk crate with a towel in the bottom.
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