In April, 2012, I took Pongo in again to have Dr. Lamb take
a look at it. It had grown big enough
that we now referred to it as his “second penis.” It no longer felt soft and squishy – parts of
it now felt hard. Dr. Lamb again assured me that it was likely benign, and that
she was not worried about it, but agreed to remove it so we could test it. So we braced ourselves for an $800 surgery.
On May 7, 2012, I took Pongo in to Sunset Hills Vet, and reminded
the technicians not to put Pongo in a crate while he was waiting for
surgery. Since his adoption, he has not
handled being crated well. Although I
initially crated him when I was at work when I first got him in 2002, I quickly
gave him his independence at home. Years
later, when I tried to crate him again when he tore his second ACL, and when he
was crated at the vet’s, he would rub the skin off of his nose due to anxiety.
I dropped Pongo off early in the morning and then worked
remotely by laptop at my brother’s art studio, feeling tense as I waited for
the phone call that would let me know how the surgery had gone. Dr. Lamb called me around noon to tell me
that he had done well. She commented
that she was somewhat surprised at how vascular the lump was, but that she
still believed it was a benign lipoma.
However, she told me that she was concerned that one of his liver
enzymes was high. It had tested at 400
where 150 is normal. She told me that it
was possible that it was high because his body was working hard because of the
lump and that it may very well go down. She said that I shouldn’t worry, but that she
wanted to recheck it in a month.
Recovery from the surgery was a little daunting. Pongo came home with a drain that exited on
either side of the lump with a line of staples in between. We set up a baby gate in the kitchen/dining
room and put down towels and blankets.
The first few days, the fluid that drained was bloody, which made my
husband squeamish and shocked even me. I
bought a fabric cone from PETCO to try and keep him from licking his wound (I
really dislike those plastic ones).
Here is Pongo zonked out the day of his surgery, May 7, 2012.
About the same time, I took Pongo to have the drain
removed. The vet technician told me that
the site was red and they wanted him to take a course of antibiotics. That
night, around 6 pm, I got a call from one of the other doctors from Sunset Hills
Vet with the results of the histopathology report from the surgery.
She continued to tell me that Pongo had what she termed “an
aggressive nerve sheath tumor,” and that it had possibly already metastasized
to his liver, which would explain why his liver enzyme was so elevated. She went on to talk about follow-up x-rays
and CT scans, another surgery because the results indicated they had not gotten
clean margins in excising the tumor, and a referral to an oncologist. I started crying. Pongo is the love of my life, the center of
my world. I knew about the importance of
surgically getting clean margins, and oncology lingo, my sister going through breast
cancer at 37.
I hung up the phone and went into the living room where my
husband was half-asleep on the couch. I told him Pongo had cancer and fell into
his arms, sobbing. My step-daughter,
Ashley, heard the commotion and came out from her bedroom. She gave me a hug, then sat on the floor
stroking Pongo’s head. I was inconsolable.
I had several conversations with my husband and with Dr.
Lamb over the next few days. We had just
spent $800 on the lumpectomy, and we couldn’t afford another surgery, let alone
a barrage of x-rays, scans, and an oncologist referral that would recommend
radiation. Pongo was not a young
dog. As hard as it was, we decided to
make it the best summer ever with him. I
took him on as many hikes as we could, enjoying our time together.
Now, a year has gone by, and Pongo is healthy and
happy. It is obvious that the lump did
not metastasize. Dr. Lamb said at his
last visit that there are no signs of cancer.
He has a healthy appetite and is maintaining his weight. Still, we did new labs in June, and the liver
enzyme is even higher. It is now over
600. Dr. Lamb says there can be many
reasons for that, one of which may be Cushing’s Disease. Pongo
is now 12 years old, and I know that I have to face reality that the majority
of his life has passed. I am blessed for
every moment that I have with him. I
remain committed to make those days the happiest they can be, giving him as
much outdoor time as possible, hiking new trails, enjoying old ones, play dates
with doggie friends, and keeping his mind active through giving him work.
There is a lot of information about lipomas and nerve sheath
tumors on the web. I found an
interesting one on lipomas yesterday. It is good food for thought, presenting a different way of thinking about lipomas.
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