Visiting

This blog came about so that I could chronicle our lives with a dog with cancer.  Hoping to try to catch up to where we are today while taking care of Kai, his two sisters, the cat and my family.  Each day has brought about its own challenges and moments of joy.  As I sit here now, Kai is watching me intently and wagging his tail each time I giggle at him.  Today is better than yesterday – he was less mobile and acting kind of like he did when he was first diagnosed.  We are unsure what is going on but speculate that he was dehydrated maybe because he was just too tired to get up to drink, maybe because there is internal bleeding or maybe because something entirely different is going on.

My husband and I are both a bit angry that we were not given any information upon Kai’s release other than to watch his incision site, restrict activity and call the vet if we needed anything.  We are new to this and had no idea what to expect when we brought our sweet boy home.  How will he act?  What kinds of symptoms can occur?  What secondary problems may happen as a result of losing his spleen and from the cancer?  What should he be eating?  What things can we do to help?  Ultimately don’t we all want the tools to help someone who needs it?  It is beneficial to the needy and is empowering to everyone.

That is what I am feeling at this moment…back to where we left off in the story previously.

The day after Kai’s surgery was tough.  There really is no way to prepare yourself for devastating news.  In hindsight, I may have prepared in other ways.  Getting our finances in order, supplying our dogs with supplements and nutrition that would prevent cancer, getting the hell out of this house and into one that doesn’t have all the chemical influx from neighbors, industry and lawn sprays.  I forget the number at this point, but a huge percentage of dogs get cancer.  I wish I had known this from the moment we got Kai.

We got an update about Kai on that Tuesday.  Pretty much he was recovering, drinking water but not eating.  We were told we could come and visit him.  We asked if we should bring anything and the vet nurse told us to bring some chicken and rice if we wanted.  We brought a can of Newman’s Own Organic canned food with us.

Kai walked in on his own and spent time laying on the floor with us.  He ate most of the can of food and drank a lot of water.  He didn’t seem to be in pain, but did whine.  As a dog that rarely whines, it was heartbreaking to hear.  He was on pain medication so he seemed drowsy to me, but he did recognize us.  We also took him outside to go to the bathroom.  Frequent urination is common with all the drinking as well as the IV fluids.  I am sure he tried to hold his urine as long as he could – no idea how often if at all the hospital took him out – but ultimately he did wet the blanket he was laying on. 

I was sad to go home without him.  I know he had better rest and the critical care he needed at the hospital, but I missed seeing his face and holding him.  It was a good visit though as he was much improved from his initial state and we were able to spend about 2 hours with him helping him to eat and just being with him.  The nurses and office staff get a big kudos from me for allowing us to spend so much time there.  They have postings in the exam rooms with strict visiting hours and a time limit of 15 minutes per visit.  We felt very fortunate to spend so much time with Kai.

We did see the surgeon briefly.  He let us know that Kai would likely be released the next day.  I don’t remember much more of what he said other than he liked us and that Kai was still a very sick dog. He also stressed that having the surgery was our decision.  I wonder if the vets there would, if Kai had been theirs,  put him down.   I am not sure what we did for him to say he liked us.  I only guess it is because we opted to try the surgery and not euthanize.  I believe he said some more things about Kai’s condition to stress the fact that he was so sick still.  At one point I told him that we understood the reality of the situation and just wanted to be able to bring Kai home.  Any time we had with him was worth it.

A bad day

Four weeks ago, on 09/27/10, we woke up to our lovely dog, Kai, having difficulty getting up and not wanting to eat.  He had been acting differently for a couple days, but that Monday morning seemed far worse.

I called our regular vet telling them we suspected an obstruction in his abdomen as his belly felt distended.  I let them know his other symptoms – heavy breathing, getting up with difficulty, not eating.  He was alert and responsive, but we knew the situation was not good as he has always been first up in the morning ready to go out and then eat a hearty breakfast.  Our regular vet said they could “maybe squeeze us in” and gave us an appointment several hours later.  I hung up feeling shocked and angry.  Our dog was in distress and they tried to “squeeze us in.”

My husband had mentioned a vet several of his co-workers used that was also a friend of a friend.  I called them and they told us to come right over.  This was a great sense of relief that we were going to get help and it was also one of many things that have happened to us since this day that have truly made us feel blessed.

Alpha Veterinary Care is in New Jersey so we had a bit of a drive there, but made it safely and Kai did well getting in and out of the car.  He used up most of his energy doing this, but did manage to walk from the waiting room to the exam room unaided. 

Kai was examined by Dr. Bruce Frey.  Dr. Frey outlined several possible reasons for his condition.  He recommended Kai have an x-ray and took him to the back area to have this done.  When they both came back, we looked at the x-ray which indicated it was not an obstruction, but was very hazy due to an accumulation of blood in the abdomen.  Dr. Frey let us know he was bleeding internally and showed us the samples of blood taken from each side of his belly.  Dr. Frey told us that the bleeding was likely due to cancer and suggested an ultrasound might give a better picture.  The u/s tech at Alpha had taken a new job elsewhere so they were without anyone that could do the testing and read the results.   We were referred to Valley Central Referral in Allentown, PA for the u/s.

We waited for quite awhile in the waiting room at Valley Central.  They get a mix of emergency cases as well as those cases that clinics may not be able to handle due to lack of equipment or doctor skill/knowledge.  We were given forms to fill out and also had to pay up front for the ultrasound – $1400.  The u/s showed cancer in the spleen and blood throughout the abdomen.  The doctors were unsure if the cancer was in any other organs.  The recommendation was surgery to remove the spleen and explore the surrounding area or euthanasia.  They then recommended an x-ray of the lungs to see if the cancer had spread there.  Thankfully it had not or we may have gone with the recommendation not to have surgery and to euthanize.

In Valley Central form, we were asked to pay in advance.  The surgery estimate was $2000-3000.  With the surgery, Kai was given 3 months to live.  With the surgery and chemo, he was given 7 months.  The surgeon was forthright letting us know if things looked really bad they would call and likely recommended euthanizing on the operating table.  He also told us  that Kai might not make it through the surgery, but the plan was to remove the spleen and stop the bleeding.  We consented and went home to wait to hear from the doctor.  On the way home we got a call from Valley Central saying our credit card would not go through.

When I got home I called Discover Card and because our existing balance was so high and we had big charges put on that day, they put a hold on our card.  After discussing things with the phone representative, a dog lover, they raised our limit to cover the surgery. 

Hours later we heard from the surgeon.  The spleen was removed as well as 4 liters of blood.  The cancer had spread to the liver into small tumors throughout.  The doctor suspected it was hemangiosarcoma, but would not know until the biopsy results came back.  Kai was in recovery but we could visit him he next day.  The next 48 hours were critical.