More Stress For The Holidays
All of the doggy patients got squeaky toys for Christmas at the oncology center. They got to choose which toy they wanted. One opportunistic dog grabbed three toys and took off running with them. Kelsey is shy and wouldn't choose any, so I chose one for him.
At the visit, the vet found a large, swollen lymph gland. She did a needle biopsy to see what it is, but didn't get a good specimen. The procedure has to be repeated.
I'm not optimistic. My guess is that the chemo isn't working and that the cancer is growing with a vengeance. It could be treated more aggressively, but I'm not sure I can afford to do that. I've already spent close to eight thousand dollars. At some point, I'm going to have to allow nature to take its course. I hate cancer and worrying about money.
I wish that my employer covered pets in their health insurance policy. If I had kids, the health insurance would be free, but because I was unlucky in child-bearing and had dogs instead, they're not covered by insurance. That sounds like discrimination to me.
Written by Melissa on 7:14 PM
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Melissa blogging from sunny Santa Clarita, Southern California, United States.
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4 Comments:
It's so hard to deal with sick pets this time of year. I had to have my beloved Birman, Pasha, euthanized two weeks ago. They told me 2 or 3 years ago his kidneys were failing and it could be 3 mos, could be 6 mos., so I was lucky to have him longer than that. He would have been 18 in March on my birthday. Best of luck with yours.
Karen
I'm sorry about Pasha. Pets should live as long as their owners.
I'm so sorry to hear about Kelsey. At least if the biopsy had come you would know how far along the cancer is. Which nodes are affected? I know the neck biopsies are easy quick and fairly painless, at least they were for Heidi. He did the biopsy and then showed me the cells right there in the office, of course they had to be sent out to be confirmed, but she should have scoped the sample right then and you would'nt have to go back. I would ask her if she looks at the slides there, they can see if they still look like the primary, or if they have become undifferentiated. You could get lucky, remember with Murph they said he had only a short time but he really had alot of good life left in him. Keep me in the loop and give him a kiss for me.
It is on his neck on the same side as the cancerous growth that was on his head. It is the first place that the cancer would be expected to met to. If it is cancerous, there are some things they can do to reduce the size, but this is getting to be so expensive I don't know if I should be putting this much money into what we already know is a terminal condition.
It doesn't sound like they look at the slides there. I'm not making a special trip to go back, though. With the next appoitnment they will try again.
I just kissed Kelsey for you on the lips.
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