RePete's Blog about her Fight with Hemangiosarcoma

Nov. 15, 2007

This whole thing started on Oct. 16 at 7:32pm. Now, I know what you are thinking... how can I put such a precise time on this. Well, I took my dogs, RePete and Max, to Petco for a dog food run. It's good training and sometimes great socialization for them. The receipt has the exact time I checked out of there.

About two hours later, while I was goofing off and watching a dvd, the dogs jumped up and ran outside to 'check something out'. They do this frequently and usually it's nothing to be concerned about. They don't bark (most of the time). There is something that needs to be checked out in their minds, so they run outside and check it out.

The unusual part of it was that RePete limped out of the house.

When RePete came back inside I checked out her leg. There was a tiny little bump on the outside of her right rear leg, right at the hock.

The next day she was walking normally on the leg. I cancelled the vet appointment. I figured it was just a bruise. I treated it with frozen peas (better than ice) and an aspirin twice a day for two days.

The leg was back to normal until about a week and a half later. The hock swelled up - a LOT. I made an appointment with my local vet.

RePete's leg was xrayed. As expected it was not broken. It also did not show any signs of osteosarcoma.

A blood sample and aspiration (from 4 sites around the hock) showed normal levels on all the stuff they look at. RePete started on antibiotics. The leg started oozing blood at the site were they shaved her hair.

The leg continued to get worse. There was blood oozing from the skin that was shaved for the aspiration. She was not using the leg at all.

I was refered to an oncologist. More tests were done. Chest xrays, blood sample, another aspiration and finally a biopsy. She was started on pain meds, different antibiotics and a DHA supplement.

She dramatically improved during the next week. She had more energy and started using the leg again - although she did still favor it. The biopsy site healed well. The oozing site degraded. It kept bleeding more each day and the wound got bigger and deeper.

The biopsy confirmed that it was hemangiosarcoma. I was notified of this on Nov. 13.

Treatment options are amputation, radiation and do nothing. The 'best' treatment depends upon whether or not it has metasticized to other parts of her body and the grade of the tumor.

If it has spread and is a high grade tumor then the do nothing option seems to be the best. The problem is that we don't know what grade the tumor is. An ultrasound and xrays may be able to detect if it has spred to other organs.

If it has not spread and is low grade, then amputation is the 'best' option.

If it is high grade or has spread, then amputation would not be the best thing to do. She'd die before you'd see the benefit of the painless leg.

From what I've read, hemangiosarcoma is not curable. RePete will die from this. When is the question, as well as how her life will be in the remaining days.

Late in the afternoon, I took RePete to the local vet because her open wound kept bleeding. They put a 'pressure' bandage on it.

Nov. 16, 2007

Today RePete's toes are swollen and she seems to be in a lot of pain. She won't eat the yummy dog food with her pills. I haven't been able to give her a pain pill. Other than that she's alert. She did not come outside to watch Max and me play fetch. She did go outside and relieve herself, but then went back inside to rest.

I took her to the local vet again and said to remove that bandage. It was doing more harm than good. I think it actually precipitated what followed over the weekend. I replaced gauze & vet wrap as needed. But she kept bleeding.

I finally was able to talk to the oncologist today. He said the if it's a low grade tumor the life expectancy is in year(s). High grade tumors the life expectancy is months. We don't know what grade the tumor is. The way to find out is to amputate and get a much bigger sample of the tumor. Basically, that means if it is a high grade tumor, and she gets the leg amputated, she probably only live a few more months. However, if it's a low grade tumor, then she might live year(s). Then again she's already 10 years old. An ultrasound may determine if it has spread to other organs.

Path 1: suture the ooze wound, change to a holistic diet and expect death within months to a year, depending upon the grade. QOL factor: leg will continue to be painful and will get worse. will probably have to put her down.

Path 2: Do the ultrasound, if negative for spread, then amputate. Learn the grade and either get months or year(s). QOL factor: amputation would show immediate QOL, but if she dies within months, it's sort of not worth it. no amputation because it has spred - see path 1. best case - amputation, no spred and low grade - she could live a year or two.

Path 3: Do radiation and hope for the best. QOL factor: in-between the others.

6 pm Friday - I think I got a pain pill down her throat. I kind of confined her by sitting on her, but not resting my weight on her. I opened her mouth, dropped the pill in and squirted same water in with a syringe. She swallowed and the pill never was spat out. I don't like fighting her with the pills, but she has not had pain meds since last night. Today she did not want to eat. not the canned food or fresh cooked chicken. Maybe she needs to be put down this weekend. We'll see what the weekend brings.

Nov. 17, 2007

Nov. 18, 2007

I called vets to see who was open and ask about putting down a dog. It took several tries before I was able to get the words out. By far, the stoopidest question from the person at the vet was 'What's wrong with your dog?' It doesn't matter what the problem is. The person calling needs to know the hows and whys of putting down a dog.

At 5 pm, I shook the car keys. RePete knew that meant a ride in the truck. She got in on her own. I went down to the place in Murrieta, where the oncologist worked (altho he was not there). I left the dogs in the truck and walked into the lobby to say I was there to put down a dog. I couldn't get the words out. Max, RePete and I sat on the grass (the grass far away from where the other dogs did their duty) outside for almost an hour. RePete was aware of her surroundings. She got in and out of the truck on her own. When she got back in the truck, I drove back home.

Nov. 19, 2007

At 3 am Monday, Max woke me up and RePete was in bad shape. I drove back to Murrieta. After what seemed an interminally long time, RePete was put down at about 5am.

The vets said they could not suture up the wound because the skin would not hold the stitches. She would not have made it to an amputation appointment today anyway.

Hemangiosarcoma is an agressive cancer. The first sign of something wrong was on Oct 16. She died on Nov. 19. One month was all it took to go from a perfectly healthy dog to a dead dog. The really sad part was that the disease did not appear to be threatening until after almost two weeks. Then another week and a half on 'waiting for lab results'. She was diagnosed on Nov. 13.

The hard part was regonizing the cancer. It looked like a bruise at first. The swelling went down for the next week and a half. Then it flared up. The time for lab tests to come back added weeks to determining the cancer.

RePete did not even live through the past weekend. The earliest her surgergy could be scheduled was today or tommorrow.

I have a bunch of drugs that were renewed last Friday and have never been opened. If you need Aceprom 25mg, Rimadyl 100mg, Tramadol 50 mg or Sulfa-Trimethoprim 480mg - let me know at pete_AT_HemetAnimalRescue.com, replace _AT_ with @.