Pouring Rain. You can watch the grass grow. Must be state fair season.
What’s new? Oh, not too much, we are well, the dogs are good, especially Lucy, who is showing no signs of metastatic disease from the cancer she had removed from her neck in July. Did I mention that? Anyway, yeah, a big ugly growth on the back of her neck which we’d known about for months, but suddenly, like in a matter of days, it started growing bigger very quickly. Happy Wife thought it was likely a sebaceous cyst. Needle aspirate said Mast cell tumor. Pathology said, “Aggressive, stage 2.” This is not what you want to hear over the phone while on vacation.
When we returned home we had Lucy genotyped for mutations in the c-Kit gene, which, if positive, may indicate an especially aggressive tumor. Test came back negative. We considered chemotherapy, which would be largely prophylactic because a) barring clear symptoms, it’s very difficult (and expensive) to determine if the cancer has metastasized in a dog, and 2) it is also difficult to determine if the chemo is working if in fact the cancer had metastasized. Our vet advised, “I’d do nothing. The surgical margins were clean. Good chance we got it all. She’s going on 12. I’d spare her the chemo; just coddle her.”
So we did, and so we do.
I’ve started calling her Sweet Pea:
Since when did Lucy-Lou become un-camera shy? What a beautiful pix…I saved it. Happy to hear she is doing well….she looks great.
Mum
Mom,
Isn’t she something. She’s still shutter shy, but occasionally we can sneak a photo of her before she’s aware we’re doing it.
Rod, for some reason I don’t recall seeing a pic of your “Sweat Pea” before. She’s a good looking dog, and I’d coddle her if you wouldn’t, but I don’t have any fear that you won’t.