Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2005. It was Mattie's third birthday, and we hosted a party for him at our home. I hired a student from the university to run a magic show and he also did balloon animals. He brought along his pet bunny, Hobbs. Hobbs was a hit!
Quote of the day: Sometimes our work as caregivers is not for the faint of heart. But, you will never know what you’re made of until you step into the fire. Step bravely. ~ Deborah A. Beasley
I am exhausted. So much so that while driving this afternoon, I wanted to pull over and close my eyes. I did not, but I truly felt like I needed to rest. My morning started early as I had to get myself up, showered, dressed, have breakfast made, and out the door with Sunny by 7:30am. Sunny visited the oncologist today. He was at the oncology center for about ten hours. I got to meet the oncologist, and he was thoughtful, kind, compassionate, and thorough. He presented facts and options. I was able to tell him about my cancer experiences with Mattie and therefore wanted him to know that I KNOW ALL TOO WELL that the medicine has ramifications on quality of life.
Today we agreed to have more blood work done, to get a more comprehensive urine analysis, using something called Lacuna. Lacuna Diagnostics diagnoses cytology cases at the speed of digital. Much like radiology, Lacuna has created a Point-of-Care solution that moves images of microscope slides through the cloud to specialists for rapid review. This enables a team of pathologists to collaborate with each other and provide high quality diagnostic reporting back to the veterinary team in hours, not days. I also agreed to have an ultrasound guided needle aspiration of Sunny's spleen. I wasn't worried about the 2 inch mass in the spleen until the oncologist told me it could rupture, which is life threatening and also if the mass is cancerous, it could spread these cells all over Sunny's body.
I had to make quick decisions today, and knew I wasn't jumping into aggressive treatment without more facts. The doctor thought this was a sound decision. I also learned today that Sunny's BRAF test from last week came back negative. BRAF is a genetic mutation that is identified in around 80% of dogs with transitional cell carcinoma in the bladder and prostate. The BRAF test is PCR based genetic test that allows detection of this mutation in the urothelial cells that have been shed in the urine. In addition, they collected urine today from Sunny and spun it at high speeds to see if any cancerous cells showed up in the sediment. None did. So this is good news and yet perplexing news. It doesn't mean that Sunny is cancer free, it just may mean he doesn't have a standard form of the disease. NO SURPRISE there!
But what today's testing did reveal was that Sunny has a massive urinary tract infection. So the doctor has him now on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. Mind you I have been saying for a week that he is acting like someone with a UTI. Being the queen of UTI, I know the symptoms. I am so glad Sunny is being treated and I am hoping this eases his discomfort and frequent urinations.
While I left Sunny there all day, I went home and got my dad up at 9:30am to shower and dress. He practically slept 12 hours last night and yet today was wiped out as always. After doing brain games, my dad got it in his head that all the sinks in the house needed their drains cleaned. At this point, drains are LOW, or non-existent on my problem list. But he was perseverating on the issue. So I told him instead of his exercise routine, I was going to take him back upstairs for him to clean all the sink drains with a Q-tip (his instrument of choice). Where I got the patience for this, I HAVE NO IDEA! Once I finished with my dad and got him settled, my mom needed helped and wanted to go to the bank and post office. So that meant I stopped whatever I wanted to do work wise, to manage these issues. Then I took my parents out to lunch. At lunch, Sunny's oncologist called twice, my dad had to jump up to the bathroom, and I am hoping you are getting the picture.... I never stop moving or have a minute's peace. EVER!!!
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