11th July was my last day at work with Sunrider, so since then I have been working from home with obviously visiting clients during the day. So although the dogs are on their own at times, they have my company much more now, which is lovely. I work in the animal room, so they are not around me all the time, but I am there, I spend lunch with them and I have no commute. Bliss!
We also went to the beach once when Karen and David and Chucky came to visit us for a couple of days. The dogs enjoyed the beach, though none of them really went into the sea... none of them like the moving water. LOL
We are doing lots of lovely walks of course. Here are some pictures.
In Thelnetham Fen and across the field in Blo' Norton
In Hinderclay Fen
I am so glad that I am at home with the dogs now... I have been visiting the vets quite a bit over the last few weeks and here is what's happened with Dylan.
Dylan hadn't been doing bad and still joined into all the walks with the other three. As time went on, he did sometimes get a bit tired on the way back from our long walk into Hinderclay Fen, so I arranged it that we only did this one two or three times a week whilst the rest of the days we went across the field on the one-hour walk.
Dylan (and Flash) had another chiro treatment with Louise at the end of July.
I have to add here that Dylan's hearing has notably got worse over the last few months and unless I talk very loudly to him now (a bit like you would with a hard-of hearing elderly person) he can't understand or even hear me. Bless him!
At the weekend of 21st September I noticed a lump appearing on Dylan's right front leg. It felt strange and not like a fatty lump. I took him (and Flash, who had a lipoma) to the vets and got it checked out. The vet (Rachel) took a needle aspiration and although Flash's lump was pure fat, Dylan's wasn't... so it was sent off to the lab.
On Friday, 26th September, Rachel called with the lab result - they found spindle cells and there was a chance that the tumour was malignant. So we went ahead with removing the tumour, but as it had infiltrated the leg tissue so much and there was no way a margin could be removed, a debulking biopsy was done; in other words as much as possible of the tumour was removed knowing that it wasn't a complete removal. That happened on Thursday, 2nd October (last week).
Dylan got through the surgery well and from Friday was fine again (though very whingy and clingy on the Thursday evening). Rachel called me after the surgery with pretty bad news. The tumour definitely looked malignant and she wanted to contact an oncologist straight away, to which I of course agreed. The tumour was of course sent off to the lab too for further confirmation.
So here we are now, a week later waiting for the lab results to confirm what exactly we are dealing with; what we do know though is that it is cancer.
On Monday, the bandage came off and Dylan has been wearing a buster collar since. He doesn't like it, but as soon as I take it off he goes straight to the wound... I think it is painful or itchy, or both! I feel so helpless and stressed, whilst trying to be happy and upbeat with the dogs, especially Dylan. He doesn't know anything of course, bless him!
(He also had a warty type growth removed from his head, hence why he is looking a bit like Frankenstein's monster LOL).
So here I am, worried sick... and there is a swelling where the wound is. Only I don't think it is a swelling, I think the tumour is already growing back again! What am I going to do? Amputation isn't an option. Dylan already visibly struggled more on his hind legs when his leg was bandaged and he moved his weight away from that leg. So his hind legs wouldn't take the extra weight for long...
Over the last few walks, Dylan really struggled when I took him with the other ones. Even already on the way out to the field he slows down. I am quite sure also that his leg hurts him when walking. So I have decided with a very heavy heart that from tomorrow I will take him out separately! He won't like being left behind on his own, but I haven't really got a choice. I will give him a stuffed kong to keep him occupied, though I am not sure that will help. And depending on how he is doing, perhaps a couple of times a week he can come with the other ones. But I just don't think he can cope with normal daily walks anymore now. Whether that's just his age in general, or whether the cancer is starting to actually affect him... I don't know! :-(
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