Really worried...

Yesterday and today, Dylan was hurting so much. I feel so helpless not being able to do anything about it. Yesterday, he also left a small amount of food in his bowl, and that really got me worried. This morning he was eating ok, as well as this evening. I have stopped putting some of the tablets straight in the food as he doesn't like some and then leaves all the food around it.

This afternoon he was really uncomfortable but was then resting on the sofa all afternoon. He felt better by the evening, ate all of his dinner and looked a bit more comfortable.

My final decision is to go ahead with radio therapy. I will be talking to Davide tomorrow to get this organised. Dylan won't do well with an amputation and I can't do just nothing as the current pain relief management isn't working too brilliantly. So radiation therapy it is.

The big decision

I have started Dylan on the higher dose of the Pardale and Tramadol. I can't see a huge amount of difference at the moment. But then he would be in some additional pain due to the biopsy (and he certainly has quite a considerable bruise around the site), so perhaps that is the reason.

He is eating well though and goes to toilet normally, so hopefully he will pick up over the weekend.

I have started today leaving him separated in the kitchen when I go out. I am just worried that either one of the others will react out of character due to his illness and hurt him, or that he stumbles or something and they react... or indeed that they touch him accidently where it hurts and he reacts. So I think it is safest and best to just keep him separate when I am not there to supervise and interfere immediately if something happens. I know he doesn't like it too much, but luckily I am at home most of the time at the moment, so it isn't stressful for him really.

Just now I had a call from Davide. They couldn't get any useful result from the spleen biopsy. So we have no further help from there. Now it is down to making a decision: do we amputate (and leave him to carry extra weight on a leg that has got a metal plate in it), do we use radiation, or do we just use pain medication and when it doesn't work (anymore) take that final and last step.

I will take the weekend to think this over. I have a feeling that pain medication won't work, as it just isn't making enough difference now. My gut feeling about an amputation is that it will not be to Dylan's advantage, as he will struggle a little, and it will only give him a few extra months at most. So I suspect I will be going down the route of radiation until that stops helping enough to give my Dylan a reasonable quality of life.

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse...

The bad news for Dylan just keep rolling in... Davide couldn't actually do a bone biopsy today as when he went into the bone, loads of blood spurted out. He said he'd never seen anything like it and being the head of the oncology department, he obviously knows his stuff and has done plenty of bone biopsies before. Whatever is in Dylan's bone is basically eating the bone away from the inside and all that's left is just blood everywhere, including the swelling that has appeared since yesterday. So we are still none the wiser as to what exactly is going on in his leg, Davide said he couldn't believe that one month down the line, we still don't know what we are dealing with. What we do know though is that whatever "it" is, is very aggressive and nasty... and things really aren't looking good for my precious boy. We have nearly doubled his pain medication now to see whether we can get Dylan comfortable that way. And that's the best we can do now really, just keeping Dylan comfortable. Tomorrow we will get the biopsy result for the spleen which will give us an indication whether cancer is present there too.

I feel absolutely drained. I had to get Flash to his first hydrotherapy session tonight as well, and as I didn't want to leave Dylan on his own, after the anaesthetic I asked Ann whether she would be able to sit with him, which she very kindly did. (Flash did great in the water treadmill!).

Dylan has eaten his dinner now, I have given him the increased dosages of Pardale and Tramadol and he is asleep now; not deeply, but at least resting.

Biopsies tomorrow

Dylan has his next appointment at the AHT tomorrow for 2.30 pm for the biopsies. That should hopefully give us the answers we need to make the right decisions for him.

I have added the Tramadol to the mix of meds since last night, but so far, I haven't seen any difference yet.

I took a couple of videos of him last night when he was waiting for his dinner. He is very well and bright in himself which is a good thing! Bless him!

 

Yet again the worst possible news

Davide just called with the details for Dylan's tests on Friday. They show that he has not just got aggressive cancer in his bone, but also a mass growing in the hollow part of the bone. It is just getting worse and worse... :-(
He will call back tomorrow with regards to an appointment for a biopsy... though I will ask some questions about it to make sure it is the right thing to do as of course like any procedures, there are risks to it. They are not sure whether this is a primary or secondary cancer. It is the wrong place for primary cancer, but they cannot find any primary site for it either...

Dylan has been on Metacam and Pardale since Saturday and it is helping quite a lot. Dylan is definitely more comfortable and much brighter again, he walks on all four legs again, but it is still painful enough for him to take the weight off that leg completely when standing. So from tonight, I will also add the Tramadol to the mix. Hopefully that will improve things further.

I feel so helpless and desperate.

Update after AHT yesterday

Dylan was in so much pain, and the paracetamol didn't really touch it - at most it might have taken the edge off the pain. But on Wednesday and Thursday he could hardly settle, he couldn't put any weight on his leg anymore and he didn't sleep properly. I felt so very helpless, yet there was nothing at all that I could do to make him better.

On Friday, we had a 10 o'clock appointment with Davide at the Animal Health Trust. They greeted each other like old friends, and it was so lovely to see how Dylan was more than happy in the AHT environment and around the staff there. This makes decisions on treatment/diagnostics a bit easier, knowing that he doesn't get stressed by it at all. In fact, he went virtually to sleep in the consulting room whilst Davide and I were talking. LOL

I updated Davide on how Dylan was doing, and he noted how much worse he was. Just over two weeks ago, Dylan was shifting his weight away slightly from his hind leg, but was otherwise using it normally. Now he didn't put any weight on it at all, and he was clearly in a lot of pain.

I then left Dylan to have x-rays and ultrasound and possibly a CT scan. As always Dylan just walked off with the vet nurse without a backwards glance... LOL

I went back to the AHT for 5.30 pm, and Davide updated me on how things were going. Dylan also had the CT scan as the x-rays didn't give a clear enough picture on the lesion. He didn't have the detailed results yet, but he said that Dylan's lesion in his bone was definitely aggressive and it had grown since the last x-ray - in other words, it is cancer as well. The only question now is whether it is primary or secondary bone cancer. That will be determined by a bone biopsy that will be done next week.

I came home with three types of painkillers for Dylan: metacam, pardale and tramadol. I am giving him metacam and pardale (the latter is paracetamol and codein) for now, and if needed I can add tramadol.

Dylan was already more comfortable on his leg when he came home, and he was pretty bright and feeling fairly comfortable. He sure was keen to eat his dinner too, bless him. (I took this picture last night shortly after we got home).

 

This morning, I gave him the metacam and the pardale in his food. And he is definitely much more comfortable on his leg now. He is still in some pain, but he is putting weight on it again, walking on it more or less normally again and he even jumped on the sofa this afternoon. I am so glad that he is so much better and I hope he will continue to improve.

 

He has got a terminal illness, and I have to come to terms with that, however hard it is (because after all, Dylan was meant to live forever, wasn't he... :-(  ). But for now, we are all a little happier and enjoying every moment I can spend with him.

 

On Monday, Davide will call me to give me more details on the findings from yesterday's imaging, and I will also update him on Dylan's progress with the pain medication. And I'll book another appointment for Dylan's spleen and bone biopsies.

 

I have also sent an email to a local acupuncture vet as Birgit recommended it. But Roberta Baxter says that it isn't worth doing as bone cancer pain doesn't really respond to acupuncture... which is something that I suspected. So I think I will hold off with that - for now at least.

 

And here's a picture I have taken this afternoon. :-) (And just looking at Dylan now, he is asleep and dreaming... he hasn't been dreaming for a few days because he didn't go into a deep sleep. So good to see him getting proper rest again).

 

 

 

 

 

 

More xrays and scans

I sent an email to Davide to find out what I can give Dylan now after stopping the Previcox. He said to put him on paracetamol until Friday when we can discuss his pain medication more. So Dylan is going back to the Animal Health Trust again this Friday. The pain in his back leg has definitely got worse compared to even before he was on Previcox as he now limps on it. I hope the paracetamol will give Dylan some relief as he is in considerable pain and it isn't nice to see him so uncomfortable. Birgit wants me to try acupuncture, so will need to sort that out for him as well.

Previcox is causing problems

I have stopped the Previcox for Dylan. I will need to talk to the vets tomorrow regarding that. But a) it didn't seem to make any difference and b) his poos started being affected and last night he had virtually diarrhea, so it isn't doing any good for his digestive system. Since being on Zeel (a homeopathic remedy mix that is injected) he is much better and bouncier, but still not 100% so there is still pain. Having said that he still has got three more injections to go with that, and it does seem to improve a little more after each injection. As I said, I will be having a chat with my vets tomorrow as to how best to proceed.

Injection of Zeel

I love my vets - all of them. Rachel, my vet  in Diss, has agreed to inject Dylan with a homeopathic remedy (Zeel) that Birgit, my holistic vet, sent. Hopefully this will give Dylan more pain relief for his leg as what he has so far (including Previcox) doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

3 days on Previcox

Dylan has now been on Previcox for three days, and I can't see any difference yet - if anything, it has got worse and I seem to detect a very slight limp now when he trots. I will give it a couple more days, and will also get in touch with my primary vet tomorrow to see whether they are prepared to inject the Zeel. I haven't had a chance yet to do that.

A few pics

So that's 24 hours since Dylan has had his first Previcox tablet and I can't see a difference yet, but I guess it will take longer than that.

We went for a lovely walk into the fen and past the pigs this morning and Dylan kept up really well, in fact, I had to stop him from running (on the lead) a couple of times, and he trotted most of the way round with ease. He was very happy to be out and about. I think he really missed his walks over the last week.

Here are some pictures I took this morning, just because... :-)

Previcox

I picked up some Previcox from Uplands Way today for the pain coming from his leg. I love the way all my vets just work together! The oncologist said he needed pain relief, but to check with my holistic vet re compatibility with supplements (he was referring to CV247 which includes aspirin). So I checked with Birgit, she said to use Previcox (and not give the aspirin part of CV247 at the same time), and my primary vet (Rachel) prescribed it without any fuss at all. How great is that, no one is being awkward and everyone is just having Dylan's best interest at heart.

So Dylan is now on Previcox (and I also give him Slippery Elm to hopefully prevent any digestive problems), and Birgit has also given me additional homeopathic tablets for pain relief. Further she has also given me some vials to inject. It is called Zeel. I will take these to Rachel and see whether she will inject them for me. Although I used to inject rabbits (and birds) regularly, I have never injected my dogs and don't feel hugely comfortable doing that. So I do hope that Rachel will be ok doing it for me. I shall give her a call tomorrow.

Hopefully from tomorrow, Dylan will feel better on his hind leg and I can start taking him for walks again. I think he does miss them. (He hasn't been walked since last Thursday when I noticed that he was lame).

And I also realised that half of Europe is working for Dylan: Swiss owner, British primary vet, Italian oncologist and German holistic vet. LOL

Spleen... it is getting even more complicated!

The plot thickens... poor old Dylan. They had the results back from the sample of the spleen they took yesterday as it was slightly enlarged. Davide said to me yesterday that although it was a little enlarged, he didn't expect any problems with it... but it came back with an accumulation of mast cells... this - much like the lesions in his leg - may or may not be cancer spread. Davide is stumped and they can't work out where it all comes from and what the connections are as again, this is not a location where a soft tissue sarcoma would spread to. It's just a matter of wait and see at the moment. As planned Dylan will go back to the AHT in about three weeks for more x-rays and scans to assess any changes and perhaps give us some answers. In the meantime, I will continue with the holistic supplements plus Previcox for his leg pain.

Things are not looking good...

This morning, Davide called me first thing to say that he is doing well and that he will have surgery around lunch time. Before that they will take the x-rays of his chest, spine and hind leg.

And that's when the bad news started... Davide called again just before lunch, saying that they took x-rays of the backend and they have found lesions in Dylan's tibia. He said that they weren't sure what it was, that it looks like cancer spread, but that soft tissue sarcoma doesn't spread to bones... I had to make a decision as to how to proceed, and agreed to do a scan of the abdomen next to see what is going on in there. Davide then called back and said that there wasn't anything to see there really as it all looked normal with the exception of the spleen which is slightly enlarged. They had taken as sample of it and sent it off to the lab.
The question then was what to do regarding the tumour in view of the new findings. This was one of the hardest decisions and some of the most stressful moments in my life as Dylan was on the operating table and I needed to decide whether to do a CAT scan (which I decided against) and wehther to go ahead with the surgery, knowing there might be more cancer in his body, or whether to cancel the surgery until we had further information. In the end after discussing it extensively with Davide (in of course a very short space of time), I decided to abandon the surgery for now and wake Dylan up. And that's what they did.

I was then able to go and pick him up at 3.30 pm. I was so tearful on my way there and really had to pull myself together making sure I didn't burst into tears when I arrived. After having a chat with Davide, and looking at the x-rays (we didn't have the results of the spleen sample yet), we decided to re-do the tests in three weeks time and see how it developed.

Davide said to get pain relief for him, but to check with Birgit as to compatibility with his supplements.

I have to say I am really impressed about the communication from Davide, I am kept in the loop all the time and feel really supported.

The silver lining in all this is that Dylan is in excellent general health and no spread of the cancer has been found in the places where it would be expected to spread to like bladder, prostate and lungs. The problem is where does that lesion come from... is it just a bone issue as such, or is there another primary source of cancer somewhere that has metastasized into the bone.

Dylan was a bit dozy when he got home as is to be expected. I gave him about half his normal food and he ate well and brightened up by the end of the evening.

Appointment at the Animal Health Trust for diagnostics and surgery

Today was our appointment with Dylan's oncologist at the Animal Health Trust.

After a short chat with Davide to update on the latest, I also mentioned that Dylan was shifting weight off his left hind leg since the Wednesday evening last week; no limping, just taking his weight off that leg when standing. I asked whether they could x-ray it whilst Dylan was under anaesthetics anyway. Davide said that he would get someone to look at it and then do the x-rays. Dylan was admitted (as always he just walked off without a backwards glance... he is so used to it all) and I went home. He was supposed to have his bloods done and provided all was well, the excision of the tumour was then scheduled for Tuesday.

Later in the afternoon Davide called and confirmed that Dylan's bloods came all back fine and that he has settled in well (and apparently he isn't singing either but sleeping quite deeply), which is comforting.

Apart from chest x-rays and excision of the tumour, they will also x-ray his hips and lumbar region as their surgeon thinks that this is where the problem is rather than the leg itself.