Short history of finding Hardee's cancer - Aug. 15, 2010

On Sunday, Aug. 1st 2010, I was grooming Hardee when he had a blood tinged, thick yellowish discharge coming from his nose. The vet was closed, so first thing Monday morning I took him for an appointment.  Radiographs clearly showed something in his sinus, which I assumed was infection.  The vet thought it was fungus, so blood serology tests were sent off for the 4 most common fungi.  Those results came back negative.

On Monday, Aug 9, we had an Internist appointment.  During that appointment I was told that they thought it was NOT any type of infection.  I didn't ask what they thought it was because I knew.  Hardee went directly to surgery where under anesthesia they did a CT scan, endoscopies (rhinoscopy) up the nose and through the back of the throat into both nasal passages, numerous biopsies, and blood work.  The results were not good.  Radiology and pathology reports showed Hardee had a tumor called a chondrosarcoma.  Chondrosarcomas are very aggressive and have a high metastatic rate, meaning the cancer can spread to other parts of the body easily.

Hardee had to stay in ICU and was released the next afternoon, Tuesday.  We had an Oncology appointment scheduled for Thurs, Aug. 12, and I was anxious to hear what that Dr. had to say.  I wanted that tumor out of him desperately and wanted to get things rolling. 

While waiting for that appointment, I was busy caring for Hardee.  Hardee had been bleeding from his nose continuously since I had brought him home from ICU.  Since Jim, Hardee's dad, was at work, I couldn't do bleeding control and clean up blood at the same time.  We isolated Hardee to the front of the house (family room, breakfast nook, and kitchen area) trying to limit where the blood would be.  Besides the draining of blood from his nose, Hardee now also sneezes, snorts, and does this choking-coughing thing that sends blood flying out everywhere.  I quickly gave up trying to save carpets, furniture, and the tile floor's grout, and accepted that those things will need to be replaced.  The good thing about "things" is that they can be replaced, but Hardee cannot, so we just didn't care about "things" anymore.

I called to Hardee's internist on Wed. saying that he was having difficulty breathing, had gurgling in his throat, and was making horrible sounds when trying to breathe since I brought him home yesterday.  He said that it was from swelling from the surgery and that bleeding could continue for some time.  I could smell a horrible smell that I recognized, and I knew he had an infection.  Thursday morning couldn't come early enough where I could get him into his oncologist to try to get him diagnosed and start antibiotics, and find out the plan of action to fight Hardee's tumor.  Without question the oncologist accepted my word that Hardee had an infection and said he would be sent home with antibiotics.

Hardee had to stay at the hospital that day, Thursday, to have general anesthesia again to have more CT scans done of his chest and abdomen, and have needle aspirates done of his lymph nodes to find out if the cancer had spread.  That information is important so we can make a more informed decision about Hardee's treatment plan.  I asked them to try and find the infection and get a culture & sensitivity run while they were in there and intubating him.  There was copious amounts of thick, horrible smelling, infection throughout the back of Hardee's throat and nose.  The results of that day's procedues was good news in that the cancer has not spread.

Hardee is breathing better but still not normal, and is still listless and lethargic.   Hardee is still bleeding from his nose but now the blood is mixed with mucous starting yesterday.  Just tonight, we have seen an improvement in the amount of blood that is in the mucous coming from his nose and an improvement in the nose drainage.  One of us, mostly me because Jim has to work, stays up with him every night to do bleeding control and clear the blood from Hardee's nose so he doesn't ingest so much of it.  We hope he is making a turn around from this infection.

Friday night I got a call from the radiation oncologist in Carlsbad, CA trying to finalize a treatment plan for Hardee.  In my next post I will write about the options available to fight cancer in dogs and which of these options we have selected for Hardee's treatment.

Until then, it is all about joy and all about Hardee!