Thurs., Sept. 16, 2010 - Signs of Hardee's nasal tumor

This blog post will chronicle our path through the signs of a nasal tumor.  Only problem is, we didn't know it was a nasal tumor at the time.  By writing this, I hope to spare someone else the agony of what Hardee, and both Jim and I are going through.  You can't possibly judge me as harshly as I do myself, but these signs and symptoms were easily explained away.  All the signs seem so crystal clear now.  There lies the evil of hindsight.  And so it begins.

Over three years ago when Hardee was young and Jim was deployed again, I noticed some very light, as in pinkish, blood tinged spots on my bedding.  If my bed blanket hadn't been beige, you probably wouldn't have noticed them.  There was just one spot, then a couple others over time right where Hardee slept while Jim was gone.  I took Hardee to the Vet, but because we didn't know where the blood was coming from, the vet said that maybe he had chewed something hard and that his gum was bleeding.

Hardee's crate mat is also beige, and over time, I noticed these same very light blood tinged spots on his crate mat always near the edges.  Because of where the spots were, I always suspected the nose or mouth was the source of the blood but couldn't get any Vet to take me seriously about them.  I went through many Vets over the years, disappointed in them not knowing what was wrong with our boy but also knowing that they thought I was a kook.  I wrote to some friends on a list and asked if they had any ideas.  Some suggested prostate issues and we had that checked out.  Nothing could be found, and the spots of very light tinged blood weren't showing that consistently.  I hate like hell to write this, but over time, the pinkish spots became the norm.  We still had no proof as to where the blood tinged spots were coming from.

Something Hardee did and still does that could easily be explained away was he rubbed his face on anything he could find, the ground, our legs, the chairs, the sofa, etc.  Hardee has Distichiasis (eyelashes that turn inward), and we thought he was rubbing his eyes because those eyelashes were bothering him.  Also, I had read on some of the lists that PWDs rub the walls and other things, up and down hallways, etc. so I thought this was a normal occurrence.  We now know Hardee was rubbing his face and muzzle area because of the growing tumor.

Hardee also had allergy and ear problems, and for a year we got wrapped up in that.  The very light blood tinged spots were still showing occasionally and now were a little darker, meaning not so diluted.  We continued to follow the path of the problems that had been diagnosed and ran with those.  I guess you could say we ignored the spots of light blood, still not knowing from where they came, and followed the known path hoping that if we cleared up the other problems, the blood tinged spots would go away.

Around the middle of May of this year, I had Hardee's eyes Cerfed.  Shortly after the Cerf appointment, Hardee's right eye started to water.  I called the opthamologist's office and asked if they could have done anything to plug his tear duct.  They said no.  Since Hardee was having some bad allergies at the time, I chocked it up to his allergies making his eye water.  I did wonder why it would be just one eye though.  We now know that the tumor had grown big enough to block his tear duct, thus the tearing of just one eye.

While sitting in Hardee's Dermatologist's office in late May of this year talking to the Derm., I saw a drop of light colored blood at the end of Hardee's nose.  After over three years, we finally had proof from where the blood was coming.  The Dermatologist had scoped Hardee's ears, so I asked her if she could also scope his nose.  The answer was no because she just sedates, and he would have to be under general anesthesia to have his nose scoped and needed it done by a specialist.  We tried looking up inside his nose but couldn't see anything.  I don't remember if I brought up the tearing eye to the Derm. or not, and evidently she didn't see it as she never mentioned it.  I did bring up the fact that Hardee's nose had a couple small spots where it had lost it's pigment, but she didn't have an explanation for that.

By now, monetary issues were a problem with going to a specialist.  I had lost my business due to the economy the year before and Jim had been unemployed for over a year.  We had used the last of our savings on Hardee's numerous ear and allergy problems.  We attended the last agility trial that we had already signed up for, the Mission Circuit, then I started saving money for the next couple months for his nose scoping.

This time I didn't tell friends or ask anyone about the nose blood because it was becoming a joke about my hypochondriac state that I was always in concerning Hardee.  Deep down inside I knew something was wrong with him, and I kept pursuing things trying to find the cause.  I ignored the obvious and pursued the wrong paths, but I just had never heard of a nasal tumor in dogs. Truly, I thought it was his allergies and that they were so bad that they kept his nose irritated enough to cause it to bleed just a little and his eye to water.

Hardee has always been a couch potato, except when we are out working or he is playing with other dogs.  As time went on, he seemed to play a little less with Jim at night. He slept more, but I thought he was just maturing or sedated with all the different antihistamines we were trying.  Right before his cancer diagnosis, he became even more tired. He didn't hold up as long at agility practice, but we thought it was the heat of the summer.  He wouldn't hold his long sit stay in our obedience practice anymore and kept lying down.  Also during obedience, he wouldn't pick up his dumbbell anymore, and if he did, he'd throw it down at my feet or drop it.  Little did I know his mouth and teeth were hurting from the tumor.  I couldn't figure out what was going on with him.  We also had problems tracking him.  He seemed like he had no interest in tracking anymore and would just stand there and eat grass, a sign of stress.

Another thing we noticed was that Hardee started to sneeze quite a bit.  He also made more snoring like noises while sleeping.  Once again, I attributed these signs to his allergies and that he was just going through a really bad patch with his allergies right then.  About a month or two before Hardee's diagnosis, I noticed some creamy looking, yellowish, spots on my bed blanket.  By now, I had changed the blanket color to red.  If it had been the same beige blanket, I wouldn't have noticed these spots.  I showed them to Jim, and we both came to the conclusion that it was smegma from Hardee, a penile discharge, otherwise known in our house as Hardee's "dick doo."  Turns out that was the pocket of infection back behind the tumor that would sometimes leak out past the tumor.

Going back to my hypochondriac state with Hardee, I had a Rhodesian Ridgeback that died from hemangiosarcoma right before we got Hardee.  Cessna, my RR, was my girl, and she went with me everywhere, to my office everyday, etc.  As a paramedic, I just cannot forgive myself that I didn't recognize the signs that she had a tumor on her spleen that had burst, and she went into cardiac arrest in front of me.  Deep inside, I knew something was wrong with her and kept taking Cess to the Vet also, but they couldn't find anything.  Every time I would take Hardee into the Vet for all these not very clear problems, we would always tell Cessna's brief story and how I panic now over any tiny little thing.

At the end of last year a couple times at night after dinner, Hardee seemed uncomfortable and anxious where he kept moving around a bit more than usual or just standing and staring, head down, just like Cess had done.  Most of the time these episodes were short lived where Jim didn't notice and by the time I brought it to his attention, the episode was over.  One particular night, it happened again, lasted longer this time, and I had Jim rush Hardee up to the Vet on an emergency basis.  I called the emergency line at a new Vet, embarrassed to take him to the one I had been at last because of my "hypochondriac state", got the new Vet to come back to the office after hours because I told him that I thought my dog had bloat.  This episode happened after Hardee's dinner, so I thought that might be the problem.  The new Vet couldn't find anything wrong with Hardee, once again.  Less than a week later, Hardee had bilateral ear infections, so I thought that might have been Hardee's sign to me that his ears were starting to hurt.

Writing of other health problems, my RR, Cessna, also had bad environmental allergies.  Since Hardee does also, I wonder if there is any correlation between allergies and cancer.  I know they are 2 different types of cancer, spleenic hemangiosarcoma and nasal chondrosarcoma, but still it is quite a coincidence to me: 2 dogs, 2 cancers, both with severe environmental allergies.  I wish I were a research Vet.

There were so many signs that were not clear enough to me, or numerous Vets, to pinpoint the problem.  There were other health problems that these signs could be pushed onto.  Go with your gut instinct and don't care whether they think you are a hypochondriac or not.  Keep pursuing, doggedly :), answers for your pet's problems.  Don't be a spineless wimp.  You are your pet's best health advocate, and you know your best friend better than any Vet.  Don't care whether they like you or not.  Just some pearls of wisdom that Hardee and I have had to learn the hard way, at Hardee's expense.

If anyone would like to discuss these signs and symptoms further, I'd be more than happy.  As painful as it is, I would like some good to come from Hardee's cancer, be it saving another dog, etc.  As self-centered as this sounds, somehow I would like to redeem myself for what I overlooked with Hardee's symptoms.  I'd be happy to discuss my Cessna's hemangiosarcoma also.  There were certain things I noticed there also.

We still have hope for Hardee's return to full health.  We'll live life to the fullest as long as HH is willing, and let him compete in what he loves.  Someday we hope to return to tracking.  Everyday is precious with our boy, and we try not to take his life for granted.  We will find happiness each day, and as you all know by now, it is all about joy and all about Hardee!!  We wouldn't have it any other way.