Sat., Nov. 6, 2010 - We are finally home

It's been awhile since I have written, but we are finally home, sweet home.

Last Tuesday, we went for Hardee's first post radiation CT scan, earlier than planned.  Dr. Proulx also did another biopsy of the tumor to see what we are dealing with currently.  As I wrote in my last post, the results should be back this Monday or Tuesday.  The problem with another biopsy is where the samples are taken and whether the results reflect the whole tumor.  What I mean by that is depending on where you take tumor tissue from, because we have done radiation, the tumor can be dead or dying in spots and live and growing in other areas.  We have no way of knowing if the biopsy results are actually reflective of the whole tumor and what it is actually doing. 

Dr Proulx said he will be devastated if the biopsy shows live tumor and doesn't know why the radiation wouldn't work.  He will not be the only one devastated.  The New York facility that also does gamma knife radiation does a setting of 10 for 3 days for their gamma knife treatments.  Dr. Proulx did a 14 setting on Hardee for 3 days.  The New York facility case study showed a nasal tumor growing back in a year, so Dr. P has been increasing his settings trying to get better results.  Of the 2 dogs with nasal tumors that Dr. P did gamma knife on before Hardee, the first one died because the tumor was so far advanced into the brain before they caught it that they didn't think it would work, but the owners wanted to try anyway.  The second dog was done a month and a half before Hardee, so there hadn't been enough time since radiation to be able to do a post radiation scan yet.  Hardee was the third dog, and since Hardee, another dog has been gamma knifed, ironically from Vegas also.  I asked how the second dog was doing and if the radiation had killed the tumor, and another irony, those owners called the day after I called Dr. P saying that I was seeing some worrisome signs, and they were saying the same thing and they come next week for their CT scan.  This is very worrisome news to me.

Hardee did a lot of bleeding after this biopsy also.  He stayed the night at the hospital for bleeding control and was still bleeding when I picked him up the next afternoon.  I took Hardee out to feed him before we started the trip back to my Mom's because for some reason they had not fed him yet, and he started sneezing which blew bright red blood everywhere.  After trying to control the bleeding in the parking lot to no avail, I took him back in where they took him to the back again.  That really upset him and he bled more.  They gave him an injectable sedative, iced his nose again, and told me to come back in an hour.  When I came back in an hour later, they wanted to keep him overnight again but I said no.  They sent him home with oral sedatives to try and keep him down and quiet until the bleeding could stop.  He is also on antibiotics to help with any infection while his immune system is weakened, unlike the last biopsy when he got that horrible infection.

Hardee is still bleeding, but each day we see less blood come out of his nose, especially when he sneezes.  Last night I finally felt comfortable enough to try the trip home from my Mom's house, and we got home late.  Hardee rides in his crate right behind the drivers seat, and I cannot see him if he really starts bleeding again where it doesn't stop.  I can hear him sneezing, then I worry.  I gave HH another sedative right before we left, so hopefully he would sleep during the drive and not be so excited to see his Dad when we got home that the bleeding would start again heavily.  Today is the first day I haven't used the sedatives, and HH seems to be doing fine without them.

The amount of bleeding after this biopsy worries me.  I know that tumors have quite a bit of blood supply, thus the reason they can grow so quickly.  But, it seems to me that if this tumor was dead or dying, it wouldn't have this amount of blood supply.  Dr P says differently, but I still worry.  My Mom says that if I didn't have anything to worry about I couldn't live, so maybe it is just me worrying too much again.  I still dread the biopsy results coming this week but am anxious to know also.  I will worry though how reflective the results are of the tumor as a whole. 

I'm not sure about this whole gamma knife radiation and how well it works.  I am convinced that it was Hardee's best shot at survival though.  We couldn't have put him through traditional radiation and it's horrible effects.  I'm not sure where we go from here.  We'll see what the results show on Monday.  I hope that regardless of Monday's results, Hardee's gamma knife radiation experience will help formulate a better plan for other owners whose dogs have nasal tumors.  I just hope it works for Hardee.

We love HH so much and cannot imagine our lives without him.  We have been blessed by his presence and would do anything in our power for him.  He deserves whatever we can do for him.  He has brought us so much happiness in his five years with us.  I wish that pure love was enough to save our boy because we have that.  Here, it is still all about joy and all about Hardee, and we hope it stays that way for many years to come.  Keep those fingers and paws crossed!!