forgot to mention another possible cause for Gracie’s discomfort & constant attempts to lick yesterday before going to the vet. While there they expressed her anal glands & found them full w/ very thick ‘stuff’. As far as I know Gracie’s never had problems w/ the glands before but apparently not poop’n regularly can cause the build-up. She’s certainly been off since the surgery, so the combination of surgery & meds have contributed to that. As soon as we got home from the vet (& the gland expression) she was noticeably much more comfortable.
And she’s back to being a kid again & performing for bribes. She’s now going outside on her own more w/ treat bribes & as soon as she goes she races back to get her treat.
Today’s follow-up vet visit: The incision’s looking better but the vet today (the surgeon we’ve been seeing since diagnosis; another vet has been our regular vet for yrs) isn’t being very encouraging about having removed all the mast cells. He’s very confident all the underlying, deep tumor was removed but not on the skin surface area. He’s concerned about the area that’s slow to heal. I don’t want to give myself false hope but that area is the exact same area where a stitch or 2 worked out right after surgery. So to me that could make it slower to heal. And then her constant licking until I put the cone on her. And then yesterday as she was trying to lick because of the full anal gland, the edge of the cone could have been hitting right where the slow-to-heal area is (we saw a bit of blood on the edge of the cone). So hopefully won’t need to make any further decisions. But I’m waiting now for a call from someone w/ experience w/ another dog who has/is (?) receiving chemo for mast cell. I know we won’t choose radiation & most likely not chemo but will gather as much info as possible & others’ experiences.
She’ll continue wearing the cone until I decide she doesn’t need it any more. I have no idea how I’ll figure that out… At this point we don’t need to schedule another visit but will do updates by phone.
a day at a time. remember to breath. sounds like there are plenty of reasons why the stitches are slow to heal…’bad cells’ is only one of them. keep enjoying every moment, keep enjoying every treat and don’t forget to include some medicinal naps. gracie is a brave girl, you will be brave too.
charon & gayle