Confused and Overwhelmed-Diagnosed Anal Sac Carcinoma (Woody has passed)

Tracy, that is so scary! If your vet can't monitor Woody's BP, I would certainly change. Now that Woody is calm and resting, you should get some too.

Glad, glad, glad he is home where he belongs! Syncope means "fainting" in case you didn't already know that. ;) I spent almost 2 years fainting at the drop of a hat; had numerous tests and the final conclusion was that my skeletal system outgrew my cardiovascular system - I had grown nearly 9" between the 7th and 8th grades. I would stand up and faint; bend over and faint; exercise and faint; get excited and faint - I passed out while on the back of a runaway horse and my brother held me in the saddle while a friend got the horse under control - each of them on their own horses. We were told it looked like a skit in a western show! :p I also passed out while my mom was fussing at me one day - scared her to pieces...but didn't stop her from fussing at me when she deemed I deserved it. :D And I did quite often! :p

I hope you find a way to have his BP checked. Let us know how things are going.
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

Tracy:
I am hoping this morning finds you and Woody well rested and ready to tackle today. I tossed and turned all nite thinking of you both, and knowing that this could be my Tipper also. I contacted a very respected Vet when Tipper fist got Cushings. She told me the single most important factor is checking their blood pressure. I take her every Wednesday and have it done. It is about 20 miles, but worth the peace of mind to me. I know you are not sure about the Cushings with Woody, but you may have to think of finding a place where you can have this checked frequently. I keep a record of Tipper's and when she had the eye problem, we were able to look at the flow chart and see that she had a high blood pressure right before the exam that showed this. Hers was from being scared of the storms we were having. I hope this never happens again, and I pray you are not dealing with a pheo. Blessings
Patti

Afternoon everyone. Woody slept well right next to me the whole night which is unusual as he usually goes to his own bed half way during the night. Every time he moved or stretched I was straight up light on checking on him, about the zillionth time I checked on him he looked at me as if to say I'm fine already go to sleep mad woman.lol when he got up this morning he was still a little wobbly but it soon disappeared, he is sleeping a lot today but has eaten and had a potter around the garden. I will look next wk for a vet that can check his BP and I'm also thinking if getting an ECG done on him see if his heart is any worse, he,s not had one since being diagnosed with the murmour 3 years ago and then it was a grade 4 and he has been on meds since, it wouldn't hurt to check this would it. I'm exhausted today so may have a little nap whilst Woody is asleep

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trish

Jeepers, just read about the police helicopter crashing into a pub full of people in Glasgow. Sounds just awful, hope no fatalities.

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There is 6 deaths and 32 people injured some serious. My thoughts are with the families of all involved. It's been on the news all day I'm only 40 mins from Glasgow

Tracy:
I saw this about the pub on CNN yesterday, such a shame for the families of these people. I did not know Woody was on heart meds. Tipper has to have another ECG January 15 and a check to make sure the tumor is not growing. I don't think I can handle bad news on two major things in one day so I am trying to stay positive and pray on it. Please know I am thinking of you and Woody and praying for you both. I know how hard it is to go thru this, but you did wonderful yesterday. Blessings
Patti

Terrible, terrible about the catastrophe at the Pub. Those poor people and their families. Out for a good time on a Friday evening and then this. :(

Even if there is just a place locally that has the equipment to check the BP and give you the results. Then you could fill in our own vet, or maybe they can find a place for you and make arrangments for you to take Woody to them to get the BP checked. It just seems that there should be some way to work it all out. I know you don't Want to change vets as they are good with Woody, so maybe something can be worked out. :) Your vet does know now how important this is to get done, so maybe if you ask him to find a place he would do so and know where might have the equipment. (another place for Woody to win over, he'll soon have his own fan club, if he doesn't already) :)

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Glad to hear at least Woody had a good evening. Try to get some rest.

Hi Tracy

Hope Woody's day has gone well, and yours too and your catching up on sleep.

What meds are Woody on? Wondering if any of them could have caused it?

Pheo's can have different symptoms in dogs and they can be episodic. With Flynn his symptoms weren't like that though. His BP remained consistently high >200 and he did not appear to have the sudden rushes of catecholamines that are common. He most likely did, but the symptoms were just not that obvious. The trouble with diagnosing a pheo is that the tests they commonly use in humans like 24hr urine collection for catecholamines are difficult to do in dogs, obviously catching ALL their urine over that time period is difficult unless they are catheterised. I actually discussed this with the IMS when I was in Auckland and he said apart from the trouble getting the urine the tests have no accurate reference range in dogs as research has not been done in that area and it is a big leap to just apply the human reference range to them. The one thing that really pointed to pheo in Flynn before his surgery and histolological confirmation was the ultrasound. It showed the tumour arose in the medulla of the adrenal gland ie the inside layer in contrast to the cortical layer which is more common in tumours that give the cushings type symptoms. Although those symptoms like PU/PD can happen with pheo too, but again Flynn did not have those apart from hunger.

Re BP. I agree it is difficult to get true readings in our doggie friends. I have posted this before but my vets do not put much faith in a one off reading as they can fluctuate so much in a short period of time. Flynn has his checked monthly, he has to stay a few hours and they do 7 recordings one after the other, discard the highest and lowest and average the rest to get an accurate number as possible. They do this three times over the day to get a good picture of how his BP is at different times. Often the later ones are lower as he gets over his white coat syndrome :)


Hope this helps xxx

Thanks Trish I,ve looked over Woody,s notes again from the hospital and it mentions adrenal cortex so that would point towards the cushing symptoms if I,m reading it correctly. I also looked back to the IMS first report and Emma says on it that Woody presented with a stable heart murmour on the left side grade V/VI and the x ray confirmed the heart was enlarged, so I,m leaning towards his heart causing this "episode" as the IMS has stated a higher grade murmour than I thought, but this was only confirmed with her listening to it s o no concrete testing done. I think I will get him an ECG just to put my mind at rest and try and find a vet with BP machine like Sharlene suggested, as I don,t want to change vets completely as Woody is used to Craig and the staff there. Woody takes 10mg fortekor daily for the murmour and he has been on salazopyrin half a tablet twice daily for his colitis. My vet called me after his surgery today to check on Woody and see how he was during the night. He has talked me through what to watch for in the future and what to do if Woody has another "episode" but said what I did was correct, he has to be kept calm and not to get over excited so no toys for a few days as he goes nuts with his toys, I discussed his meds and we both decided to take him off the colitis meds for a few days.

Woody is looking and feeling more like himself and we both pretty much napped most of the day away, and tonight after his dinner I got the Woody back chat of give me more, so yeah at the moment all good long may it continue :)

Hi Tracy, ask Craig if he has a recommendation of someone local, another vet clinic, that would have a BP machine that he could send Woody to. :) Hopefully he'll be familiar with who might have one and can call them and make an appointment for Woody. That keeps Craig feeling good about his patient/doctor relationship with you and Woody and gets the BP results sent to his office to put into Woody's permanent file. (you'll have a copy too of course)

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hi Tracy:
I am glad to hear Woody is well and things are ok for you two. I am also glad to hear you got some much needed rest. What did the vet tell you to do if Woody does this again? I am curious in case Tipper ever would do this. It is still on our news about the pub. Those poor people and their families, right before the holidays too. Hope things keep going smoothly for you both, and Tipper and I pray every nite for you. Blessings
Patti

Patti - Craig my vet has told me to watch out for him getting wobbly and slowing on walks (as I paranoid it will happen when we are out) and if it does happen anytime then I,ve to make sure I remove everything he can hurt himself on like the water dish and lay him on his side (if he,s not already) I,ve to watch for kicking of the back legs which can indicate a seizure and I,ve to try and count his heart beats if I can also watch his breathing see if its quick or laboured and also keep my hands, face etc away from his face as when some dogs come round they can snap as they are disorientated. Another thing to check for is the colour of the gums, I did this instantly and noticed Woody,s gums were going blue hence my panic, if the blueness continues for any length of time its an emergency. I couldn,t tell you how long Woody,s gums were blue as I had him up and in the car on route to vets but when I arrived at vets his gums were pink. He has done well this weekend but I haven,t walked him just pottered in the garden but that's more to do with me being paranoid that it will happen when were out, so that,s something I need to work on my own nerves lol.

I need to leave him for a few hours tomorrow and I,m freaking out a bit about it, but I need to take my mum for her operation I may get my old dog walker to pop by and check on him just put my mind at rest. He hasn,t had any colitis meds in 2 days and its back with a vengeance today, so will need to speak to the vet in morning about this, well I say morning it is 3 am at the moment and I can,t sleep too much running round my head :confused:

Tracy:
Thank you so much for the information. It really helps to take the information form someone else's experience and log it in your head. You never know what will go on with your own cush dog so you may need to use it one day. Thank you for the information, it cleared up a few things I was wondering about. I really pray you never have to experience this again. I worry so when Tipper starts with those tremors at nite. I am always scared it is going to lead to a bad situation. I pray to God if I ever have an emergency with her that it is in the day time. There are no emergency places to go here at nite and that has always worried me since the onset of this disease. I am going to call Dechra about Tipper's dosing today, she is too hungry. Blessings
Patti

Hope everything went fine today while you had to step out!

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Tracy:
I hope all is ok with Woody today and that your mom had a successful surgery. Thinking of all of you and praying for you.
Blessings
Patti

HI Tracy

Hope you two are doing good and Woody was fine when you were out. Flynn is on Fortekor (Benzapril) too, only 5mg though. How's his tummy doing, did you restart the Salazopyrin?

How's your Mum doing? Hope the surgery went well for her. You certainly have your hands full at the moment with worry about everyone, so make sure you are getting rest, eating and generally taking care of yourself.. don't want you sick again!! xx

Hi everyone Woody is doing good, sleeps a lot which worries me a bit. Had to start him back on his colitis meds as there was blood in his poo yesterday. He was fine when I left him but got my old dog walker popped in and sat with him for a while as she won't take money I will get her flowers for helping me out.

Mum didn't have her surgery yesterday as her BP was too high so they are keeping her in until it goes down before they operate as she has CPDO so they have to watch, so fingers crossed she can have it soon, I swear her and Woody are so alike with there BP and the cancer lol.

I contacted the vet yesterday regarding an ECG and BP check but I was told there was an emergency in so I never got to speak with him so I will try today again. I also lost my job yesterday they as they say "let me go" cause I took a lot of time off to look after Woody it was only part time but it paid the rent this has been a horrible year and I can't wait till it's over :mad:

omg, Tracy! How cold-hearted of them! Jerks. :mad::mad: I hope you find another job soon and a better one at that with folks who understand what it means to love someone so much.

I hope your mom and Woody have a good day...and you, too. sweetie.
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

Crimey Tracy, that is horrible to let you go. They should understand this has been a real ordeal this year with Woody and it's jut like any member of the family. You have to take off when they are sick and need to be taken care of. How sad that they don't understand something so simple as that. Not nice at all.

Hope your mom's BP comes down and they get that under control so she can have the surgery.

I'm glad that Woody seems to be doing okay. I know it is worrisome when they sleep so much when they are use to being up and about running around.

Hang in there. Hopefully things will start to look up and you can find another job soon, with more compassionate people.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Tracy:
I am sorry to hear that your employer has no heart and compassion for someone going thru all you have been thru. It does make things much tighter money wise so I am praying you will find a way to manage. I know what you mean about the sleep. Tipper sleep a lot these days too, and it worries me as she never did before all this. Sorry to hear they cannot do you mom's surgery. I guess all things happen for a reason, but I see no reason for our babies being sick and having this disease. Please take care you are under a lot of stress lately, and you are needed by everyone. God Bless You All
Patti

I'm so sorry Tracey! That is terrible :-(
Hoping that mom gets stable soon and Woody too.

Hi can someone move my sweet gingers post to her own thread I think it has been posted here by mistake lol

Post moved to Ginger's thread, sweetie.

:o I'm sorry about this Tracy and thank you.
I was reading you post this morning and was quite upset about them letting you go.:( I'm really sorry.
I don't usually post on other threads yet but been following woody lately and been praying for his well being and your strength from the bottom of my heart. Take care. Song.

Thank you so much, Leslie.:)

Hey Tracy

That sucks, what gits to do that to you before Xmas when you have all this going on with your mum too, I hope you can find something quickly.

I watched the video of your wee man versus the fridge and it did make me smile, I hope his belly settles down for you soon. He is such a sassy little man, he must make you giggle with his cheek :D

Really hope things pick up for you soon, bug hug

Mel
Xxxxx

OMG I feel just awful for you. Please know we are here and you can vent all you want. Hugs, Kim

Evening everyone thanks for all the good wishes. It is a bit crappy what they did to me but I,m trying not to dwell on it too much at the moment. I can still pay the rent for a few months with my savings so at least have a roof over my head and a woodydog by my side and that's all I need for the moment.

I,ve been and visited mum in the hospital today, told her I was on holiday from work this week, as she doesn,t need anymore stress with her BP, hate lying to her but she needs to stay calm so will tell her when she comes home. Her BP is still high but has come down some. We are staying at my mums tonight as its closer to the hospital and saves me fuel and Woody has been a nightmare. Mum has a toy box for Woody and a toy box for Murphy which is my brothers dog so when I visit we put Murphy,s toy box out of the way so Woody doesn,t play with it, but today I completely forgot and was upstairs sorting out the spare bedroom and came down and Woody had shredded 4 of Murphy,s toys :eek: I had to call my brother and explain and he couldn,t stop laughing, whilst on the phone to my brother apologising for my unruly dog Woody had went into the kitchen opened the cupboard door and was munching his way through a box of gravy bone treats mum keeps for when the dogs visit, I had no option but to just laugh at him and off course take them away from him. No doubt they will come out the other end tonight :rolleyes:

Oh my gosh, you are having a time of it lately. Woody is hilarious. He must have though Christmas had come early. 4 toys to shred and a box of treats to devour! Good times mum, good times!

Maybe you can find something where you can work from home! or do something different that you've wanted to try.

Hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Woody is clearly feeling better! What a stinker! Raiding the box of treats is something that Daisy would do given the chance.

Hi Tracy

I just had to start this post again as I had too many bad words to say about your previous employer... makes my blood boil. Needless to say you were too good for them and they will soon be realising their mistake in letting you go, but by then we will all stick up our middle fingers in their direction. Prats!! Ha, got that off my chest! :mad:

Flynny is always tired and I notice him a bit more panty too when his tummy is crook, so I bet that is why Woody is sleeping more. Sounds like his gut is taking a while to come right, hope the little piglet does not suffer too much from nabbing that box of treats :eek: The four toys were his though!! Stealing your doggie cousins toys is quite acceptable in my book :D:D Your lovely Mum having toy boxes for both of them, what a sweetie she is. So sorry to hear her surgery was postponed. But totally understandable getting that BP sorted before her anaesthetic. I agree a little white lie about the job situation is not going to hurt for a week, keeping her stress levels down with her BP is good thinking. Your not lying, just delaying some news, no harm in that :) Lovely of you to be close by to give her that support, I bet she loves having her daughter watching over her. Another stressful time for you though Tracy, I think another chocolate spa bath is called for, it was at Addy's last I heard! xxxxx

Yah a chocolate spa bath sounds fab. Woody had a good night the treas he thieved appear to have not gone through him for the moment. I phoned the hospital and mums BP is down quite a bit so she will have surgery in the morning phew.

I put a call into the vets this morning and am waiting on him calling me back. I have also called the hospital and are waiting on them calling me back but not holding my breath as they,ve never answered any of my emails. I have a question for you lovely people, Woodys colitis is still ongoing but I'm not sure that it is colitis. His poo is firm, of good texture (sorry if your eating) I only get jelly like ones maybe twice a week usually during the night, he squats really low to the ground which he didn't do before the operation, and he takes ages to actually go and when he does it's small but lots of it then he tries again to go and you can see his abdominal muscle and leg muscles are all tensed up and he looks like he is holding his breath. Any ideas as this has been going on since September and does wipe him out sometimes. He does take meds for it and when I took him off them he did get blood in his poo would it take this long to sort out :confused:

Tracy:
I am glad we are back to the old stuff with Woody getting into mischief . That is too funny. I am glad you are able to stay at your moms and save some time and money on gas. I hope she gets her blood pressure down enough to have her operation soon. It is heart warming to Woody is back to being Woody, I just love the stories of his little antics. Blessings
Patti

Well I,ve had the vet on the phone, woody,s cortisol/creatine level has shown up high, it read "cortisol level is higher than it should be in a normal dog, pointing towards cushings, now I did ask Craig the numbers but couldn,t hear him as little naughty woody was back chatting me at the time. Craig said I take it woody is feeling fine, I told him at that moment woody was barking for food lol. Craig wants to consult with the vets at the hospital, regarding the results and will get back to me tomorrow or Friday once he has spoken with Ian. I will also try and contact Ian in the morning.

In other news woody,s naughtiness has continued we,re still at mums and my brother brought up some toys for Murphy,s toy box and a toy for Woody, but as Woody doesn,t like other dogs we had to keep them separate so Woody upstairs, Murphy downstairs but my little bundle of naughtiness scratched and pushed the bedroom door open and came downstairs and burst into the living room and headed for murphy :eek: I only just managed to grab him before their was carnage. Murphy was totally unfazed and was all oh why doesn,t he want to play and Woody was all get out MY nana,s house, that's my boy feels like he needs to protect me at all times :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Woodydog

I have a question for you lovely people, Woodys colitis is still ongoing but I'm not sure that it is colitis. His poo is firm, of good texture (sorry if your eating) I only get jelly like ones maybe twice a week usually during the night, he squats really low to the ground which he didn't do before the operation, and he takes ages to actually go and when he does it's small but lots of it then he tries again to go and you can see his abdominal muscle and leg muscles are all tensed up and he looks like he is holding his breath. Any ideas as this has been going on since September and does wipe him out sometimes. He does take meds for it and when I took him off them he did get blood in his poo would it take this long to sort out :confused:

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I wonder if Woody is having some constipation issues going on?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Woodydog

Well I,ve had the vet on the phone, woody,s cortisol/creatine level has shown up high, it read "cortisol level is higher than it should be in a normal dog, pointing towards cushings, now I did ask Craig the numbers but couldn,t hear him as little naughty woody was back chatting me at the time.

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Any kind of health problem and even stress can cause the UC:CR to be elevated, and since Woody is having some sort of GI issue this could of caused the high number on the UC:CR.

Hugs, Lori

Hi Tracy

My vet always asks if Flynn is straining, can be a sign of the colitis. Also wondering if his surgery has not helped in that department, considering it was so close to the bowel. Maybe those things combined are contributing??

Re cortisol, I agree with Lori any other illnesses can put it up, but we also know he has an adrenal tumour so that could be doing it too, be interesting to hear what the IMS says. That would also explain his appetite maybe??

How has your Mum done today, hope it all went well xxxx

Tracy:
My first thought was constipation too. I have to say your dear Woody has provided some much needed comic relief for me. He is a real character. Luckily you got your brothers dog picked up before Woody got to him. A Jack Russell will fight a great dane even, and the reason I know this is Tipper nailed a great dane in the face. It belonged to a friend and we were in the car and it stuck it's head in and Tipper nailed him. The dane just looked really stunned that a tiny dog bit him. Woody's little antic keep amazing me every day. I know why you are so smitten with him, he is adorable. Hope all is going well for your mom, and hope you get Woodys pooh problem figured out, that cannot be fun for him. Blessings
Patti

So glad to hear of Woody thieving treats. He's too funny. Hope your Mom is feeling better and things go well for her.

Evening everyone, we had a huge storm last night that knocked all the power out and brought down trees across the road, blocking my way out, luckily I have a gas heater for Woody, the power came back on about an hour ago. And its snowed all day today yippee, not much, I took woody to the garden and was playing at snowballs with him and I was like a kid and he drew my a dirty look and went back indoors doesn,t like the snow my boy.

My mum had her operation today, and according to my sister all went well, she is in some pain but that's to be expected. I couldn't get to the hospital as the roads out the village is still blocked even now. Provided they get the roads open tomorrow I will go see her, my sister thinks she will be discharged tomorrow so I may go stay with her for the weekend as she won,t be able to see.

I contacted the IMS at the hospital and you guessed it they never rang me back, I,m getting a bit pee,d off with them as I,ve emailed numerous times and left numerous messages you would think with the amount of money they charged least they could do would ring me back. I will try again tomorrow.