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

Finally made it home phew. By that had to be the longest day every, I left the house at 6 am this morning and just got home at 10 pm, and I,m only a little bit further forward.

Forgive me as this maybe long, I will try and just bullet point it.

1. Woody presents with a lot of Cushing symptoms, PU/PD excess hunger, pot belly, thinning of hair, especially after being shaved for operation. LDDS test done results tomorrow, all other tests for cushings show negative - Cushings is not being ruled out at this point.
2. Collapse:- Sounds like a syncope and maybe related to his already exsisting heart murmour - ECG and Chest X Rays required, to rule out heart related.
3. BP remains stable no sign of hypertension, blood pressure taken during the day at intervals I think the highest was 170 which they weren,t too bothered about as it could be white coat syndrome.
4. General blood work up done - results tomorrow.
5. Colitis still present and at times severe - continue with meds the vet gave me, change of protein in diet recommended.
6. Due to Woody having a neuroendocrine tumour, Thyroid, cushings and several other hormonal diseases can,t be defiantly ruled out.
7. Adrenal Mass - Could be the primary tumour but they can,t understand if it was then why did the cancer cells go from right to left and cordial and not cranial as it "should" do. Adrenal Mass maybe a Pheo but CT scan would be need to confirm, and if so then surgery would be the normal option, but may not be in woody,s case. Ultrasound recommended to check on the adrenal, all lymph nodes in the area, and internal organs.
8. Anal Sac Carcinoma and Left Medial Iilac LN. LN had cancer in it of that there sure and again should go cordial towards the anal sac and not across the body to the left adrenal gland, although pathology has revealed that no cancer was found in the anal sacs they are not convinced that there wasn,t a microscopic tumour there, cancer cells have been found in woody,s endocrine system, but no sign of where they are going, coming from or will end up.
9. MDR Entercoccu - Urine sample taken results tomorrow to see if this has cleared up or not.
10. Palladia - Ian explained all he knew of this drug, I have literature home with me (not had a chance to read it yet). Primarily this is for MCT tumours and has quite a good success rate, it is also used in skin tumours, which is what Anal Sac Carcinoma is classed as especially with a mestarsized (sp) to a lymph node. This drug is given Mon, Wed, Frid for the life of the dog. Main side effect is GI upset, which usually happens in week 2 then the dog is taken off the drug until symptoms subside then slowly drug is re-introduced, I take it this is a bit like what people do with the Cush meds. The dog is monitored every week with bloods being taken to see if causing any damage to likes of liver, kidneys etc, this is done for 6 weeks then monthly thereafter if dog is doing well.

All of the above was talked at great length and detail, so I,m just giving you the outline of it. Ian has explained endocrine system, and neuroendocrine cancer to me in full, and I finally get it, and how hard this is to pinpoint the tumour. Nothing has been ruled out, which I know isn,t great but at least things are a bit more clear to me. I have asked Ian what happens if I just do nothing except US every month or so, what can I expect, symptoms, life expectancy, and he said honestly he couldn,t answer me as they don,t know where the tumour is. He said he would expect it to go to the lung first, then liver and heart possibly brain, as he,s not sure of primary then he didn,t know life expectancy as some tumours grow quickly and others don,t. It was hard to hear by I admired his honesty. He did say that as Woody isn,t the norm then who knows lol. We didn,t get out of "class" till 4.30 pm and as Woody wasn,t due his last blood till 6 pm I just stayed at the hospital café. At about 5.45pm Ian came into the café and had a coffee with me, he said he had been down to say hello to Woody and he was doing fine, but he was really worried about his colitis especially the straining and couldn,t believe it was still going on, we discussed it again at great length and how worried I was that he was hurting himself, he said he was going to look into it some more as he hated watching Woody earlier in the day. When he was leaving he said to me how glad he was that Woody was with me, and he could see how dedicated we were to each other, and that he would try his best to help Woody and I should never give up on him as he is a fighter, then he gave me a big cuddle, I had tears streaming down my face.

Now here,s where it all goes wrong, at 6pm I went to reception to let them know I was there to pick up woody and sat in the waiting room, at 7 pm (reception closed) I rang the night buzzer and a student vet came out, I explained that I had been waiting an hour to pick up Woody, she apologised and said she would go get him. At 8 pm after trying to get a hold of numerous people I got a hold of the cleaner and told her to either get someone out to speak with me or swipe her card and let me into the wards, as by this point I was tired, hunger and worried that something had happened to Woody. Finally at 8.15 pm this student vet brought Woody to me, I was so relieved that I asked what had happened as I had waited 2 hrs, he mumbled something but by that point I was heading out the door. So if that wasn,t enough I get home, walk Woody and go indoors to see that he had a bandage on his back leg, started to take it off him, when I realised they had left the canular in his leg (idiots) I called them immediately and was told to bring him back in, I live 2 hours away, so I agreed to take him to my own vets in the morning and keep him quiet tonight. What a day eh. Woody is fast asleep in my bed as I type this and hasn,t bothered with the bandage yet.

Sorry its so long

what a long day and what a wonderful mom you are. wow. also have to say how impressed i am with your vet. i have had many vets and cannot imagine any of them sitting down and having coffee with me to discuss my dog let alone telling me how glad they are that my dog has me as a mom... wow i am stunned. you are fortunate to have ian on your team. wish i could help with the diagnosis - so complicated. but i can continue to cheer you on and help however i can even if it is just through prayer. Hugs, Kim

Wow you have had quite a day of it, what the heck was happening at the end there... waiting two blardy hours :mad: I would have been like you and broken the door down!

Your vets have really done well today Tracy, that is awesome they all met like that to go over everything. Your Ian sounds just lovely, so nice to get that personal touch. Very impressive!! But you deserved it too after all the waiting about the last few weeks. I am so glad you have a better understanding of it all. Be waiting to hear all the results of today's testing. I hope they are all excellent!! That palladia does sound a bit harsh, I hear it is very expensive too. His colitis seems the immediate problem so hopefully you will get on top of that. What protein are you going to swap him to? xxx

Gosh, what a day you had. I would have been freaking right out having to wait those 2 hours. I would imagine all kinds of things were going through your mind.

I sure hope that this colitis can be rectified very soon. Poor Woody.

You are doing so well getting to the bottom of things and I really, really hope the tests today steer you in the right direction to help Woody.

I admire you for everything you are going through.... hugs to you both.

Thanks everyone. Woody slept well last night and only bothered his leg once, me I hardly slept everything running thru my head you all know how it goes.

But now the plot thickens ( nothing easy for my Woody) Ian rang me at 7 am this morning he apologied for me having to wait and the canular thing. He said there had been an emergency in the hospital and as Woody was to be released about the same time that the IMS simply forgot , he will have them call me today to apologise. He said that after work last night he had been thinking a lot about Woodys colitis, the straining especially he said it's like something is stopping him going, he is wondering if the endocrine cancer is in Woodys colon or gut and it's the tumour causing the symptoms as there is no real reason for his colitis. He also said that this would fit with the lymph node and anal sac carcinoma as it's all cordial and in the same area in the back end of the dog. So something else to consider and worry about great!!!! Woody will be going next week for x rays, ECG, US and any other test they deem. We're off to the vet to get this out his leg and hopefully have a restful day :)

Wow he was up early! He really has his thinking cap on pondering it all. I did not think he had the anal sac carcinoma from the histology :confused::confused: plus I thought Woody had a history of colitis for a few years? Couldn't the colitis just be flaring right now after all the stress he has gone through with the recent surgery etc and maybe that could also be causing the straining. Just trying to think it through without it being anything nasty. I guess if all those sympoms are all caudal then they might fit. Was he scanned prior to this surgery? I cannot remember. Silly buggers leaving the cannula in but I guess in the stress of an emergency it was just overlooked. You are going to need a Nana nap today with this sleepless night and early morning!

Tracy:
You were certainly through the mill yesterday, but I have to admit I wish I had a team brainstorm like that for Tipper. That is awful that you have to drive 2 hours to get that off Woody. I think what Ian said made a lot of sense to me, as my dad had that type of cancer. I think it is certainly a high possibility. I so wish you did not have to worry about all these possibilities though. I think it is winding down now and the possibilities are getting narrower. I feel soon you will know what is wrong. Although that was a good experience yesterday, I am sure it was grueling going through it. I pray that this can all get better for you and Woody soon. You have had so much to deal with, but Woody is s trooper and has kept you laughing throughout. Blessings
Patti

What a day, Tracy! And what an amazing doc Ian is - what a blessing for you and for our sweet Woody boy. Next time you talk to Ian, tell him thanks from all of us here at K9C. Vets like him help restore our faith in his profession and we wish all vets were more like him. ;)

That tumor somewhere in the intestinal tract is something I have been wondering about with Grace. She has numerous tumors all over her belly and starting up her sides but none show up internally on xrays. However, when she got here, her anal glands were horribly impacted - her poop came out in flat ribbons! We got that taken care of and they seem to working correctly now but she still strains to poop very often and they are sometimes flattened even tho the anal glands seem to be fine. So I wonder if there isn't a tumor growing in the tract that hasn't shown up yet causing her problems. Her cancer markers remain normal so we are at a bit of a loss as to what these tumors are.

And of course, my mind wonders if they could have left something in him again or perhaps stitched something a bit too tight. My mind is worrisome at times. :rolleyes::D

I hope they can pinpoint what is going on with Woody soon and can offer a viable solution.

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

Trish _your right histology showsno cancer in the anal sacs but they are still saying it was there but microscopic (maybe just covering their backs). Woody has a history of stress colitis that usually clears up in a few days like it did before the operation. He was scanned twice pre op and nothing showed up.

Leslie this is how Woody poos at the moment very ribbon like small amounts and strains everytime, but woods doesn't have any anal sacsso they can't get impacted not much use to you there lol. Like you my mind has wondered down the road of something being left inside him after op as the straining started the day after his operation. Ian did briefly say yesterday could it be the op itself I don't want to think this

Woody has had his canular out and I had a good chat with Craig and he agrees that the tumour may well be in gut or colon but I'm not so sure, not sure of anything just now. The hospital called earlier and his LDDS test was negative for cushings surprise so it has been ruled out now, still waiting on urine and blood work up to come back. Woody is booked in on Wednesday for his heart and US.

Tracy:
You are holding up and doing a wonderful job. Woody is so very lucky he ended up with you. He is getting every opportunity there is to get help with whatever the problems is. I am confident in this team that they will get to the problem here soon. I can only dream of such good medical care. My vet just wants the money and then just get out. The veterinarians that I have been to are a real sorry lot. The money has taken over the well being of the animal. I could just see my vet taking the time to have a conference with me like that. Yeah right! If he is pooping like you say, it could either be the operation, or a tumor there. I know with people this is what happens. I pray this is nothing that cannot be corrected easily. You and Woody have a good rest while you can, you deserve it. How is your mom doing? Is your niece with her? Blessings
Patti