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Freckles - Breckenridge, CO ESRA# 2003-528OR
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1996
- February 24, 2004
Here is Freckles with his foster mom, Lisa. He's only 8 years old, great with people and other dogs. Freckles was turned in as a stray to the Bonnie Hayes shelter in Hillsboro, Oregon. He is very friendly, active and loves to go for walks. He gets along with other dogs, kids, people, cats.
Shortly after he was rescued from the shelter and came into our care he was diagnosed with a malignant mast cell tumor. Freckles had surgery the second week of October, 2003 to remove the tumor. Keep reading to see how he's doing.
Update Oct 10, 2003:
Freckles is doing well - he's being such a trooper about this whole thing.
He started to shake off the anesthetic and woke up groggy, but with his
little tail wagging, which was great to see. The next morning he was up,
walking, eating & drinking, so he seems to be on a good road to recovery.
We went on a short walk/bathroom break this morning. He walks a little
gingerly on his left front leg, but doesn't seem to have any problem walking,
nor does he show any signs of being in pain. Such a brave little guy.
Notes about the surgery. Things took a bit of a different route than was expected. When the vet shaved the area down he was suprised to find an old scar over the same exact location that he was going in - which means that this isn't the first time that someone has removed a tumor from this exact location on Freckles. He guessed that the scar tissue underneath felt sorta fresh, so the last operation was probably in the last year or so. Also, the vet noticed that the lymph node seemed slightly enlarged. So with this new info he called me and we went over some different options. I decided that we should continue with the surgery as planned but also remove the lymph node.
Next the doctor brought up four other small lumps on his skin. I personally wasn't concerned about these because they feel like the lumps that older dogs get, little skin cysts. But with this new information about a previous surgery the vet felt we should aspirate them and do a lab report on these, too. The vet found a combination of stuff in them, from plain old cyst cells, to what looks like cells that might be more malignant tumors, to what looked like some allergy cells. To help fight these small lumps and prevent them from spreading, after the surgery the vet gave him an antihistimine shot (and I've also got him on Benedryl at home). The good news about these is that they were in the skin. They weren't as deep as the tumor on his shoulder was (and the tumor wasn't even that deep). So these new lumps weren't affecting any of his organs, and skin has a much lower blood supply than something deeper. All we can really do now is wait for the pathology report on the lymph node and removed tumor mass to see what that says.
The
removal of the tumor and the lymph node went well with no complications,
but Freckles has one heck of a scar now - goes from the lower part of
his shoulder blade to the top-middle of his neck. He doesn't seem bothered
by it though.
Bonus and good news. The vet did an ultra sound on Freckles for FREE (this vet really is awesome). He checked Freckles' torso and found no tumors in his stomach, intestines, liver, lungs, etc. So that is hopefully great news that this is just a localized tumor and hasn't spread.
What this means for Freckles is that his future is uncertain. The doctor doesn't really know what to even guess at what level tumor this is. For the moment, Freckles is being absolutely spoiled rotten and hopefully enjoying his recovery time.
Update Oct 14, 2003:
The Vet got the pathology back today. It was a mast cell tumor and the
pathologist put it at a grade 3-. The good news is that in the edges of
what was removed there were no tumor cells, so the vet got everything
from that location. But the pathologist did find some other cells in there
as well, which confused the diagnosis a bit, but from what I gathered,
it was in favor of Freckles. I think the vet said that the other lumps
could be an allergic reaction. So tonight, to combat allergies and tumor
cells, Freckles will start on Prednisone, 10mg 2x a day. Because Freckles
doesn't behave like an advanced cancer patient, the vet hopes with the
prednisone that we'll be able to bring it down to a grade 2 mast cell
tumor patient, which can give him a 1-2 year life span. A blood test in
several weeks should be able to tell the vet if the prednisone is working.
As far as Freckles is concerned, he's doing great. He doesn't even act like anything has happened. He still bounces around the house and doesn't indicate that the surgery site is bothering him at all. His back legs are doing better and he's jumping around quite a bit.
Update Oct 27, 2003:
Long story short: Friday a sock belonging to my roommate went missing.
I called both 24-hour vet clinics in town and they gavecompletely conflicting
advice. Well I knew I was going
into the vet the next morning to have the stitches/staples removed from
his tumor removal/neutering surgery. I decided to wait and see what his
regular vet said.
Saturday morning at the vet... Usually I'm not a nervous mother, but
because I recently lost my boy Romeo to an obstruction in his intestines
and because Freckes threw up his food on Saturday, I didn't want to take
any chances with him. So I had the vet x-ray Freckles' tummy to see if
there was any obstruction in the stomach or the intestines. The vet was
nice and snuck his chest into the x-ray so he could see if there were
any tumors. His chest came up clear which was great news. As for his tummy
- no obstructions, but there was lots of food in his tummy, so the vet
suggested taking him off food for a day or so to give it a chance to work
out.
So after the stitches & staples were removed the vet rechecked him
and said he looks good. 2 weeks ago when Freckles had the big tumor removed,
the vet also checked (aspirated) a couple other lumps on Freckles. At
that time the vet determined that the cells in these other lumps were
a mixture of cyst cells, allergy cells and mast cells. So Freckles has
been on prednisone (which I guess also acts as a mild chemotherapy). The
good news with all of this is that 3 of the 5 lumps have disappeared and
the other 2 have gotten smaller. Now that doesn't mean that there are
no mast cells in those areas, but it does mean that the prednisone is
keeping it at bay & making it sorta go away.
Fast forward to this morning for a tummy update: after about 5 minutes
of being awake, Freckles went into the kitchen and puked up 2 socks and
a pair of underwear (thank god hebdidn't do that in my bed!). No more
socks in his diet!
Now that all the medical mumbo-jumbo is out of the way... Freckles is
doing awesome. On Friday night he amazed me because for the first time
he jumped up onto my bed. Usually I have to pick him up to get him up
there. To me, that alone shows how much better he's feeling. Then, since
the only time I take him in the car is to go to the vet he was really
starting to not like car rides - they would make him very apprehensive
& he was progressively shaking worse in the car. So on Sunday we took
some fun car rides - went to a coffee shop to sit & read for awhile
and then off to play in a big rose garden. By the end of all that he was
great in the car and didn't seem to freak out being in there.
Update Nov 12, 2003:
Freckles continues to do well. Freckles had some fluid collecting under
the skin near the surgery site. The vet wanted to give his body a chance
to reabsorb it, but after a week it had only gotten bigger, so last week
we went to the vet to have some fluid drained from the surgery site (about
2 pounds worth of fluid!). The vet also said he continues to look good.
Last Friday Freckles got to go to the groomer and was shaved down. Keeping
his hair short should help in watching bumps that pop up - finding them
and seeing what they do. Unfortunately once he was shaved I did find a
few more bumps, but none of them are bigger than the size of a pea. Freckles
will probably be heading back to the vet in a few days because the fluid
pocket has come back. If it doesn't start to go away by the time he'd
done with the antibotics the vet gave him for it, we'll probably have
to drain it again. So I'll ask the vet for advice on the bumps then.
When Freckles came into foster care he was very underweight and not terriby
interested in food. Well he's put on several pounds and, as with most
Springers, feeding time is now one of his favorite times of the day. He
bounces around, sometimes getting all 4 paws in the air when I start getting
his food ready.
Stay tuned for further information on this wonderful little guy.
Update December 14, 2003:
Freckles has moved to Colorado! On November 21, Freckles flew to his new
"Hospice" home in Breckenridge, Colorado. Freckles has joined
a family that owns a Springer Spaniel that is about the same age and size.
With a veterinarian only a mile away, Freckles will be sure to get all
the medical care he needs.
Freckles had a hard time adjusting to his new surroundings. For the first
two weeks, a lot of pacing, panting, gassing and peeing were his regular
routine. He seemed very disoriented and uneasy. He has gone on some beautiful
walks, met a lot of other dogs at the dog park, and has gotten to know
his new big yard. In the past week, Freckles has relaxed, comes to his
new parents to be pet, and likes to sleep on a comfy dog bed.
Medically, Freckles has had some ups and downs. After a week of being
in Colorado, he went for a general check up. He looked good, his bumps
on his body were all pea sized, his swelling below the incision was smaller
than a golf ball. A few days later the swelling disappeared and Freckles
was looking good. But then one week later his swelling began to grow,
and grow, and grow. He also started to bleed from the bump on his chest.
He went to the vet, was shaved were he was bleeding, which revealed his
bump (tumor) was enlarged and appeared to be bursting through the skin.
His swelling was an infection and was drained to about half of what it
was, with hopes that the body would absorb the rest. A few days later,
the bump dried up very well, and appears to be scabbing. The swelling
however, grew back to it's size, and more! So back to the vet's on Saturday,
December 13. The vet made some holes below the swelling and squeezed and
squeezed, and massaged it until it was all out. Freckles put up a good
fight, not liking this type of massage, but when it was all over, the
vet bandaged the area to keep the fluid from returning to the area and
prescribed amoxicillin for him. He has been stiff and sore from the ordeal,
and has been mostly sleeping since he was treated. He'll get bandaged
(wrapped) for 4 days and have amoxicllin for 10 days. Freckles is hoping
he will feel better real soon so he can go and play with his new dog friend
and all the dogs at the dog park.
Update February 6, 2004:
Freckles is well adjusted to his Colorado home in the Mountains. He is
eating, drinking and sleeping well. He gets along with everyone and is
eager to be taken on any type of hike. He is always the leader, proudly
showing us the way. He may get stuck in some snowbanks along the way and
has to be pulled out, but then he goes on with his nose up and sniffing.
Medically, Freckles is not doing well at all. (Athough he has no swelling
from his past incision, yeahhhh!.) His bumps however, have increased in
the past 2 months. From when he arrived around Thanksgiving, he had about
5 soft, small pea-shaped bumps. He now has more than 20. They range in
size from pea-size to golf ball size. Six of the bumps have broken through
the skin and have bled. The area around the bumps of the ones that have
bled needed to be shaved to keep it clean and give it the ability to dry
up. At one point they were all bleeding and he had bandages everywhere,
but he is good about it and does not try to take them off. There has been
one persistent bump on his chest which is the largest. It refuses to dry
up and bleeds and oozes daily. The bad news is that many of the bumps
have been diagnosed as Malignant Mast Cell Tumors. There are too many
to have them surgically cut out. The good news is that so far they have
stayed at skin level and do not seem to bother him at all.
Freckles was taken to see a second vet in the area for another opinion.
They conferred with my vet that the tumors were malignant and the best
we can do is to make him as comfortable as possible. Freckles is on many
medications to treat his tumors and his arthritis (he falls down a lot
when his back legs give out on him). He seems comfortable but is not a
handsome site with his bumps shaved and scabbed. A bump on his right cheek
looks ready to burst and is growing bigger. That will be a difficult one
to bandage. He is being a perfect gentlemen and apologizes daily for bleeding
all over the rugs.
Update February 28, 2004: I am afraid
I have some bad news. Freckles was put to sleep on Tuesday, Feb. 24th.
He was a tough guy who fought the cancer as hard as he could but it was
stronger than he was. Freckles came to Colorado three months ago with
about 5 small pea sized bumps on him. By the end of February he had more
than 20 bumps ranging from pea sized to golf ball sized. The ones that
were diagnosed as Malignant Mast Cell tumors grew large and would continue
to bleed and ooze. The vet told us that they would not have dried up and
would only grow larger. Freckles was on many medications. We fought hard
for him but nothing seemed to work.
He seemed dazed in his last days, but he would always come to us for a
pet on the head and sleep at the edge of our bed. I hope that he had some
enjoyment living with us. He would go to the stables with me each day
and roam the outdoors. He visited with the 9 horses and 11 other dogs
on the property. Although a nose to nose sniff was enough socializing
for him, he seemed happy that he was free.
I wish I had met Freckles sooner. He was a good boy.
Thank you to all of his sponsors. With your help, we are able to give
him the medical care that he so desperately needed.
Contact: Teresa Moore Terrymski@aol.com
| FRECKLES' GENEROUS SPONSORS, WHO MADE HIS LAST DAYS MORE COMFORTABLE: | |
 Rosemary
Elden |
From Teri , Zeke, and Inky. Hang in there, and bark at a squirell or two for us! |
| Cathryne
Slaughter |
A gift from Maggie, Get well soon!!!!! |
| Chuck
& Linda Bratland |
In memory of Maddie, a rescued dog herself, who never stopped giving |
| Rene'
Pizzo |
In memory of Buddy & Dusty |
| Vicki
& Bill Wingo |
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| Jason
and Stephanie Jett |
In memory of Logan |
| N.
Galli |
In memory of Mandy I, and a gift from Mandy II, my rescued friend. Good luck Freckles, I'll keep you in my prayers |
| Millie
Christopher |
In honor of my Freckles in Alabama |
| Gary
& Margaret Hanes |
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| Chuck
& Linda Bratland |
Merry Christmas, Freckles! |
| Cayce
Coker |
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| Katrin
E. Owen |
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In memory of: Logan |
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In memory of Rose |
| Dette
& Thomas Thompson |
In honor of our four Springers, Molly, Banjo, Ellie, and Mac |
| Denise
Ehner |
In memory of Springer Max Dakota, age 2 |