Bear and Grins

The following entry comes from an e-mail written by Sister Judy, not me. It is simply too fascinating and wonderful not to share:

Just so that everyone will know the status of my second son, Bear--He was seen by the vet today due to a growth on his right foot-- which has been there for one to two years --and has gradually enlarged in size until he was /is having minimal discomfort with ambulation--unless he is chasing something, then he appears to be without pain.

Unknown to me before these past few weeks, most growths on pups feet and mouths are usually malignant--usually a type of squamous cell carcinoma which is synonymous to one type of skin cancer in humans. It is usually a slow growing type of cancer and even though it has been present for a while, it has not necessarily metastasized to other parts of his body.

The vet did not seem real concerned of any metastasis, but did think that it needed to be removed as soon as possible. So Bear has been scheduled for surgery on Tues. 6/2/09 at 8:00 am. The vet will try to remove only the tumor-which is between his 1st and 2nd toes-but if she cannot remove all edges and get a good skin closure, she will amputate his second toe trying to make sure all malignant tissue is removed.

He will be able to come home Tues. nite or Wed. am depending on the procedure required. He had pre-op blood work done today--he was sitting on the exam table and the vet asked that I let her assistant hold him down for the blood to be drawn. I explained to her that he would understand what was being done and would lie still if she let me just explain it to him--that he sat for me to give all of his shots without any restraint.

She said sure and so he sat with me holding his head while she tried to find a vein in his neck, which she could not locate. She then asked if he would lie down and let her try, so I asked him to lie down and he lay perfectly still on his side while she drew blood.

He and I discussed the options and we both decided that we should go ahead with the surgery and he is willing to forfeit one toe if need be--recoup time will be 2-4 wks depending on what has to be done. So he, Chelsey (who accompanied to the vet), and I stopped by McDonalds for a burger and came on home.

Bear plans to go for several walks this weekend as he knows he may be limited in this area for a few days. He had only one question for me after we got home--He remembered all the post surgical places on Granddaddy Roy's face on our last few visits there-which we were told were skin cancer-- and he was just wondering if maybe he had inherited this from him. I told him could be, but it was too late in life to pick his relatives. He is quite content and asleep at my feet as I am typing this. Hope all is going well with everyone and will keep you posted on his progress next week.

And like the cherry on top of the cake, here's a just as fascinating reply from Cousin Alice:


judy,
Please give my regards to Bear on his upcoming surgery. Remind him of the upside of hospital stays-lots of presents and be sure that he doesn't read any of Mark's recent blogs on hospital food. It could give him nightmares. Duncan says to tell Bear "be sure to cover your nuts while you are there because mine disappeared the last time I had to go to the hospital!" Let me know how it goes. Love you, alice