About
Background:
Myah is a nine year old Golden-Doodle. Her full name is: “Oh Myah goodness She’s Magic” She lives with me in the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountain front range. We are located not far from both metro cities of Boulder and Golden, and the mountain towns of Nederland and Blackhawk. Our house is at an elevation of 2500 meters [8200 ft.] she is a F1B doodle, her mother was a 50/50 Golden-doodle, her father was a Golden retriever. So she is 75/25 a Golden/Poodle hybrid. She weighs about 18 kg [about 60 lbs]
She previously had a benign fatty tumor removed from under her skin on her lower rib-cage in 2014. when this dime-sized new mass appeared on her leg, both a veterinarian and I, assumed it was another one.
What was very unusual about this mass, is that it would not grow for weeks at a time. Then it would suddenly have rapid growth spurts. I later estimated the mass to have increased 15-20% in size during each growth spurt. those spurts lasted from one to two weeks. In late 2015, the growth spurts were occurring every 3-4 weeks, previously they had occurred every 4-8 weeks
In January, for the first time, I noticed that the mass was bothering her. So I scheduled a debulking surgery to remove it. When the veterinarian made two incisions to remove it, she knew right away that it was not a lipoma. She described it to me as “nasty and invasive”. It was intertwined with muscle and tendons, and had its own blood supply. (blood vessels ran through it.) she took several biopsies from inside, and a couple of punch biopsies from the outside of the tumor.
Details on her particular type of cancer:
I found many descriptions online for Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors [MPNST], but they tend to be in the ‘medical-science-ese’ language. Here is layperson’s description I found online: [I still need to find, and credit this author]
“This is just the product of my analysis of information obtained during my research and shouldn’t be considered to be a medical opinion. MPNST is a soft tissue sarcoma, one type in a family of similar tumors that appear in the skin and fatty tissues of animals. What makes MPNST a differentiated condition is that it produces a cellular level tumor that occurs in the outer sheathing of nerves. These tumors are usually relatively slow growing and found most often in middle aged dogs on the extremities or lateral body surfaces. Metastasis is rare, but local recurrence is common when “clean margins” are not achieved surgically. Depending on the tumor’s location and other obvious considerations, amputation of the effected limb is usually curative.
Chemotherapy has been ineffective in treating these tumors; however radiation therapy (alone or in combination with surgery) is often successful in slowing, maybe stopping tumor growth. In the case of amputation, there is little evidence that radiation treatment is necessary. Especially if the tumor isn’t close to the physical site of the amputation.”
If you want to read all the scientific details, try reading this.
http://m.vet.sagepub.com/content/46/5/928.long
From reading that article, It seems the most likely to get MPNST are medium to large breeds. It seems 64% are female. Golden retrievers rank high in the list of common breeds for this type of cancer. There is no known cause, some references speculate that they occur after an injury, but that has not been proven.
Subcutaneous soft tissue sarcomas (SSTS) comprise a heterogeneous group of neoplasms, which make up approximately 8% of skin tumors. They include malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, hemangiopericytomas, liposarcomas, fibrosarcomas, myxosarcomas, perivascular wall tumors, and undifferentiated sarcomas.
Myah seems to be more comfortable, as she heals from the surgery that she had that wasn’t able to debulk, or remove the tumor. (The stitches have been removed on the two incisions.) She doesn’t seem to favor the leg anymore when she’s being her active happy self. So I believe her inflammation is much better.
However there is an area that is now the size of a dime that is not healing. This is the site where they did a small punch biopsy from the outside. (They also took several biopsies from the tumor, internally.) The area that won’t heal is slowly growing, and it is because the skin has been compromised by the tumor and is not able to heal. Every time I clean it and apply the Silver-Sulphadiazine healing cream, she begins to lick at the edges of the bandage. So keeping those area from becoming hotspots is a challenge. She does also lick at the bandage at that site where it won’t heal. Even though its covered with a Telfa pad, gauze, and then another layer of protective bandaging. I have had to stop letting the area stay exposed to the air at night. (along with the dreaded ‘cone-of-shame’) Because if there isn’t bandage pressure over the open wound, it oozes without abating.
Overall, Myah is doing all the activities she did before the surgery! The only time I know for sure that she is in pain, is if the tumor is bumped, or directly touched. However, even though I feel I am in tune with Myah’s reactions, (By watching her eyes, unusual movements and licking) It is very difficult to know how much pain she actually is in. The canine breeds are tough and I do know that they do not feel pain the same way we humans do.
My goal remains to be able to have the amputation completed by the end of this month.
Myah’s surgery will be happening this Thursday, March 31st!
Myah’s condition took a turn for the worse last weekend. I originally thought it was from some increased activity. I eventually figured out that her tumor went through another growth spurt. Add to that a couple of times where she was able to tear off her bandage, even while wearing the inflatable cone. So if she is not being directly watched, she must now wear the full size plastic ‘cone’.
I’m not sure if the short time she was able to lick, (that part of her tumor that will not heal), has aggravated or increased the size of that wound, or if it is a normal amount of growth of her non-healing area. That open wound is now larger that a quarter, (started as a 2mm punch biopsy site, and was the size of a nickel about 7 days ago.) I can only slow the growth, with wound care, at this point. Mostly I need to remove the necrotic tissue, clean and cover it with silvadene cream, and then bandage securely.
I just discovered that the tissue is rotting not only around the edges, but deeper into the tumor as well. The wound began to smell like rotting meat. [You bet I called the doc.] At their suggestion, I began to scoop out the rotting tissue more aggressively. I think they called it abrading? As i did the deed, my finger went at least 6mm [1/4 in] into the would. [yuck] I am now guessing that some of her recent strong desire to lick at the bandage over the tumor was likely an instinctive drive to remove the rotting tissue.
Luckily her surgery is now only a matter of days away!
Since last Monday, she has been taking prescribed pain meds to give her relief from the tumor. As the pills wear off, she begins continually licking the site. Which means she is licking the bandage. The meds to make her a bit drowsy. I think that is a good thing! I would swear that she verbally tells me when the pain is bad. She had occasionally whined, and stared at me as it approached the time for another dose. (every 12 hours) Although the last two days I believe the meds are keeping up with her pain. (no whining for 2 days.)
My focus is now on studying for my upcoming post amputation care and her rehabilitation. I discovered a fantastic resource for this challenge!
tripawds.com – a user-supported community for sharing people’s stories and learning about amputation and bone cancer care for pets. There are blogs written by people that have gone through a similar process with their pets. I also have access to write a blog of my own experiences. Many other resources; videos, articles, books, etc. Except for some of the books, much of this is all free of any charge. There is also a Tripawds Amazon blog area: http://amazon.tripawds.com/store
I would encourage any new people interested in helping this cause to donate to the tripawd organization here: http://tripawds.org/
Tripawds.com says, “All dogs (& cats) are born with THREE LEGS and a SPARE. Sometimes they use up their spare leg.” Myah is likely in pre-op right now. I’ll pick her up about 5pm this evening. She will be a new member of the Tripawd club! No more painful leg with nasty cancerous tumor!
May 1st, 2016 at 2:25 am
Oh Randy, you are providing such great information here about MPNST, thank you. Also, we really can’t thank you enough for your generosity and your call to other members to donate. It’s because of good folks like yourself that Tripawds exists to help others. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Lots of hugs to you and Myah.
May 1st, 2016 at 6:48 pm
Hi Jerry!
I was wondering when I would hear from you. I bet it is a great way for you to catch up by reading some of the blogs in bunches. I just went through and re-read all my posts. A little editing was needed 😉
I was helped so much by reading the content on the tripawds site. (Before I ever registered as a user.) I had quite awhile to think about everything before I raised the money I needed for the surgery. (in fact much of the first few posts came from updates I wrote on Myah’s GoFundme page. (Which, incidentally, is a great way to get ‘help’ from friends and family for something like this! I wouldn’t have been able to “ask” them individually. This all happened at a very unfortunate timing with my finance situation.
Anyway, I have been shouting the praise for Tripawds.com, and the foundation, on both Facebook and the GoFundMe. Not to mention all the people in our store that want to know more about Myah. I have talked to several people that went through the amputations without the amazing resources there is online now. They all wished there was a support structure like Tripawds.com in place for them. I also have been sure to tell as many veterinarians as I can. It must be challenging to get the word out to all of them?
So THANK-YOU JERRY!
May 10th, 2016 at 7:01 pm
I’m so happy you both are doing well and much relieved!
February 9th, 2017 at 2:31 pm
Just stumbled across your blog, hope you both continue to do well!