Michele, Biscuit & Mo's Blog – May 2011 Archive (5)

It might be hard to imagine a dog being EXCITED to go to chemo treatments, but Penny is.  Well, not so excited about the chemo, but thrilled to see her technician, Tony, and then Dr. Hillers.  Talk about a stress-free environment!

Tony came out to the waiting room to get us, and Penny started thumping her tail right away.  She has gained back 1 pound of the 5 she had lost.  Today's blood work came back in good shape, and Dr. Hillers said that her lymph nodes are smaller this…

Penny and I went in for her first round of chemo today. 

It's a testament to the stress-free environment of the oncology office that Penny wasn't at all stressed and took it like a champ.

The entire process took about an hour.  First, blood tests to establish a baseline for things like if the cancer has spread, and to measure bone marrow…

Someone up there is looking after us, because our appointment with the oncologist went about as well as it could, under the circumstances.

Everyone at the hospital was awesome to Penny (she is pretty charming, after all), and she had more hugs and kisses than she knew what to do with.  These folks are definitely animal lovers.

The oncologist shoots straight (which I like) but still remains positive and loving - a rare combination.  Penny just loved her from…

I had to take Biscuit in to the vet this morning to have her anal glands expressed (fun, fun, fun!) and while I was there, the biopsy results for Penny mast cell came in.  Dr. Izumi came right into the room to see me.  I knew it wasn't good news by the look on her face.

Penny has Grade 3 mast cell cancer - this is as bad as it gets.  We don't know if or how far it has spread, and are heading to an oncologist tomorrow morning.  I'm sure they'll do more tests to check for…

Just got a call from the vet.  Penny came through surgery (to remove the mast cell tumor) with flying colors.  I go to pick her up in about an hour.  Final biopsy results will be in sometime next week.  Then, we'll know whether or not she has to go through chemo.

Time to go out and buy some new T-shirts for my baby, to protect those stitches.  I don't know HOW I'm going to keep her and Biscuit from conducting their regularly-schedule wrestling smackdowns!

A…