Leading up to Laika's use of silver ointment to help heal her back, she had two scary episodes within a span of days. The first landed her in the hospital for two nights. The second was able to be controlled until the following weekly treatment. Today, we will address the first episode.
The thing about mast cell tumors is that they are quite unpredictable. Sometimes they look great; other times they change size or bleed. It was a vicious cycle that Laika was able to manage with her attitude, strength, and support team. She was a cancer fighting rockstar according to the vets and techs who were constantly with her. While having chemo, she would have good and bad weeks.
One day, I came home from work to find a large pile of diarrhea in the house. Apparently, Laika's tumor was degranulating and irritatating her tummy. I put her in the backyard, as we had just moved to the new house and she liked it out there. It was good for when I had to clean. She seemed to be feeling ok, but I had noticed a few drops of blood near her accident. I thought it might have been from her rear, but upon checking on Laika again, her shirt was wet...soaked...completely with blood! And, she was surrounded by little bloody paw prints on the porch. She must've started scratching at the irritated tumor and it kept bleeding. In fact, her whole right side was covered from nose to tail with blood from her rear paw scratching everything!
She didn't seem bothered, but it was shocking. I immediately took off her shirt. As I wiped the blood off, some of her tumor skin was also coming off. It was unsettling, but we had been through worse, so it wasn't freaking me out much. I quickly cleaned the area, covered it with herbs to clot the bleeding, and wrapped her back with gauze, a boxing hand wrap and tape. Meanwhile, she was oblivious to the bleeding and just huffed and puffed because she was hungry! Typical Laika!
Being that I had just moved, I had no paper towel. So, Mom to the rescue. One call and help/moral support was on the way. Meanwhile, I gave Laika food and water outside as I did my best to control the damage inside. When help arrived, cleaning solutions and paper towel made it a lot easier.
I had called Laika's oncologist and was told to bring her in later that day because of the bleeding. They gave her a herbal pill that stopped the bleeding immediately. Then they kept her overnight for observation. The whole time she was acting normally, but the tumor was in full "flush mode" with intermittent bleeding. As I went to pick her up the next afternoon, the bleeding started again, so she was kept overnight again. At least my mom and I got to visit with her. She was so happy to see us. I felt bad leaving her, but it was the best decision.
The next day, which was a Saturday, the tumor had healed. It would require wrapping and extra care (in the form of tons of pills), but Big Baby was happy to be home. I was happy to have her back, too. She was a ball of joy from the time I picked her up until she went to sleep that evening. Despite having to take her to see the vet again in two days for her treatment, everything seemed going in a positive direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment