Can you tell I am catching up...

on what we did over the holidays??

After the lovely sojourn at Phillip Island, we came home. Three days later it all started to go awry....

We got up early Sunday morning, Samuel, Zachary and I as Stan (their dad) was coming home from the UK. Yay! Bronte was away with her best friend Anna for 3 days at Skene's Creek on the Great Ocean Road and wasn't returning until late that night.

I let Kiah out for her morning toileting and started getting ready for the day....

Ok - here are excerpts from posts I made over at Dogz Online - they are very poignant to me to read back...

29th January 2007 10.54am

Hello everyone, I am new here but have been searching the internet for clues and answers to my gorgeous dog's health problems and I found you all.

My dog is called Kiah (key-ah) and is 14 next month. She is not a purebred but is a cross between a GSD and Kelpie (we think!)

I love her so much and yesterday felt like it was the worst day of my life...

She was fine in the morning - went outside after she woke up for her toileting and drinking. I looked out of the kitchen window and she was lying on her side on the driveway. Five or so minutes later, I looked out again and she was standing up but with her head pointing down. Looked strange so I watched for a minute or two - she seemed to be swaying slightly but otherwise didn't move?

I went out to her and she tried to walk to me but found it difficult. Very tentative steps and only 3 or 4. Well, I was immediately worried and upset. She looked like she wanted to lie down so I got her blankets from inside and helped her.

Then I decided to carry her inside where it was less windy and she just lay like a rag doll. Occasionally trying to lift her head up but lying back down.

After an hour or so of this (my husband returned from a trip to the UK at that very moment) and she tried to run to him but couldn't - slow steps, head down.

We sat with her - I was crying, my husband was very worried. After about 30mins she started to rally around..walked a bit more and able to drink and eat a piece of cheese.

I took her to the vet then - deciding if it was bad news I would just bring her home to be with us. I think it is bad news. She has enlarged lymph nodes around her neck but nowhere else. Her heart and lungs sounded fine (I thought it was heart problems) and her weight has been stable for the last 5 years.

So, the vet has put her on antibiotics for the nodes (clavulox) and I need to take her back in 3 days. He mentioned that it could be cancer (I think he is pretty sure it is? but he didn't say) and he also gave her an anti inflammatory injection - he believes she has arthritis - when I took her for a check up 6 months ago - it was only very mild - and he thinks this is why she is not moving well. I am unsure about this actually. She has been moving fine until then? He said that because she is feeling unwell (lymph nodes) that the pain from the arthritis would be exacerbated - in other words an unwell dog feels pain more.

Any thoughts on this please? Any hope for a silly crying woman who has shared the last almost 14 years with her best friend?

And some of the replies I received were amazing....I just couldn't believe how people over there came to try and alleviate my confusion.

29th January 4.56pm

Thank you all so much for your kind words, advice and thoughts....it really is so much appreciated.

She seems perkier this afternoon.

It seems, that today her neck is actually swollen on the left side - it wasn't yesterday...like fluid - makes me think more and more that it could have been some kind of bite? I am grasping at straws here but maybe, just maybe....

It is so obvious now, this swelling - almost mane-like...yet she seems better in herself and even came for a short stroll with me over to the park. She slept quite a bit today and now is just a tad more energetic.

I am hopeful and not as despairing as I was early! It might be false hope but it is hope nontheless!

Thank you all once again for your support of me (the old sook) and Kiah (the gorgeous one!)

Oh and Poodlefan - I don't think the thought of a bite of any kind entered into the Vet's mind...this was not mentioned at all - yet (while I may be grasping at straws) it seems that it may very well be a possibility. I will wait and see and go back on Wednesday - hopefully this is what it could be.

Then I wrote this next one... 29th January 10.21pm

I have just logged on here again.

This afternoon and night she has been so much better. She has been barking again, almost chased a ball and really getting back to normal.

I took some photos of the swelling that wasn't there yesterday - took them early this evening. It almost looks like a goiter and feels really fluidy - mainly on the right side of the neck - I think you can see it clearly in these photos.

Yesterday, there is no way I could have taken the photos - she seemed like she was at deaths door - hard to imagine now?

Today, she has heaps more movement and life - could it be the anti-inflamatory or even the antibiotics? I don't understand really why this fluid like sac is there now - it is large but not worrying her at all...

I will, however, take her to a different vet tomorrow morning first thing and see what they say...

Thank you all so much for your replies and words of wisdom - it has been a light in a very dark tunnel.

Kate and Kiah

31st January Posted at 2.10pm

Thank you...

Yes, I have some news. Not so good it seems. I am typing this through teary eyes so please excuse any typos...

Yesterday and today she was not as well as she was on Monday - just very subdued and not really eating - I tried the Chicken Soup - a variant at least...I tried rice and gravy (she normally loves that) and she has nibbled on some cheese and the like.

I took her to the same vet today - appt was at 2pm. He says that the lymph nodes are much larger than on Sunday. He also said this is not good. He believes with 99.5% certainty that this is lympho sarcoma (sp?) and he took bloods today and she is booked in for a biopsy tomorrow.

I am so devastated - had talked myself into the fact that it was some kind of insect bite. But no.

When he shaved her neck to take blood, it revealed a large area of bruising. I was shocked at that. He said that this tells him that she has a very low white blood count (another indication of serious goings on).

So, I have her home with me now - she is sleeping. I have yet to tell my husband - he will be so upset as well.

Thank you all for your support.

Kate

1st February 2007 10.49pm

Thanks for the links and the loving thoughts everyone - it is lovely to read that people care.

An update on Kiah....

Her blood results came back and just revealed really that she is anaemic. They did not provide any other clues as to what is going on and so this morning she went in for a biopsy. I could not stop crying when I took her in - I was embarrassed really. The surgeon was lovely and understanding but jeez - I just could not pull myself together. Had to tell him to keep talking even though I was bawling.

He said he would take a sample of her lymph node and also put her on a drip to rehydrate her. He told me to ring the surgery at 2pm to check up on when I could take her home. Well - he rang me at 11am - I was sure she had died - I felt horrible and I was in Coles doing the shopping and couldn't think straight. He said that while under anaesthetic she had some difficulty breathing so decided to x-ray her chest before going on with the op. The x-rays showed that her trachea has a noticeable kink in it (apparently it is meant to be straight) and there is some shadowing indicating what could be a mass BUT it wasn't conclusive enough to stop him from doing the biopsy. He said if there was a definite mass there he would not have continued.

Anyway - she came through the operation fine (for a 13 year old!) and was happy to see me. Her jowls are so swollen and now the inside of her mouth has blood bruising. She looks so sad and almost like a bassett hound with their big droopy mouths. We have to await the results of the biopsy. They should come back tomorrow afternoon or Saturday. The prognosis is not good but the surgeon did say that he had not had a dog present with these particular symptoms in the past. Normally all of the lymph nodes would be involved and in Kiah it is just the ones in her neck. He has also not seen such bruising before?

Please keep her in your thoughts everyone. She deserves it. She is the kindest, most devoted dog you would ever meet.

Kate

2nd February 2007 3.59pm

Hi again,

Just got the official diagnosis - the results of her biopsy have just been rung through to me.

It is, as feared, Lymphoma Sarcoma. Medium Grade apparently. The vet really gave the four options available...

1. Chemotherapy

2. Euthanasia

3. Prednisolone (I know that isn't spelt right!!)

4. No treatment

He suggested that Chemo was not the right option for her due to her age. My husband and I had already discussed this option and had come to the same conclusion.

He also said that Euthanasia could be an option but I said if suitable, we wanted to go with the cortisone.

He said if we went with the no treatment option - that she would more than likely not be with us in 3 weeks time. With cortisone we could have her for 6 weeks to 6 months. Sounds good to me. You see I am already getting used to the idea that she is sick. When I first started this thread - right up to last night - I was in shock - now I feel more realistic and grateful for any quality time we can spend with her.

She can't start the cortisone just yet as she has had the biopsy and he said it is best to wait - as the cortisone can delay healing. So, if she stays as well as she is today (wanted to come in the car with me to pick up the kids from school and has eaten a little) then we will wait to start the treatment on the 14th when her stitches come out. However, if she goes downhill again - will start them sooner.

Again...I really want to thank you all for your wonderful thoughts and wishes - it really has helped me over the last few days. Who could have known that a site for purebreds would support myself and my gorgeous GSD/Kelpie (so they told us all of those years ago at the RSPCA) - I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

I hope you don't mind if I hang around for a while - might be needing you all for a shoulder to cry on....

Thanks again

Kate and Kiah

4th February 2007 10.51pm

It is with a heavy heart that I type this...

Tonight, at around 8.45pm, I found Kiah asleep on the driveway. Never to be woken again.

Seems that she went to sleep peacefully and how I would have wanted to her to but oh it is so not fair. I wanted to be with her. She still looks peaceful. We have wrapped her in her blankets and will bury her next to our cat that we had for 18 years and Kiah loved.

Please have her in your thoughts. My children are distressed as am I and my husband.

Again, thank you all so much for your kindness.

I can't believe she is no longer here.

What will I do?

Kate