Abigail has been diagnosed with a mast cell tumor - Grade III. The diagnosis was made through a biopsy of the growth on her neck. I am devasted. She is my baby, my agility partner, my best friend, and I love her with all my heart. She is 11 years old and I’ve had her since she was 7 weeks old. She is the first dog that I’ve had as an adult.
In July 2009, she underwent surgery for a herniated disk in her spine—just above her tail. She recovered completely and underwent rehab for many months before we resumed competing in agility trials. She was faster and did even better in agility after the surgery—partially due to losing weight after switching to a raw diet.
I had hoped, no, expected her to live to a ripe old age of at least 18—that’s how long my family’s dogs tend to live. I never expected this.
I don’t even remember when I first noticed a growth on her neck. I honestly can’t remember. But when I saw it get bigger, I took her to the vet and he said he didn’t think it was anything to worry about but he did want to remove it and send it in for a biopsy. He said it didn’t seem quite like a sebaceous cyst.
That was the middle of April. We had some agility trials scheduled for April and May, so I said how about in June and the vet said “Don’t wait that long.” So I scheduled it for May 16th. There was an agility trial on May 14-15th that I really wanted to attend—the judge used to run one of the top 2 beagles in agility. I wanted her to see Abigail run.
A week before the biopsy, the growth began to ooze and bleed—I don’t know if it was because Abigail had scratched it or it had begun to abscess. Concerned, I asked the vet if we should move up the surgery but he said no. So Monday, May 16 she went in for a dental cleaning, removal of three lipomas on her chest (which had been aspirated previously and found to be non-cancerous), and removal of the growth on her neck.
She came through the surgery with flying colors. I picked her up at 5:30 pm—the vet tech brought her to me and besides looking a big googley-eyed from the anesthesia, she looked and acted great. In fact, as the vet tech was giving me instructions to soften her kibble with broth (she didn’t know Abigail was on a raw diet) because her teeth and gums were likely to be sore from the cleaning, I looked around for Abigail (she didn’t have a leash or collar on because of the surgery), and heard her back in the storeroom whereupon I rushed back there and found her eating kitty kibble from a bag she had ripped open. Whatever discomfort she felt in her teeth and gums didn’t stop her from pursuing the beagle’s never-ending quest for food. Beagles, as you may know, are very food-focused.
Abigail recovered very quickly from the surgery and seemed back to normal almost immediately. I called for the biopsy results after 3 days—they had told me that results would be in after 3-5 days. But they weren’t back yet. I was told they take 3-7 days. So I waited another 7 days (May to call for the results—I wasn’t worried. OK, well maybe a little bit. Results still not it. The vet assistant said she would call for the results that day. Two hours later, the vet called and left a message. Bad sign when the vet calls. I called him right back. I knew right away that a mast cell tumor — Grade III was very bad. Too shocked to ask any questions, I spoke to the vet only very briefly. I then called him back a couple hours later and he advised me to contact an oncologist right away. I contacted the holistic vet that we have used and her rehab vet and both recommended the same person that my vet had recommended.
So I tried to reach the recommended specialist but his oncology staff is already on vacation for the Memorial Day weekend (this is Thursday afternoon). So I filled in an online request for an appointment. I don’t want to wait until after the weekend, so I called the general receptionist on Friday—fortunately someone had read the online request and had told the general scheduling staff to go ahead and make an appointment for me. But the recommended oncologist was on vacation until June 16th. But I could start tests on June 7th. So I make the appointment.
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