Hezzie’s New Butt!

Perhaps some of you are aware that my dog Hezekiah (he is OK with being called Hezzie) recently grew a nasty aggressive malignant tumor on his right butt cheek. I first noticed it last November and it continued to grow to about the size of a Hacky Sack! What you see is the result of some pretty complicated surgery performed by University of Florida Veterinary Oncology. Luckily the tumor is not the kind that rapidly spreads to other organs, and they found no sign of it in his lungs! However, it does grow fast and has projectiles that extend out. They analyzed it with a CAT Scan and determined to remove it safely they had to take a 3-inch margin of tissue. This included his tail. The loss of his tail did have some benefit in that they were able to use the skin from his tail to flap over and cover the wound (they also pulled some muscle up from his leg). As a result he has a funny looking butt and actually poops kind of sideways due to the position of his tail skin and muscle. the whole process was very scary, he was in the hospital for 5 days and continued to leak bloody fluid on my floor for another week and a half (luckily I do not have rugs & my other dog Heidi took to cleaning up the mess (Ickie Oooie!)). When he finally got the stitches out & they freed him from his cone, he was basically back to normal (He is only five and a half years old & very resilient!). The lab results indicated that no cancer was found in the margins and so believe they got it all!

Perhaps one of the most upsetting aspects of this whole process is that I originally called my Holistic Veterinarian for consultation. She was rather assuring that she did not think the tumor was malignant and advised that my best course of action was to shrink its growth through a combination of reduced carbohydrate diet and a mix of expensive medicinal herbs (which she was happy to sell out of the back of her truck). She advised against having it aspirated. Now she is a very nice person, a licensed veterinarian and I really wanted to believe the tumor was not cancerous, so I followed this advice. However, the tumor continued to grow! Finally after a couple of months of this treatment, I contacted her again for advice. She continued to advise the use of more herbs and holding off on investigating surgical options. As I could not see just watching this thing grow and spread, I insisted on getting a opinion on surgery and she did direct me to a good local animal hospital. Aspiration and subsequent biopsy provided bad news. Due to the complicated nature of this type operation, they referred me to the excellent vets at UF and I am very pleased with the results. Perhaps earlier action could have saved his tail and needless to say, I now have a new veterinarian & feel somewhat disillusioned with holistic pet care. Of course I believe true holistic care would have included all options and not the imposition of personal opinions (that just happen to be influenced by financial gain).

As scary and emotional as this all was, it did create a crisis that allowed me to release some pent up emotion and gave me the opportunity to make some personal changes. I have recently felt a little withdrawn and used this as an inspiration to re-engage. Perhaps this is one reason I am trying to blog again! While it was very extensive procedure for a dog, I am fortunate to have resources available that I could use to afford it. Besides, I certainly spend money on much more frivilous things! I just hope we got it in time and we never have to deal with cancer again!

You can find more of my photos (including Hezzie with his tail) at: www.flickr.com/photos/taroman/