Oncept Vaccine #4 & Surgery #3

Got my last jab on 30 November. Unfortunately, there was also another lump that grew at (or very near to) the previous sites - all localised at LEFT UPPER side. So in the same session, I got my #3 lump removal surgery + the jab.

Warning: Graphic content below showing my mouth under surgery (left upper inner cheek)😅

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   That day after going home... lots of sleep and sleep. I didn't want to eat for 2 whole days, excluding surgery day, which makes it total of 3 days without food! Only drank water.

I'll be doing a second round of 4 (booster) jabs of the same Oncept vaccine. Placed order for them, hopefully this time they'll arrive on time!


   Me, on 28 November.

Wordless Wednesday - Hairy Lizard

Still Gluttony

Despite all that's happening with me (cancer, dementia, etc), nothing can deter me from trying to get food! BOL

I have trouble getting up or stabilizing my position due to weakened hind legs. Front legs also getting weaker therefore ... 😅

Doggy Dementia Got Me

Confusion, disorientation, dogzheimers. Call it what you will, but canine dementia (known clinically as canine cognitive dysfunction) cause dogs to show many of the same symptoms just like humans: 

(👈 means applicable to me):

• Sleep-wake cycle disturbances 👈 (recently I would wake up middle of night and pace)
• Generalized anxiety 
• Lower threshold for aggression
• Decreased activity levels 👈
• Inappropriate vocalization (howling, barking or whining)
• Repetitive behaviors (pacing) 👈 pacing + circling
• Elimination disorders 👈 (more like I forget where to pee)
• Staring at walls 👈 (I don't stare at walls but most times I am like stand frozen and stare at the floor. Mom has to help snap me out of it).
• Fewer social interactions
• Disorientation (getting “lost” in the house) 👈 (more like getting stuck at places, not really "lost". Now my brain is set to turn only in 1 direction eg. to the right, so even though there's plenty of space on my left side and a wall immediately on my right, I don't know how to proceed because I can't turn!).

(source of above from here).

Oncept Vaccine #2

2 down, 2 more to go. So far so good *keeping all paws crossed*

Oncept Vaccine #1

So here it is:

This was yesterday, 19 Oct. 

Three more 💉 jabs to go. Every 2 weeks. 

Sleep Poses

My sleep poses in recent months:

How Do I Look?

What's with this hanky tied up like a snood around my head?!

Mom was trying to experiment making a "bib" to catch my droplets of saliva. I guess I've been smiling too much sticking my lil tongue out BOL 👅

Well, it didn't work out. Though the v-end part beneath my tongue was soaked but the hanky dropped off by itself - it didn't stay on my head long .... 😝😅

Wordless Wednesday - Senior Struggles

Most of the time mommy would give me a boost. Thanks mom! 💋

Throwback Thursday - Time Flies

Time really flies!

Wordless Wednesday - Oops

hee hee hee ... ... 

Surgery #2

Had my #2 lump removal yesterday. I had been fasted since the night before (smart move mommy! Otherwise we'd have to make another trip another day), pre-op X-ray done and it was okay to go ahead for the surgery. I was told that cancer cases have priority so they could slot me right in.

I was out on the grass doing my toileting💩while waiting for my turn.

Other furries with sickies were waiting too.

Around 10am I realised mom and dad had disappeared! 😰😭 

Then everything was a blur .... ....

Before I knew it, I was already in daddy's arms!

Lost another molar. The root was already infected so it had to go. Not sure if it was due to the cancer but it had been rather difficult for mom to clean that part of my mouth. Well, think on the brighter side it would easier to clean without teeth 😝.  For now, it seems that the cancer is localised on my left upper gum area. Lymph nodes and lungs are currently fine.

Dogtor showed my pawrents photo of the nasty lump in my mouth. He said there were lots of "materials" came out of the lump. Vet is Italian and he speaks English with quite a heavy accent - we think he meant to say "toxins" 😅. He is a nice and good vet, we like him.

My appetite was still good despite today's ordeal. 

Thereafter, it was good night 💤💤💤

Smell The Grass

These were taken yesterday:

"hmm...i smell something "nice" here!"

  smelling the grass very intently!

    blooper shot

Behind the scene: besides smelling, I licked the grass too! Mom said gross and pulled me away 😝

Hey, isn't that the best part??? 😈

Where Is My Vaccine

In our post here, we mentioned that we are going with the Oncept Vaccine for my melanoma cancer treatment - that it will take about 6 weeks to get to us. It's almost 6 weeks now but no news of it reaching yet.

Upon enquiring with our vet clinic, apparently (according to their previous cases with other patients) it might take up to 2 months as the whole process from us ordering, the manufacturer's indenting and manufacturing the required vaccine (specifically for me) take some unknown time.  What is known now is that it has been shipped out and on its way. And then there'll be custom clearance delay once it reaches Singapore.

It's so fuxked up, no info provided by manufacturer of when it was shipped etc. Hopefully when it gets here I AM STILL AROUND!! 😡😡😡 🙏🙏🙏

Vaccine, are you travelling around the world?

Not So Good News

Hello efurrybuddy!

Sorry to be bringing bad news 😔 but we think another lump has grown. Mommy says she can feel it when trying to clean my teeth (I strugglez of course). It's barely 2 months since my last surgery!!! 😓

So we'll be making another visit to the dogtor this Sunday to have it checked out. If it is really another growth, then I'd be up for another lump removal surgery before it gets too big. Will try my best to post an update here.

Nowadays I am either pacing when I'm awake (stumbling here and there too 😅), or sleeping, or eating BOL.

Oh, I got into a jam in the narrow space between a toilet bowl and wall which fits my body width. I have forgotten how to reverse my way out! So I stood there cried for help and mommy came to rescue me phew...

That's all for today 😁

Ballet Legs

yup, mi wearing diapers (belly wrap style) in the above pic 😜

My Daily Routine Nowadays

Besides my morning walks,





the rest can be summed up below:



Sleeping anywhere my legs bring me:

Pathology Report Out

Got the BAD news last Thursday - it's malignant (oral melanoma) 😭

"They are typically highly invasive and have a high rate of metastasis to regional lymph nodes and distant sites such as the lungs....". When they reach the lungs, that's it.

My options:

1. Do a CT scan to assess whether the cancer has spread to my jaw bones and surrounding area - if yes, then aggresive and invasive surgery which involves removal of jaw bones 😱;
2. Chemotherapy - 1 session every 3 weeks for 5 sessions; or
3. Immunotherapy (Oncept Melanoma Vaccine) - initial 4 dose series, once every 2 weeks. Thereafter, 1 booster vaccine every 6 months. 

Even if we choose option 1, it will not mean end of story after the surgery. This fucking (pardon my language!) cancer almost always come back and then you keep cutting and cutting till the face is deformed 😱😱😭 

Costs:

• Surgery: CT scan alone is SGD1.5K approx. USD1.1K. Surgery cost unknown.
• Chemo 5 sessions: SGD2.5K approx. USD1.8+K
• Vaccine initial 4 doses: SGD2.7K approx. USD1.9+K 

My hoomans have decided to go with option 3, the vaccine. And, surgery only as and when necessary when the tumor/s grow again. Since everything is unknown, it is almost like a gamble no matter which option I go with. Given my seniority, enlarged heart and collapsed trachea, they do not want to put me through the scary aggresive surgery. At the moment, my lymph nodes are normal and lungs are clear (per x-ray done 22 July). So, mom and dad wants me to enjoy myself while I can and be comfortable.

The vaccine (by Merial) has to be ordered from USA submitting my information etc. It'll take 1.5 months to reach here (Singapore)!! Talk about saving lives, why does it take soooooo loooooonnngggg?????

Meanwhile, life goes on as usual though I notice the extra hugs and kisses BOL

Back From Surgery #1

🙏🙏Thank you my furriends for sending me your POTP and Love! 😘😘😘

So yesterday morning I was dropped of at the vet's; and was discharged at 5pm. I was already awake and alert when mom and dad came to get me.


I lost a total of 4 teeth this time 😢. 2 were under the lump and perhaps affected somehow cos they were already quite loose. The other 2? Was told 1 incisor and 1 "somewhere" BOL, and Mom has yet to figure out which 2!!!

Now we wait for the biopsy report which might take up to 1 week or so.

Meanwhile, am catching up with my 😴😴😴 leaving tomorrow's problems for tomorrow.

Shall update again when the biopsy results are out. Meanwhile, please keep POTP coming 🙏🙏

😘😘😘💞💞💞

Need Power Of Paws Please

Dear Furriends,

I will be going under the knife tomorrow morning (Tuesday 24th July, local time) because I've got the most dreaded "C" thingy :'(  ... ... well, it needs to be confirmed by the pathology lab after removal of the tumor and whether it is benign or malignant.

Mine's oral, and since it is difficult for mom to take a photo of it, photo below is from internet similar to what I have:
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Yup, it's black in color. But mine is not at the front like in the photo, mine's at the left upper molar's gum. Oral Melanoma.

Mom first felt a tiny-weeny growth about end of May this year but could not have a good look as I wasn't co-operative, shutting my lips tight! Even the vet couldn't either, unless they put me under GA. My pawrents were worried about me going under, with my heart murmur, enlarged heart etc... so they decided to wait a while. On hindsight, bad move! Ah well, no point talking about what had happened so let's just pray that it's benign! She finally succeeded in looking last Friday and boy, what a shock it gave her and she dialled the vet's first thing Saturday morning.

They had to take an X-ray of my chest first to see if the C has spread to my lungs as I have been coughing quite a lot nowadays. Vet said, if x-ray showed white spots then it means it has spread and even surgery won't help. AND I'll only have 2-3 weeks left!!! Mom nearly fainted.

It was the l....o....n.....g.....e......s.....t  five minute wait for the x-ray results. Fortunately, lung has no white spots except for some fluids. So I was given diuretics to clear out the fluids these 2 days.

Another thing discovered from the x-ray was, that my trachea has collapsed (even more?) which explains my worsening cough. We've known from an x-ray beginning of this year that my trachea is being compressed by my enlarged heart. But the collapsed part is now so narrow we are Mom is horrified. We are now taking 1 thing at a time and to deal with this f*cking C first.

Please please send power of paws my way. THANK YOU VERY MUCH in advance.

Love,

Bowie

Oh, some recent photos of me heehee:

Yesterday while waiting for my turn at the vet, daddy brought me to the grass patch next to the clinic:

One of my morning walkie:

My usual routines at home nowadays:

That's all for today :)