Linden's biopsy results

Well, first of all, I misunderstood the situation. Both tumors were cancerous. The one on her arm was a hemangiopericytoma, and the one on her belly was a "mammary complex tubular and papillary adenocarcinoma". Both are unlikely to metastasize (woo hoo!), but the one on her arm was, as I reported earlier, not able to be removed completely and is likely to recur. The one on her belly was removed completely and "lymphatic invasion is not observed". :)

The incisions are healing nicely:




But these little slits up her arm?


They were not exploratory, as I had assumed. The vet made those to relieve tension so he could close the major incision. Jeeze, that sounds painful! I can't believe booger wanted to go bouncing around the yard while those were fresh!

In the meantime, Autumn's eyelid has healed completely:


I can't believe I didn't have that done sooner! Why live with a blob on your eyelid for eight years?!?

Booger sez, "I like dis place. Well, actually, I like all places. Everything's great! I love everything! I'm Linden!"


So the plan is to let Goober be Goober and not put her on any drugs. If the tumor comes back, we'll just have it removed over and over until she's no longer fit for anesthesia and surgery, and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, I've decided that from now on, whenever I see tumors on pets, I'll just bring them in immediately and have them aspirated and biopsied. If they turn out to be cancerous, I'll have them removed right away. If not, they can wait until they are bothering them mechanically.

Linden's stitches come out tomorrow! (warning: photos of incisions)

Today is Day 14, so I took the girls on a several-mile off-leash trail run this morning. Linden's first time off-leash since surgery! It was glorious... she bounded around with a big ol' smile on her face!

Only one more day and one more night of the cone!


The incisions are healing up nicely. Here are photos from two days ago. They are even more healed today.

The benign tumor removal from the belleh:


The extra incisions, which the vet had to cut to relieve tension (ouch!):


The incision from the bad tumor removal:


A mama moose who's been bedding down with her calf in our yard:


She and her behbehmoose sleep in the *exact* same position--on their right side, with their heads folded over to use their own left shoulder as a pillow. I am amazed that meese are so flexible!

Warmth and Ice!

It's been so warm (40s F/ single digits C) that we lost our snow, and Starbuckeroo even shed a chunk of fur:


I took that photo on Saturday. That night, rain started falling, which is very annoying! It ruined the snow for skiing, and covered the roads with a slick of ice! So we stayed home all day Sunday. This morning, schools were cancelled. The Minor News reports:

The rain began falling shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday night as temperatures hovered around 32 degrees. As the partially melted slush falling from the sky hit the ground, it froze, forming a layer of ice over the snowpack. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the central Interior as the rain kept coming throughout the night, falling and freezing until 5 a.m. Sunday.

Linden sat on the couch and posed like an adorable supermodel dog:


Starbuckeroo sez, "Hoooooold me, papa!"


This morning, I heard cars driving back and forth, so decided to come to work. I left the ladies on the cowsch:


Campus had been gravelled, iced, gravelled, iced, and then gravelled again:

Trying to hold the tide...

... that's what it's like trying to get huskies to "rest"! Autumn is supposed to be resting for 7 days, Linden for 14, post surgery. However, I learned when I had them spayed 7 years ago that it wouldn't be easy. For one thing, neither of them will poop in our yard. They won't poop until we've walked at least half a mile. Also, they hate the short walks and are reluctant to turn around! I also find that they have an abundance of energy, bouncing here and there and straining at their leashes! Well, this weekend, we'll see if we can sneak out with just Autumn and Starbuck for a long ski and leave the Goober on the couch.

No results from the biopsies yet, but here are photos.

"I would prefer not to wear this cone, but I don't really put up too much of a fuss."


"Without the cone, all three of us fit on the couch!"


"I'm still awfully cute!"


It's difficult for me to imagine Linden having cancer in her body, since she's still bouncing around like a baby goat! However, when I change the dressing on her leg, it's pretty obvious how alarmed the vet was. There are exploratory incisions halfway up her forearm. :( Please keep your fingers crossed for a positive prognosis for my bouncy little puppy/old lady! :)

The irrepressible Miss Booger Dog

Both gracious ladies, Autumn and Linden, have had benign tumors removed from time to time. I've lost count, but I'd estimate probably eight or so tumors have been removed from each girl since I got them in 2007 and 2008. Probably three surgeries each, with 2-3 tumors removed each time, sounds about right. The last time they went under the knife was before we went to Colorado last summer. My favorite group photo, which I have printed out and placed in my office, shows a healing scar on Autumn.

While in Colorado, I noticed I had missed one. Linden still had one on her belly, but, no big deal. It wasn't growing. However, a few months ago, a new one appeared on her wrist, and it was growing fast. I decided to put my old girl, now 15.5 years old, under the knife for maybe just one more time. My vet agreed that, due to her excellent health, it was the right thing to do. Anesthesia and surgery were not risks for her. In the meantime, as long as I'd have a dog in recovery and no skiing/hiking/etc, I decided to have a growth removed from Autumn's eyelid. She's had it as long as I've had her, but it was growing bigger and scratching and irritating her eyeball. You can see it, in the outer corner of her left eye, in this photo.

Aaaanyway, as usual, I dutifully had the ladies fast for 12 hours prior to anesthesia and delivered them to the care of the good Doctor F. Starbuckeroo came to work with me and charmed my coworkers and visitors. I awaited my "your dogs are awake, you can pick them up in two hours" call from a vet technician.

However, Dr. F. himself called me later with bad news. The tumor in Linden's front leg was cancerous and had already spread up her leg. Fibers were going deep into muscle tissue. He said there was no way he could get it all without amputation, but that he would not amputate on a 15-year-old dog. :( He sent some tissue samples for a biopsy, and we should have results today or tomorrow.

Linden is milking looking cute and pathetic, with a bright blue bandage and a Cone of Shame.

"Dis is my hurt leg."


"See, I hurt my leg. Rub my belly."


"I'm lying here with a hurt leg and a cut in my belly. Look how cute I am. I'm soooo hurt. Are you looking?? I'm sooooooo hurt. Hello?!?"


"What? Is... Dis? Wha??"


Autumn: "Aaaand... Linden can't get on the couch. All mine, hell yeah."


Yaaaaaaaaawn...


It seems that there is now an IQ minimum to be on the couch.


I'll be sure to let all 15 of my loyal readers know when we have a prognosis for Miss Goober Pants! In the meantime, both ladies are healing well from surgery. Keeping Linden from bouncing around like a goat kid for eight more days is going to be challenging!

Autumn

Wind for Schools is a great program. Small wind turbines (2.1 kW rating) are installed in schools around the country, and hooked to the grid. Students receive lessons on wind energy and get to watch as their turbines produce power!

Autumn, however, finds our monthly conference calls terribly dull:

Notes from Here and There

1) Uh-oh. It looks like my Bird Feeder 2.2 may not actually be moose-proof:


Photo credit: Marc Lester, Anchorage Daily News

2) The Richardson Highway is very beautiful:







3) Photos from skiing on the Tanana last weekend:

Starbuckeroo looking very picturesque:


DL gets very frosty!


Gracious ladies:


Chena Ridge:


Roo is all ears!


Looking back to our starting point:


Howard Luke's island. I did quite a bit of snow research on the side of that island!


Cowsche: