Toe Thingy and etc...

On Thursday, mum took me to see my Auntie Janice about the thingy mum found on my toe (and freaked out subsequently). My Auntie Janice said she didn't think it was anything to worry about, but if it would give mum a peace of mind (which she needed), then she would take it off and send it to the lab.

Mum and Auntie Janice decided instead of doing a Fine Needle Aspiration, they would just take the whole thingy out. Since I am like the PERFECTEST SuperDALE, I only needed local freezing. The freezing part hurt a little because a needle was poked into my toe, but I was very brave as usual. After the freezing took effect, I just stood and ATE (lots of liver treats) the whole time Auntie Janice was extracting the thingy with her laser beam.

They also froze another spot on my right rib cage cause I had another similar looking thingy that had been there for a while. It was of a different colour. So they thought they would get that one and send for biopsy too. By the time Auntie Janice was done with my foot, the freezing on my rib cage had worn off. Except they didn't know!

So When my Auntie Janice went to use the laser machine on my side, I stopped eating, closed my mouth, licked my lips, and turned to look Auntie Janice in the eye. She knew right away that I must have felt pain, so while she injected more freezing into the spot, she shook her head and said:

wow.. so this is what this dog does when she's in pain, she looks right at you with those soulful eyes without a struggle.

Then she said I was her star patient!!

(mum: Sunshade has always been very stoic, that is her personality. On top of being stoic, she is also willing to put up with anything from people who she trusts. It is not easy to gain her trust, but once you have it, the trust becomes unfaltering. Doesn't matter how painful or unpleasant the experience may be, as long as you have her trust, she'll still always greet you with a wiggle bum and a happy woof-woof-woof!

About 6 months ago, I took her to another clinic close to my place to have an in house blood work done. The tech came to get Sunshade, but her brakes were on, and she didn't want to leave me. So I walked with him (and Sunshade) to the back of the clinic. Then he told me I could go wait in the waiting area, that dogs were usually better without their parents around. I remember the guilt I felt as I was walking toward the waiting area, leaving Sunshade behind. She trusted me to walk with me to the back of the clinic, and I let her down by leaving her there. However, I took comfort in the fact that it usually only takes one person to get blood from Sunshade at Janice's clinic. So I told myself Sunshade should be fine and would be out in under 5 mins (which is how long it usually takes for our tech Jen to get blood from Sunshade).

I went to the front of the clinic to wait. 10 minutes passed by, I heard a girl yelled to one of the receptionist in the front desk to go to the back. Then a different girl rushed to the freezer and rushed back with a handful of treats. That's 4 different people I had seen and heard that went to the back - guy vet tech, girl yelled for help, girl went to help, girl came for treats. So I thought for sure they were working on more than one dog in the back. Another 10 minutes passed by, people started piling up in the waiting area as there was no receptionist. The vet herself had to come out to bring the client in.

Finally, the same guy vet tech that took Sunshade reappeared with Miss Leader Of The Iditarod Team. He looked like he had either just slaughtered something or he had just been slaughtered. There was blood splattered all over his scrubs, he had a few drops of blood and a smear on his face, and his hands were covered with dried blood. I was a little shocked at the sight.... as were the two other women that were waiting in the waiting area.

In my moment of disbelief, I managed to squeeze out a smart question - did everything go ok??

He said - everything went great! We got blood, but she's a feisty one!

And then he tried sugar coating it by saying how "cute" Sunshade was (despite being feisty).

UH HUH!

I totally believed him.. NOT!

I'm sure things would have gone a lot smoother if he had let me in with Sunshade. Trust is so important with this girl, and she trusts me.

After the incident, I decided that the half an hour or 45 minute (with traffic) drive to Janice's clinic was warranted in the future, doesn't matter how small the procedure may be.

I never bothered asking the vet tech whose blood it was that he was carrying on his face, shirt/pants and hands. Nor did I ask him what "feisty" meant. I can't see Sunshade biting, but I have seen her aggressive side when she is protecting ones she loves. I guess as long as I stick to Janice's clinic, I won't ever have to find out any of the above!! ONE person with me by Sunshade's side is usually sufficient to get blood from her.)

I think mum needs her own blog.....

Anywayz, when we came home, D-Guy was upstairs. He called me, so I walked up the stairs to see him...


Mum started freaking out again for whatever reason....

Then she put me in the bathtub and put water on my boo boo foot. So what I was bleeding a little (mum: A LOT!)? I had to say hi to D-Guy.

Mum thought that the walking up the stairs part might have stretched the stitches and the hole opened up. Kind of like this, (Sam, cover your dad's eyes pls)


It was past the clinic's operating time, so mum called the emergency clinic to see if they would stitch me up without drugging me and at the same time let her stay with me. They gave mum a big speech about why its better to sedate dogs when stitching. So mum decided to just bandage my foot up and send pictures to my Auntie Janice and see what she says.


I wore a sockie on top of the bandage,


I also wore a bootie to go out for short walkies to do my business.

This was my other wound from Thursday.


After talking to Auntie Janice, they decided on no more stitches for me! YAY!

Mum just had to keep my footie dry and bandaged up. Also to soak it in hibitane and water once a day.


Being the PERFECT gurrrrrrl that I am, I just sit there.......


With my boo boo foot in a yogurt tub.... until mum says ok...


My reward for being so good?

It turned out to be a mistake made by the unsuspecting D-Guy. He sometimes really underestimates my SuperINTELLIGENCE!!

(mum: I guess after giving Sunshade a treat earlier, Derek had put the treat bag back inside the drawer with the top of the bag hanging over the edge of the treat drawer. While me and Derek were watching a show on the laptop, we heard bag crinkling sound. Looked over to the kitchen, saw Miss Sunshade in action. Derek grabbed the camera and told ME to start shooting while he directed! Miss Piggy did not get the entire bag of treats. We let her open the bag and have a couple of the treats, then re-bagged the rest. She did get to lick the bag clean as you saw. This constant search of food is still the affect of her Cushing's disease.

We did start her on the SCARY Cushing's drug on Wednesday, December 8th. So far no adverse reactions *KNOCK ON WOOD*, but no resolution of symptoms either. This usually means that the dosage isn't high enough. We may need to increase the dosage more after an ACTH Stim test next week. Adverse reactions happen when the dose is too high for the particular dog, and you risk adrenal necrosis (killing off entire adrenal gland). We started at a very conservative dosage, so the lack of response is expected.)