This past week and a half has been a roller coaster with Superpisser. It began the Monday night before last, when she was not able to pee and was clearly in distress. I took her down to an emergency vet and they put a hard catheter in, gave me the talk, which was all good, but I wanted her to be comfortable at home before we euthanized her (also wanted to give her a couple days at home with a catheter to see if she could pull off another save). As it turned out, she was not happy with the hard catheter to the point of removing it herself the following night at the vets, so they tried again and failed to put another catheter in as they were running smack into the damn tumor (I had requested they use a foley which has a balloon and is soft, but they could not get the harder type in either). So with bills mounting, and a dog with 12 hours of unspent urine in her bladder since the night before's failed attempt, I was about to put her down at the hospital which she hates, and in pain (a completely shitty situation). I decided to call another vet that knows her case, and was given the name of a specialist (Dr. Aguirre with Salt River Veterinary Specialists) who does laser ablation for bladder tumors (aka UGELAB) in dogs with TCC, and he was not far away either (he is in Scottsdale, AZ). Considering the timing and utter lack of hope at that point, I was cautiously hopeful. So I sprang for a more specialized vet at the emergency hospital to install the foley catheter using a scope and get her though till the consult the next day.
As it turned out she was still miserable and having frequent urgency and peeing around this softer foley catheter all night when I had her back home (good times). Next day, got her in for a consult with Dr. Aguirre, expecting to be told there was not much left for her, and was surprised to find out that the part of the tumor which was blocking her from peeing was mostly growing into and not attached to the urethra (though it had encroached at one point near the bladder). It was like a finger extending from the bladder into the urethra with a lot of blood clots to boot. Last Friday she had the surgery to unbock her and she had a bit of a bumpy recovery, but got through it and is getting back to her old self now.
There is still tumor in there, but this has both bought her time and also made her more comfortable, which I consider a win, win, except for my credit card balance.
Had the emergency vet got the foley in the first night, I may not have made the call a couple days later when she was out of options, and found out about Dr. Aguirre. Dr. Aguirre is a great vet who was able to save Sunny's bacon one more time. After discussing her case I found out that he has a lot of experience working on tumors and kidney stones for dogs, and applies some techniques used in human surgery for similar problems he deals with in dogs and cats. It is not often that I have met a vet at his level, and of course, I would highly recommend him.
Superpisser is not out of the woods yet, but she is in a much better place to find her way out.
As it turned out she was still miserable and having frequent urgency and peeing around this softer foley catheter all night when I had her back home (good times). Next day, got her in for a consult with Dr. Aguirre, expecting to be told there was not much left for her, and was surprised to find out that the part of the tumor which was blocking her from peeing was mostly growing into and not attached to the urethra (though it had encroached at one point near the bladder). It was like a finger extending from the bladder into the urethra with a lot of blood clots to boot. Last Friday she had the surgery to unbock her and she had a bit of a bumpy recovery, but got through it and is getting back to her old self now.
There is still tumor in there, but this has both bought her time and also made her more comfortable, which I consider a win, win, except for my credit card balance.
Had the emergency vet got the foley in the first night, I may not have made the call a couple days later when she was out of options, and found out about Dr. Aguirre. Dr. Aguirre is a great vet who was able to save Sunny's bacon one more time. After discussing her case I found out that he has a lot of experience working on tumors and kidney stones for dogs, and applies some techniques used in human surgery for similar problems he deals with in dogs and cats. It is not often that I have met a vet at his level, and of course, I would highly recommend him.
Superpisser is not out of the woods yet, but she is in a much better place to find her way out.
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