Yesterday's visit was a bit of a shock. First they took a pre-anesthesia chest x-ray. The results were clear so they proceeded to put Tia under for the CT scan. That procedure went well, but the results were startling. 
Tia's tumor is much bigger than they had anticipated, so unfortunately, surgical removal is out of the question. With this type of aggressive tumor they need to take a much bigger margin around it in order to ensure that they get it all. Because of the tumor's proximity to Tia's eye this really isn't possible. The tumor has also eaten away at more bone than we thought. Our only option at this point is to radiate. The good thing is that Tia's tumor will not spread to other parts of her body, and the rate of success with radiation is 80 to 90%. They should be able to shrink the tumor considerably, and give Tia another 2 to 4 years of quality life. Since she is 11 years old now, that is a very reasonable expectation. The bad thing is that she will certainly lose total vision in her right eye because of the radiation. She will also lose another tooth. There are other risks and side effects as well, such as a possible oral/nasal fistula. We'll deal with them as they happen (or hopefully not!). We will begin radiation on Monday, Dec 7th. She will stay at the hospital weekdays for 3 weeks and her last treatment date will be Dec 24th. Thanks to Stephen's help I have attached a copy of a couple of Tia's scans. You can really see the size of the tumor. Very scary!
Tia's tumor is much bigger than they had anticipated, so unfortunately, surgical removal is out of the question. With this type of aggressive tumor they need to take a much bigger margin around it in order to ensure that they get it all. Because of the tumor's proximity to Tia's eye this really isn't possible. The tumor has also eaten away at more bone than we thought. Our only option at this point is to radiate. The good thing is that Tia's tumor will not spread to other parts of her body, and the rate of success with radiation is 80 to 90%. They should be able to shrink the tumor considerably, and give Tia another 2 to 4 years of quality life. Since she is 11 years old now, that is a very reasonable expectation. The bad thing is that she will certainly lose total vision in her right eye because of the radiation. She will also lose another tooth. There are other risks and side effects as well, such as a possible oral/nasal fistula. We'll deal with them as they happen (or hopefully not!). We will begin radiation on Monday, Dec 7th. She will stay at the hospital weekdays for 3 weeks and her last treatment date will be Dec 24th. Thanks to Stephen's help I have attached a copy of a couple of Tia's scans. You can really see the size of the tumor. Very scary!Some people may question why we would spend such considerable funds to fight Tia's tumor. It's pretty simple. First, she is in excellent health now. If you saw her she doesn't act any differently that usual. She is active and happy, and eating like she always does. In fact, she had the best Thanksgiving day of her life, since she was allowed to run loose in the house with all our guests, and anything that fell on the floor was hers. (Not to mention all the turkey that Rick gave her later on when we were cleaning up!) Secondly, I've known Tia since the minute she was born. She has been my constant companion. We have thoroughly enjoyed the sport of agility together, and built a bond that can't be ignored. She makes me laugh all the time, no matter how "bad" a dog she is. If dogs have a sense of humor, Tia has a huge one! Tia has done so much for me in so many ways. How can I ignore that?? Treating her tumor is the least we can do for her.
Wish us luck as we continue our journey. Lets hope for a good outcome.
I understand and you explained it perfectly (Not that you have to explain it at all to anyone).
ReplyDelete