Meanwhile...

Stella's "sister", Betty (our other Pug adopted from a puppy mill 2 years ago), had surgery today for removal of a mass along her mammary chains.  Vet stated it looked "nasty" and is concerned it is cancerous; Mammary Gland Tumor (breast cancer).  Once again we play a round of the waiting game; Pathologist's report is due next week.

This can't possibly be happening again.....

Boodwork Results

Completely normal :)

She's Just As Beautiful On The Inside....

...as she is on the outside.  Stella had her one year post treatments abdominal ultrasound today and the oncologist said everything (the abdominal organs) looks great and there were no significant findings!!  Yahoo!!

Bloodwork was drawn and we will await those results but the oncologist is not anticipating anything.  She also is not too concerned with the bump that we found on the back of Stella's right rear leg.  Dr. F. said she believes that the bump is in the skin tag family and we are to watch it for any changes.  She did not feel the need to aspirate it.

As for the vomiting, Dr. F. believes it was indeed the heat and perhaps "grass ingestion" - I guess it's just too gross to say "Stella ate too many darn cicadas"!

So baby girl got a clean bill of health (pending bloodwork) and doesn't need another appointment for 5 to 6 months :)

Hopefully it's nothing...

Last week Stella had a few days of vomiting.  One day it was 100 degrees and we were working in our backyard going in and out of the house.  Each time we went inside and back out, Stella (and her sister Betty) followed us.  Being so distracted with what we were doing it didn’t occur to us that Stella (and possibly her sister) was drinking water each time she went inside only to go back out into the heat and continue panting and snorting.  This happened maybe 3 or 4 times over a period of about 20 minutes.  We are usually really careful with our Puggy girls knowing how hard the heat is on them but you Pug owners out there know that they always want to be with their people - and the girls always manage to find a shady place to lie under the tree.  But we did neglect to notice that she probably drank a lot of water each time.  :(

So after being in the house for about an hour Stella vomited a few times.  Each time it was mostly water and bile.  It occurred to us at that point that we had not been as attentive as we should have been and we assumed it was just too much heat, too much panting and snorting, and too much water combined.  But days later she vomited again and another day that week yet again.  Those last two times she threw up her food.  Incidentally we have not changed her diet and she is still eating the same brand of grain free dry kibble.

We're not alarmists when it comes to our pets vomiting for a day or two but we have been told over the past year to “watch for vomiting”.  Since it happened 3 times in one week, it’s better to be safe than sorry so we made an appointment for Stella to see the Oncologist tomorrow.  This appointment will replace the one we were supposed to schedule for September when the oncologist would do an abdominal ultrasound to check if any tumors are appearing on her organs; Stella will have the abdominal ultrasound at her check-up tomorrow.

On a side note, this time of year we have A LOT of cicadas and Stella does like her snacks (as did our Beagle) – yuck!  Our vet has told us that it is not harmful in any way – just gross.  Maybe this could be a reason for the vomiting – GROSS ALERT….we did find cicada wings in her vomit.  Ewwwww.

Meanwhile we gave the girls a bath this past weekend.  While bathing Stella I felt a bump on her back right leg; back of the thigh.  As you can see from the picture, it is flesh colored and about the size of a pea.  It does not bother her in the least but was not there the last time she had a bath; about 3 weeks ago.

We are hopeful that it is just a mole or a wart but if it is another MCT I suppose it’s good that it’s at least in a fleshy area where wide margins could be taken should she need surgery again.

Another Milestone!

One Year Post Radiation Treatments

Wow, I can't believe a year has gone by already!! Stella remains her beautiful silly self with nothing new to report - thank goodness!

This is Stella's arm and battle scar today.

Such a big change from this, immediately following her last treatment.

And even this, just a few weeks later.

10 Months Post Radiation Treatments

2 months ago we brought Stella in early (by 1 month) for her 9 month check-up as we thought she had been losing weight.  Turned out she was not but the oncologist requested we bring her back in 2 months for a re-check, so here we are; 10 months post-treatments.

Stella's weight remains the same and the oncologist says she looks great - no new lumps, bumps or anything unusual upon physical examination.  At home she also remains the same except that she limps a little when she first wakes up - Baby Girl is starting arthritis in the back left leg :(

Throughout this whole process we were told that Stella would have an appointment 12 months post-treatments for a thorough exam and abdominal ultrasound (to be sure no spots were appearing on any of her internal organs) but the oncologist stated that she does not need to see Stella for another 4 to 6 months. So we will enjoy the summer with Stella (& sister Betty) and then schedule her check-up and ultrasound in 5 months (September).