Zephyr(my dog) has a Tumor :(

[BlueCrush]

Zephyr is at Funk Animal Hospital for possible surgery today to remove a rapidly growing tumor from his neck. He had a small bump there since last May or June, but in the last couple weeks it has grown to about 2" across. They are calling it a Thyroid Tumor. We dropped him off this morning, they are going to do blood work and take chest X-rays. If the chest X-rays are clear they will go ahead an operate around 1pm. If the chest X-rays are not clear (meaning bright spots show up on the film) then it has spread too far and there is nothing that can be done. He would probably only have a few months left. If they do perform the surgery then the tumor will get send to a lab for testing to see if it is benign or malignant. If it is benign, we are done. If it is malignant he will need to undergo radiation and/or chemotherapy. Pretty sad since he is only 6-1/2yrs old. If he was 15+yrs. old we wouldn't be doing this. But he could live to be more than twice the age he is now so we decided to go ahead with what we can to cure him. Or dogs are our kids. Our parents even call them their grand-dogs, lol. So this is very sad for us since they are a big part of our family. Funk will be calling us once they have reviewed the X-rays. I will post an update later in the day if surgery is performed. Please keep Zephyr in your prayers.Here is a picture of our dogs. Zephyr(6-1/2yrs.) is on the left and Hailey(9-1/2yrs.) is on the right:Another one of my Favorites(Hailey-L, Zephyr-R):Last one - Glamour shot! Zephyr's a good looking dog. He takes after me. lol. No. J/K. His father was a show dog ranked 5th in the world at one time, though. Zephyr has the coolest Eye's I have ever seen on a dog. The are literally golden (not chestnut brown like Hailey's eyes and most other border collies) and almost glitter in sunlight, very cool!:I posted this here because if you find something that isn't right with your pet. Don't wait, get it checked out right away. If could mean the difference between 6-1/2yrs or 15 years of having them with you.As Bob Barker would say, "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spay or neutered."

[Kamikaze]

Hopefully all goes well for you, keep us posted as I'm sure all of our thoughts will be with you.

[northvibe]

sorry to hear about that brian Your dogs are super cute though, specially that middle pic pets do become family and I hope he can get the operation and be back in the fam pack with a speedy recovery!

[bull77]

Sorry to hear about your dogs - we recently had to put down our Australian Shephard due to illness... best of luck

[chevelle_lover]

Baron (my dog) will keep his paws crossed for him. I hope that everything goes well.

[Whelan]

gorgeous dogs, prayers have been sent via email-fax-voicemail-morse code-smoke signal-sky writing-billboard-TV-newspaper-advertising truck-taxi cab roof-wacky waving inflatable arm tube man-some guy in a Uncle Sam outfit-milk carton-radio-intergalactic proton powered electro tentacled advertising droid

[VforVIBE]

It's always hard when your pet is sick, I hope he gets better.

[BlueCrush]

Thanks everyone. I'll keep ya posted.

[Mrizzle05]

hope all is good with the dog soon... sorry to hear that.I almost lost 1 of 3 cats when i lived in AZ and just lost 1 of 3 cats last year. so i hope for the best.Your pics didnt work... so hope i can see the lil crittter later.

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by Mrizzle05 »hope all is good with the dog soon... sorry to hear that.I almost lost 1 of 3 cats when i lived in AZ and just lost 1 of 3 cats last year. so i hope for the best.Your pics didnt work... so hope i can see the lil crittter later. pics work for me still...unless they are being cached...mm try a refresh.

[ColonelPanic]

That is terrible. I'm so sorry... I'm wishing the best for you guys too! Pets are family too, and it hurts when they get sick..

[nygiantzz1]

I hope it turns out to be benign. I went through this several years back with our dog Cleo, tumor was on top of her head. She made it through and lived 5 more years. I'll say a prayer for Zephyr.

[Charlievibe]

Best of luck to Zephyr. My little ones at home (one dog and two cats) are keeping their paws crossed in prayer for you all.Make ABSOLUTELY certain they do a FULL check of your kid to make certain they got all of it. I didn't on my other dog and wish today I had.PLEASE, PLEASE do post what happens. Best of luck to you and Zephyr.

[BlueCrush]

Thanks. The Doc said the X-rays look good (thankfully) and he will be having the surgery this afternoon.

[keithvibe]

Sorry to hear B... Nothing says love after a hard day at work than puppy kisses... Hope everything is easypeasy.

[WaveAction]

sorry to hear BC, my dog had to be put down cause of a tumor that they couldnt fix, was a sad time for my family, but hopefully everything works out and you wont lose him

[Sputnik]

I hope Zephyr will be okay. I had two cats pass on from tumours. My cats are my kids.

[KNINE]

Your dogs are beautiful. I'll say a prayer Zephyr. God gave us dogs as a gift. I think He'll approve of doggy prayers. I thank Him for mine all the time.

[zionzr2]

My prayers go with you Brian and Zephyr and Family!!!

[vibe007]

Your dogs are awsome, me and my dog (mia) will make a prayer for Zephyr.Good luck!!!

[ramenboy...]

hey bcsorry to hear about zephyr's tumor. hope all goes well. dogs are our perfect best friends. all they wanna do is hangout and make sure we're happy. great members of our families. max, my malamute, and ajax (white shepard) were great, great friends.

[scherry2]

you have my prayers, I hope all goes well. I had a hybrid wolf almost 20 years ago that had a tumor on his side. I had it removed when he was around 9 and all was well untill he passed at the age of 12.

[kevera]

Brian,I'm sorry to hear the bad news.Hope Zephyr is OK,but I know he will be fine,saying a prayer for him anyways.

[808 Vibes]

B.C., you're an AWESOME doggie daddy!!! No one understands more than me-I've spent thousands in vet bills, and can honestly say, dogs are worth every penny. We send doggie healing rays to your baby!(and yes, she is happy, healthy, not in pain, and has A LOT more energy than I ever will, LOL)

[BlueCrush]

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. Big Disgusting Update!!!! FRIDAY:Well, where to start...Zephyr;'s surgery was in Friday afternoon. IT was scheduled to last 1 hour, but anded up being 3 hours. It was a very difficult surgery and lost 1 litre of blood during the surgery. (1/3 of his total blood). HE was touch and go for a while due to the amount of bloos loss. The tumor was a very vascular tumor, which means it had a ton of blood vessels feeding it whic is the reason it started growing more rapidly. It was creating more blood vessel connections every day. We were told by our Vet Doctor that they were not able to remove all of the tumor cells since the tumor was very aggressive and had grown completely around the trachea and larnyx(sp?). They sent the tomur off to the lab on Friday eveneing and we should know the results if it is benign or malignant on Tuesday or Wednesday. So we get the call from the vet that the surgery is done and she recommends that he be brought to the overnight Vet Hospital for observation and that he MUST MOT BE ALLOWED TO GET UP OR WALK FOR 24-48 HOURS. We went back to see him and he was awake but heavily sedated and drugged with morphine after surgery. We got to sit with him for about 30 minutes while they finished up the paperwork and then they helped us load him into the back of our Aztek by using a guerney(sp?). I rode in the back with him as we went to the Overnight Vet Hospital. We got to there and they had a stretcher waiting for us and they quickly wheeled him in to the back to get everything checked out. We waited for 1-1/2hours before anyone was able to tell us how he was doing. Finally the doctor at this new place called us into a room and told us that Zephyr was resting comfortably, he was sedated and there was no bleeding from his stiches. So, we were really relieved. and she said that they were going to keep monitoring him every hour overnight. Then she asked if we wanted to see him before we went home and we said, "Yeah", assuming we were going to be brought back to see him since we wasn't supposed to be moved. A few minutes later the door opens again and some intern was basically dragging Zephyr into the exam room we were in and we started yelling at them because now he had blood all over his legs and his throat was wrapped in gauze. We were like (removed)!?!?!?! My wife was screaming and crying at them becasue of this stunt they pulled. I was brought to tears by the mere site of him and was yelling at them as well. This was a hell of a lot different than when we had just brought him in 2 hours ago. We were Effing Pissed!!!!! The intern apologized and quickly got Zephyr back to his kennel in the back and we stormed out the door and the lobby crying and continued to yell at them as we left. We sat out in the car for a bit and I realized that they have some paper work that we needed to go back and get. So, I went back in, got it from the receptionist, and told her how upset and disgusted we were with what had just happened. She asked us if we would like to talk to the doctor about it and I said yes. So I called my wife on the cell and asked her to come back in to talk to the doctor. The doctor told us that it was her "Professional Opinion" that all dogs need get up and be exercised after surgery. We were like, "WHAT!?!?" There were specific instructions from our main vet and the surgeon that he not be moved. Then she kept repeating about her professional opinion, blah, blah, blah... She was sure that it was not the cause of his bleeding. Whatever, *****!!!! We left and went home. neither of us got any sleep. What a nice, Effing day!!!!! SATURDAY:I woke and called at 5:30 am to see how Zephyr was doing. The Doc said he was doing ok, but not great. His red cell volume was 54%(normal) before surgery, it was 34% after surgery and it was now at 30%. He had been bleeding on and off all night and they were monitoring him very closely and recommended that he remina there for the day. (DUH!!!). I said you damn well better be keeping close watch on him after what you did last night. He was sedated and sleeping with a urine catheder in so he wouldn't have to get up and go. We checked back every couple hours thruought the day and he remained pretty much the same. The bleeding finally stopped at 1pm. We call to see if he would be able to come home later and they said to call back at 6pm, after his last red cell count to see if he could. Well, we called them and they said even though his red cell count was still dropping his cell protein count was increasing which meant his body was in the process of replenishing its blood supply and that he would be able to come home. We were so happy!!! We got there around 7pm to pick him up and went over the paper work and the after care once we had him home. Then can the issue with the invoice. We were wantign a discount for what they did to Zephyr and to us the night before. They wer saying how they cannot release the dog until the bill is paid in full. That they were not authorized to give a discount there and that we would have to take it up with the Sales director Business office on Monday since she was out of town and not available until Monday. They said again that Zephyr cannot go home until the bill was paid in full with no discounts. We, again, start b*tching at them, and the nwould not let us take him. Period!! We started yelling at them, again, and said were going to leave him here and are not willing pay for any additional care, but that they damn well better give him the best care available. We told then wer are going to sue their a$$es off for negligence, pain and suffering to Zephyr and emotional distress caused to us. We said we will make sure that you people will lose you licenses and everyone knows about this since we were going to contact the media about it as well. So, we stormed out of there again yelling, with a full lobby of course, and went home. My wife was hedging on a bet that they would be calling us shortly thereafter and offering is a deal. Well, she was right ,as always (lol), and the called saying they were able to get a hold of the sales director(miraculously) and that they were offering us a discount of $300 of the total bill of $750 for 24hrs of care. We were originally only looking for a discount of about 25% of $175. We accepted the deal, went and picked Zephyr up and came home. He was very unbalanced and dizzy, I had to hold him while he pee'd otherwise he would have fell over, poor baby! I feel so bad for him. We gave him a sedative and pain pills and set him up to sleep on the floor of the living room with us sleeping next to him. I check on him about 10 times during the night. We are just glad to have him home. We know he will get better care here with us than where he was with those A-holes.SUNDAY:Zephyr is doing good so far today. sleeping a lot, ate a little food, drinking lots of water. His throat is swollen and we were told by our regular vet to keep the area wrapped up with gauze to keep it clean and in case there is any future bleeding. He will be down for the count for most of this week. but will be going in for a post-op check-up tomorrow so they can see how he is doing and to get another red cell count. our regular vet offered to coem to our house to check up on him if we wanted today (on her day off) we thanked her and said we can wait until tomorrow since Zephyr is doing ok.So this was one hell of a rollercoaster weekend! We are very pissed at the overnight vet hospital. We have decided not to sure them but we are going to file complaints with the Board of Veterinary Medicine, BBB, the Attorney General and avery other association and agency we can to make sure this never happens again.I'm tired as hell..and done! Here's some pics from today:

[keithvibe]

dame B... I would have gone postal... Hope zephyr recovers fast.. nothing worse than seeing your pet suffer.Do you have pet insurance? Right now my boy Andrew is recovering from losing a nail from one of his paws. Poor boy is limping around.

[Sputnik]

Aw poor Zephyr. I'm so glad he's home where he has the proper care and love that he needs. I hope he continues to improve.

[nygiantzz1]

Wow! It sounds like you and Zephyr had one hell of a bad weekend. I hope the recovery goes a lot better than the post op. Keep the dressing clean and keep a close eye on Zephyr, once he starts feeling better, he will try very hard to get that bandage off his neck. I had to take Simba in for surgery 4 years ago (puncture wound between 2 ribs from sliding into a snowmobile trailer) and a chest tube was inserted to assist with drainage. She pulled it out 3 days after the surgery which meant back to the hospital for more surgery. She was forced to wear an E-collar for the next week and was not happy at all. I hope Zephyr has a speedy recovery, you guys are in my prayers.

[engineertwin2]

Sorry to hear about the saga...hopefully all goes well!

[KNINE]

Those pictures of him are so sad. I feel fortunate that my dogs have been healthy so far. Good luck, Zephyr!

[ramenboy...]

glad zephyr's recovering well and home, where he should be!get well buddy

[808 Vibes]

I'm SO happy to hear Zephyr's fine and safe at home with his loving Mom & Dad!

[futureviber]

Aww, thats so sad! I cannot believe that the overnight vet clinic would treat him like that!! It's so stressful when our furry friends are distressed and in pain! Hoping for a speedy recovery!!Your dogs are gorgeous!

[joholste]

I would be furious!!! I can't believe they treated him so rough and then were unwilling to accept blame for so long. Poor guy. I hope the surgery went well. I have a question.. what are they gonna do about the cancer they couldn't remove?..Is there something like chemo for dogs?? If there was would you do it? Good luck to the dog and yourself, and definitely file a complaint with the BBB, and Vet Board.

[drunkenmaxx]

poor little pooch! i hope he springs back! good luck man.

[BlueCrush]

Thanks everyone! Good News: Zephyr is doing better every day. We brought him in to get his PCV (Packed Cell Volume) red blood cell test done and it was back up to 43% and getting close to normal. We are still keeping his movement to a minimum as directed by the Vet. He is is a lot more alert and getting tired of laying around all the time. I can tell he wants to get some toys and throw them at me like he usually does. But I told him, he has to wait. lol. Then he gets a sad face and lays down again. He has to wait until his stitches are out because of where his surgery location was. It is very easy to open back up if not sealed properly over time.Bad News: The Histology test results came back as malignant for Neuroendocrine Carcinoma ( or Thyroid Carcinoma). Since they were unable to remove all of the tumor cells, he will require further treatment. We have an appointment at the University of Minnesota on Nov. 14th so they can examine him and give us the best options and cost for treatment.So far we are at:Surgery = $1816Overnight Hospital = $660 (-$300 discount) = $360Total so far = $2176We are willing to up to $5000 to do what we can to cure him. That means no project car for me. But, I would rather have Zephyr for 6+ more years than a project car.

[nygiantzz1]

I'm glad Zephyr is feeling better. I'm sorry to hear that the tumor was malignant. He will probably have to go through radiation treatments for a few weeks. I hope everything works out. Keep us posted.

[keithvibe]

i guess you don't have pet insurance?Good to hear that he is a bit better. Hopefully the hospital will give you good news.

[BlueCrush]

No pet insurance. Might be worth looking into, though, since we have two dogs.

[KNINE]

I just got home from work. I took my kids out to play ball before dinner, and I wondering how Zephyr was doing. I was glad to get on line and see that he's doing better. God bless you guys. All of us pet owners are pulling for you.

[808 Vibes]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »We are willing to up to $5000 to do what we can to cure him. That means no project car for me. But, I would rather have Zephyr for 6+ more years than a project car. Hugs to Zephyr, you and the Mrs...you are good people! Yes, the doggies come first! Tonight my boy and I got stormed on when I took him out to do his business. I didn't mind that I was soaking wet, but took him into the restroom and held him under the hand dryer until he was nice and dry and toasty warm, LOLWe wish your baby continued improvement

[Whelan]

Glad to see the doggy doing good. Can't wait till me and the fiance get our home and can get our own dog. We want a female black lab so bad!

[BlueCrush]

Here are a couple of the incision location pics. The stitches come out today. Woohoo!

[ramenboy...]

happy for ya BC! looks like its healing nicely!!!way to go zephyr!!!

[engineertwin2]

So how's Zephyr doing? Hopefully all is well!

[piecuch1]

Hope Zephyr is doing well. Me and my boys want to wish him and your family well. My boy (Tater) on the right had to have cataract surgery earlier this year at the age of 3 so I know how stressful and upsetting it can be to see one of your kids going through this.

[BlueCrush]

Zephyr is doing good. Thank you! He is at the University of Minnesota getting his second radiation treatment today. Last Friday he was pretty groggy and tired after treatment because they have to put him under so he doesn't move. The only side effects from that one was a soft stool but they are suppose to get worse with each stronger treatment. He gets his 3rd and final radiation treatment in 2 weeks.Beautiful dogs, Tim. Thanks for the well wishes.

[piecuch1]

Our fingers and paws are crossed for him!

[KNINE]

Love those Shepherds.

[KNINE]

You better get that puppy something special for Christmas, Brian.