Dudley and His Gourder
Well we can add another scar to his gorgeous body.. today his having a Gourder removed.... medically know as Mass Cell Tumor. Dud has had a small lump on his side now for about a year.. I had it biopsed last year and it was nothing to worry about. I check it almost daily to see if there is any change and on Saturday it had changed from the size of a small squishy lump to the size of a softball and rock hard.. we went to Emerg, they did a biopsy and determined that it was cancerous and had to come off ASAP… but they couldn’t do it, so I had to wait till Monday to see my vet and to schedule a time. Well this morning is the time. Everyone think good thoughts that once it is off, that it is not any worse than we anticipate. 
Here is Dud chilling on Easter Sunday.. waiting for spillage... Brenda Dud Murphy (I get to stay home by myself today..... destroy!!) |
|
|
| Wishing Dud and you the best of everything, good luck |
We'll be thinking about you today and hoping all goes well for your beautiful Dudster.
Laurie and Oscar |
| Thinking of you Dudley...let us know how it goes, Brenda. |
| Thinking of that gorgeous Dudley today, and praying for a good outcome. Please keep us informed, Brenda. |
| Thinking of you today. Know what you're going through as Daisy had surgery yesterday and its just horrid, waiting for the phone to ring with news. Fingers crossed that all will be well.
Karen and Daisy |
I will be thinking positive thoughts all day for Dudley.  |
| Best wishes for Duds |
| Best wishes to Dudley. and to you Brenda as you wait for the results. |
| Give Duds a kiss from me!! Hope he feels better really soon!! |
| Hugs for Dudly!!!!!! Hoping all goes well and recovery is short and sweet!!! |
| Thank you everyone for the well wishes.. it is very comforting.
Dud's vet called shortly after lunch, the surgery went very well.. he said the tumor practically fell out, and that it didn't really effect the surrounding tissue..he was awake, but groggy. I can pick him up tonight on my way home from work with his weeks worth of antibotics and pain meds. They are going to send the tumor away to be analyzed, the results won't be available for about 2 weeks. 35 staples later... Again.. thanks everyone. |
| Yay Duds!!! He is such a trooper! I am so relieved that he is out of surgery and that the tumor was not invasive. That is very encouraging. |
| Great news! I hope Dudley recovers quickly.
Big &  for Dudley, while your at it... give a hug and kiss to Murphy too. |
Give that beautiful boy a big hug and kiss from me, please. So glad to hear the surgery went so well - yippee!!  |
| Yeah for Dudley!
Brenda, HUGS coming your way.......and gentle pats for the recuperating patient....!!!! I am staying postive about the test results.... |
| Well, that was pretty decent news!
Hugs to the boy for a quick recovery. |
| feel better soon dudley! |
Good news! 
Glad it went well. |
| Feel better fast Dudley!!!!
Way to catch it quickly! |
| That's just want you want a tumor to do.....fall out!! Good news, Dudley!
Hugs from us. Laurie and Oscar |
Great news, sending sloppy kisses and cuddles for dudley.  |
| Hope Dudley recovers quickly. |
| Sending Dud lots of positive vibes and well wishes. Wow that must have given you quite the scare! I really feel for you but I know he's going to have the best care in your home while he recoups. Poor Dudley - give him a big belly rub from me and kisses from the boys.
Marianne and the boys |
| Lots of positive thoughts |
| Get well Dudley, you're a big strong boy! |
| Just a quick update on the Dudster. He is doing VERY well with his recuperation.. to well in fact.. he is racing around like his butt is on fire.. he wants to wrestle with Murphy, me and Troy..I cannot let them out to pee at the same time as he will tackle Murphy.. he will throw himself on the ground 4- paws up in the air and wiggle back and forth, roll round, he is just out of control...even before the lump he was not this active..and saucy.. he stands at his water bowl and barks at you if it is empty, same with the food dish..
Last night he was out of control.. getting his kong and his cuz and throwing them at us to play..I finally decided I needed to take him for a leash walk.. the vet said I could do small walks on a leash with him. So off we go.. with Mister carrying his leash in his mouth strutting up the street. I'm thinking to my self...what is up with this dog.. it's like he never even had surgery on Tuesday...it hasn't bother him in the least We get home and I go to give him his pain meds (Medicam) and antibiotics and I REALLY read the pain meds bottle.. it say give orally 3ml once a day with food... DUHHHHHH.. I have been giving him 3 ml twice a day.. no wonder he hasn't felt any pain.. he is so doped up on medication, he ain't feeling ANY pain. I may need an Intervention to detox my dog of prescription pain meds..... |
| Glad to hear the Duster is on the mend.....
wonder why the extra dose of meds didn't make him sleepy  |
Dudster wrote: I may need an Intervention to detox my dog of prescription pain meds.....
Glad to hear he is feeling well enough to wrestle with his brother. 
What a trooper he is! |
| What a great pup! Glad that he is doing so well.
Laurie and Oscar |
| When will it end???
So Friday past was 10 days since Dud had his surgery, I was told that the staples could come out at 10 to 14 days. I made an appointment to have them looked at on Friday night. My regular vet was not working, I was a little leery, but I figured, it's only staple removal, how bad can anyone screw that up. We get there, I ask the vet if she thinks it time, she has a look at Dud's incision and says their ready.... so out come the staples.. all 35... this is 5:15....we go home. At around 7:15.. Dud is standing at his bowl having a bit to eat and I notice that there is blood dripping on the floor beside him.. I think what the heck.. I go over to look and his whole side is COMPLETLY open.. I am freaking/screaming (Dudley continues to eat).. Troy comes running.. we wrap a towel around his belly, get him in the car and take him back to the vets.. which is closed at this point.. they close at 7, but are still there, I am very distraught at this time... they assure me that they can just re-staple the incision together...I make her staple herself to prove to me that it is not overly painful.. Troy makes me leave the room at this point.. We get home after the incision is re-stabled.. Troy tells me that he has concerns.. apparently she didn't clean the wound/flush it out when she was re-stapling and he had to suggest to her to debrided the incision as well. Saturday I keep him MEGA quiet.. no visitors, curtains closed.. lock down in the house....very inactive...around 11:00 that night before bed, I check it, it had opened up again about 2 inches, so off the emergency hosp we go...the Emerg Vet was horrified at the re-staple job and was amazed that staples were used in the beginning.. and IHO.. they came out to early.. anyways to make a long story short.. she sutured the incision back together, with shunts inserted as infection had set in.. At 4:00 in the morning, we head home.. with a dog that is in a hugh amount of pain, antibotices for a staph infection, pain meds and a copy of a very stern letter to my vet written by the Emerg Vet with her opinions on how this was handled. I am waiting for my regular vet to call... I am torn as to whether I should be upset or what.. I want to rip someones head off.. but am I responsible for some of this, I have asked this question of my self all weekend. Opinions. PS.Sometimes I feel like there is always something wrong with Dudley.. people are going to think that I have Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome if he doesn't get well soon. |
| Oh poor Duds can't catch a break! This really sucks. I am so glad the ER Vet was able to fix him up. How could any of this be your fault??
A conversation with your Vet is definitely in order. As much as I am sure you are angry (I would be too) try not to show it because I think any sign of hysteria will make them discount the value of whatever criticism you may be dishing out. I would point out that the stapling clearly did not work and that the restapling was ineffective, unhygenic and dangerous. Maybe you could ask for a Vet credit to offset your ER vet expenses. But maybe you would prefer to find a new vet. . . Big hugs for my favorite BMD. |
| Poor Duds... how is he doing today?
I agree with Val... let them know for sure that you are not happy with how things turned out, but stay calm about it. |
| You are absoutly right Stacey and Val, a new vet is IN order.. and I think becuase I have done nothing but cry all weekend, I am gong to avoid talking to him until I am in a better frame of mind. But we are going to switch vets.
I thank god every day that Murphy is a tank.. financially, I can only afford one sick dog at a time. |
That is horrible.  I hope the Dudster is feeling better. The vet's office definitely needs to know what happened. |
Oh my gosh....Your torn, as to whether to be upset? I'd be torn as to whether to go back to that vet with a lawyer or a couple of large friends with brass knuckles! 
Ok...I'm kidding...kinda. Yeah, calm....calm is good. But I'm having vicarious hysteria for you here. 
Hang in there and (very) gentle hugs to Dudley |
| Be calm ( I would have trouble). I agree, the vet should pay or at least compensate you in some way for the emergency vet visit. Were the staples removed by another vet or a vet tech? Could explain the lack of knowledge and care.
Keep copies of the letter from the emergency vet. If your vet isn't cooperative, you have the letter to give to the state veterinary board. |
| The orginial staples were removed by another vet.. my regular vet was not in Friday night. I was in the room with her while she was removing them.
The Emergency Hospital faxes copies of reports to your regular vet to make them aware that one of their patience visited the EH over the weekend or after hours, so they can follow up My regular vet will get a copy of the same letter she gave me. |
| OMG Brenda, how awful!
I would definitely let them know how you are feeling.
Poor Dudster, what a tramatic night. I hope he's doing better today. |
| That is terrible! Poor Dudley... I think you should complain and then find yourself a new vet! |
| YUCK. Sounds awful. I would definitely ask the emergency vet to write down a discription of Dudley's state when he was brought in. Poor, poor, guy. How's he doing today? He must be such a trooper to eat while bleeding on the floor . . . Do you have a lot of options for vets in your area? |
OMG, how terrible!!  If I had to be calm to talk to the vet, it would be about a week before I'd be able to do that - and even THEN I couldn't gurantee!
Everyone is right - the vet should absolutely refund some of your money, at the very least. And I wouldn't be able to get out of that vet's office FAST enough!! |
Mop lover wrote: YUCK. Sounds awful. I would definitely ask the emergency vet to write down a discription of Dudley's state when he was brought in. Poor, poor, guy. How's he doing today? He must be such a trooper to eat while bleeding on the floor . . .
Do you have a lot of options for vets in your area?The Emerg-vet did a complete detailed report before we left and gave me a copy of it.. and a copy would be faxed over to my regular vet. Last night by supper time he was doing better.. no more whinning in pain or panting.. he slept really good last night, and this morning, he was pretty lively.. ate his breakfast straight away.. which is good for giving pain meds. There is a very good vet who owns Berners across the bridge (Halifax side).. we will be switching to him if possible. Thanks everyone for your kind wishes.. I will give my big boy a smooch from everyone. |
| Glad to hear poor Dudley is better. I normally don't advocate violence, but I'm with Laurel on this one. Brass knuckles it is!!!! |
| Brenda, that is outrageous.
There is absolutely no way that you should have to pay for any of the aftercare...period. They screwed up....It wasn't your vet, but that is not your problem. They are an office, or partnership or whatever...That is up to them to sort out. None of this is your fault. They are the professionals and are responsible for their "work". I would suggest contacting them and letting them know that you expect to be reimbursed for the ER work and everything else that resulted from THEIR sloppy work. Tell them how you want that done, via chq, MC credit or whtever...(just to get the conversation going in the right direction)...Who cares how they do it....but not a credit for future vert care... When that is done you leave...unless they do something REALLY nice like fire that person
I cannot believe that! Poor you, Troy, Tanner and Dudley...I am fuming here!
|
| Poor Duds.....give him huge hugs and kisses for me...... |
| Poor buddy... I actually ordered pet insurance after reading your thread. I have been meaning to for a while.
I am thinking happy, healthy thoughts for him. |
| If I could give anyone a piece of Dog advice.. it would be to BUY PET INSURANCE... it is very important.. and can offer piece of mind when need be. |
| OMG! Brenda that's awful!
I really think that your provincial Vet Assoc. should be notified with this vets name! Please tell me you vet is trying to rectify this!
When do the drains come out? Who's taking them out? If you are organizing a brass knuckle gang, I'm jumping in the car RIGHT NOW! I am sending Dudley 2 big kisses for each of his gorgeous eyebrows! And a huge hug to you! |
| Well....... we had a meeting with the vet last night. It went basically like I had expected....
He dosen't think that the staples were taken out early.. his explanation for the incision coming open was becuase.... "where it was a mass cell turmor removal, he said that the canerous cell cuased the wound to not heal together properly..." HONEST TO GOD.. that's what he said.. could that be possible? I disagreed with that.. I said I think the staples should never of been used in the first place and they were taken out to early... the re-staple job was done just to get us out of the office and we were disappointed that no pain meds or antibotics were given to us that night.... I am concerned that there are gaps between the sutures.. he said that was normal, as a wound heals itself from the inside out.... does anyone know if that is true? I am going to make an appointment with a new vet for Saturday to have it looked at...he is finished his new round of antibotics tonight.. I am going to watch him like a hawk for infection. How could a simple mass removal turn into this.. |
| Wounds do often heal from the inside out and yes, tissue around cancerous tumors often has a deficiency in healing. Once a wound has opened up, it becomes a "dirty wound" (at least in a person) and the most common treatment would be wet to dry dressings and leaving it open to heal from the inside out. On a dog it would be difficult to use a wet to dry dressing so imagine it would just be left to heal.
I somehow missed the update on this post so just went back and "caught up", I would say I am suprised that they re-stapled the wound without flusing it would an antibiotic. After 10 days a wound that dehisces is most certainly a sign of a problem
Poor pup!! |
| If it helps, Daisy's first two operations for Cancer tumour removal had regular stitches that were removed after 10 days - no problems with healing (even though they were both aggressive tumours - didn't affect the healing process) and the third lot were 'dissolvable' stitches. In all cases there were no gaps between the stitches so I'm not sure about the 'healing from the inside out' comment?
Best of luck and I hope Dudley recovers well after all this trauma! |
Dudster wrote: He dosen't think that the staples were taken out early.. his explanation for the incision coming open was becuase.... "where it was a mass cell turmor removal, he said that the canerous cell cuased the wound to not heal together properly..." HONEST TO GOD.. that's what he said.. could that be possible? Those two statements seem to contradict eachother. If the type of removal means it may not heal properly then should they be extra careful about when they remove the staples. It seems to me that the person who removed the staples should have been able to tell the wound wasn't ready. |
Amanda P wrote: Dudster wrote: He dosen't think that the staples were taken out early.. his explanation for the incision coming open was becuase.... "where it was a mass cell turmor removal, he said that the canerous cell cuased the wound to not heal together properly..." HONEST TO GOD.. that's what he said.. could that be possible? Those two statements seem to contradict eachother. If the type of removal means it may not heal properly then should they be extra careful about when they remove the staples. It seems to me that the person who removed the staples should have been able to tell the wound wasn't ready. Not necessarily........ The wound might have healed without complication, in which case the 10 day removal would have been fine. The healing comlication was most likely caused by either infection or the cancer cells and may not have been externally obvious. Unfortunately this occasionally happens in humans, they have an abdominal surgery where everything looks good. The stitches or staples are removed, they go home and the contents of their belly spills out unexpectedly. |
| I had surgery on my hand. They had to cut open the webbed area between my thumb and pointer to do the surgery.
When the stitches come out the entire wound opened up.
The Dr said it would be fine....just cover it. It did close up by itself, but it did seems to take forever...... And it was totally gross. Is it looking better now, Brenda? |
Tasker's Mom wrote: Unfortunately this occasionally happens in humans, they have an abdominal surgery where everything looks good. The stitches or staples are removed, they go home and the contents of their belly spills out unexpectedly.
Oh My God
There are very few times when I am dumbstruck by a post. This was one of them. |
Tasker's Mom wrote: Wounds do often heal from the inside out and yes, tissue around cancerous tumors often has a deficiency in healing. Once a wound has opened up, it becomes a "dirty wound" (at least in a person) and the most common treatment would be wet to dry dressings and leaving it open to heal from the inside out. On a dog it would be difficult to use a wet to dry dressing so imagine it would just be left to heal.
I somehow missed the update on this post so just went back and "caught up", I would say I am suprised that they re-stapled the wound without flusing it would an antibiotic. After 10 days a wound that dehisces is most certainly a sign of a problem Poor pup!! Thanks, I am feeling a better with your explanation, I will try to stop obesessing about the gaps.. and I just remembered that there are 2 layers of sutures. I will leave it go for a few more days and hopefully it will started to look like it is closing up by then. The shunts have to come out in a day or two as soon as I am sure there is no more drainage. Dudley has been suck a trooper through all of this..He's tough.. it's his Mommy that isn't. |
| Glad to hear they have shunts in, that will most likely help to remove any infection. Can you take his temperature? If you can you might want to keep track of his temperature everyday (remembering that normal for a dog is around 101), a rise in his temp would indicate infect. Other signs of infection would be an increase in drainage, reddness or swelling around the incision, increased pain, and general malaise. I would think at this point infection is your biggest concern, the wound will heal.
Ron, one of the WORST experiences I ever had was when I was a hospice nurse. I was called to the home of a patient who had been send home from the hospital after a surgery for colon ca. The family called to say that the incision was bleeding. I arrived at the home, pulled back the covers and discovered the poor patients large intestines spilled out into the bed. It was very sad. |
| Ummm, what is the prognosis for such an event? |
Ron wrote: Ummm, what is the prognosis for such an event?
Ummmmm..... well this was a Hospice patient so it was an "end of life" event. HOWEVER in a non hospice pt it was be a surgical emergency followed by a lengthy hospital stay requiring extensive antibiotic therapy with, in all likelyhood, a positive outcome given appropriate treatment. |
Tasker's Mom wrote: Glad to hear they have shunts in, that will most likely help to remove any infection. Can you take his temperature? If you can you might want to keep track of his temperature everyday (remembering that normal for a dog is around 101), a rise in his temp would indicate infect. Other signs of infection would be an increase in drainage, reddness or swelling around the incision, increased pain, and general malaise. I would think at this point infection is your biggest concern, the wound will heal.
I will take his temperature.. ummmmm.. do I use a regular themoter and umm put it where I think it should go...  |
| RECTAL!! But I would get one of those digital ones that has disposable plastic sleeves. They are pretty cheap at the drug store.
I've had to take Taskers temp before with ear infections, he was non to happy about it
Your vet might think I'm a neurotic nurse but...........  |
| Ummm... you might put a little lubricant on the end of that ol' thermometer. Makes for a happier pup.
I heard of a happy ending after "gut spillage". The sheepie had a c-section and all seemed fine. The owner went to check on her only to discover all of her innards were now outards and the pups walking through them. They wrapped the mama in a towel or blanket and rushed to the vet. They had to do a lot of... is it called lavage?... you know, washing off the organs and getting them back inside. With antibiotics the mama lived |
| Well Dudley's antibotics are done tonight.. so I am going to watch him like a hawk this weekend.. and I am even going to do the temperature taking..
Exactly how long should I keep the thermoter in? |
| Maybe this link will help...
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... cleid=1082 It's even got pictures! |
| Thanks Jaci, very cool site |
| I can understand that the original incision did not heal up properly, for whatever reason, but I still think that the vet should be held accountable for the re-staple, and everything that followed. If in fact a re-staple was the correct course of action, at the very least antibiotics should have been prescribed as a precautionary measure. IMHO.
I am so glad you are looking for another vet. Laurie and Oscar |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|