So, we're off to Colorado...I wonder if there is any snow?

Mommy got the call earlier from Dr. Johnson and it turns out that even Dr. Johnson feels that the best place for me is Colorado State. We're going on August 10th for a consultation.

Mommy has been getting a lot of well wishes, but also a lot of people saying things like "maybe it's time to let go" and "you're crazy for doing so much for a dog" (Whoa, I take offense to that one, I'm not just a dog, I'm a fluffy Siberian Husky). She's also heard that there's a "line" and that by considering all of this surgery, travel, and raydiashun, that she could just get a new dog (again with the DOG thing...I'm a fluffy puppy, a mini hume with fur, a gorgeous fuzzy love bug). Anyway, she's having some hard conversations with people and is spending a lot of her time defending herself. I wish I could just bite some of those people.

Oh, then there's the "can you guarantee it won't come back?" and the "he's gonna go someday" and a lot more. She seems confused and upset. She's been crying a lot again too. How can I make her feel better?

I know she loves me. She tells me so all the time and she's always asking me for kisses (most of the time I give them to her...especially right after drinking a lot of water so I know they're good and sloppy).

I'm not ready to go to the bridge yet. I've got a lot of love left to give and fun to have. I hope she doesn't give up on me. I know it must be hard for her to hear all of the negative talk from everyone. I can tell she's upset and she's sad and she's angry at this disease. She's a mess. I mean seriously, a mess. She's got bags under her eyes that you could park a truck in, she's not sleeping, she's not eating well, she's sad, and she's constantly crying.

Hoping things get better for her and that my bum gets better so we can play and snuggle for a long time,
Kelsey

Surgery and/or radiation?

Well, my mommy and my other mommy (aka, Holly's mommy) took me to a new drs office. I got to smell the beautiful flowers that were outside the door and then I got to see the nice man at the counter. After a short wait, the doctor called us in and looked at my twomore and said it was in a bad spot (don't know what they're talking about because my fluffy white fanny is an awesome spot)...anyway, I heard the doctor say something about not being able to take off my tail. WHOA. WHO MENTIONED ANYTHING ABOUT TAKING OFF MY TAIL?!?!?!

They talked about doing a sirjury to make my twomore smaller and then freezing the tishoe. I think I will like having something cold on my tush because I am a siberian husky and I like cold stuff.

They also said something about going to Colorado State to have something called raydiayshun. Mommy said she couldn't stay with me there so I don't know for sure who will be there with me. I hope it's not scary. By the way, what's with all these big words, don't they know I'm a dog and don't spell so good?

Anyway, mommy cried a lot and I felt sad for her. She says I'm her baby and that she loves me more than anything and I hope that she knows I love her too. Her and my other mommy, Janice.

So, they said that they would call mommy and tell her what the dr in Colorado says and then we'll go from there (wait, where are we going?)

I hope you all know I'm being a very brave boy and I'm not feeling any pain or feeling sick. I am playful and giving my mommy a lot of kisses since she seems so sad lately. Plus, those tears are salty and I like that.

Hugs and drool as always,
Kel

GOOD NEWS!!!!

We went in for the x-rays and there was a suspicious spot. Dr. Teter said they could have a radiologist read the pics for a final say on whether or not it was another tumor. She said we would know by tomorrow.

Well, turns out the radiologist is on the West coast and at about 8:45 Dr Teter called with the news. The shadow she saw was NOT a tumor!!!!!!!!!!! I was crying hysterically at this revelation. I think this is the first breath I've taken in almost a week. What this means is that we can move forward with the surgery consults and while he may be missing a tail, he'll still live for many more years and will be able to receive sweet kisses of love from me.

I have cried so many tears of fear and hate towards this ugly disease and now we have a chance at a happy ending. I know we're not done with our battle, but at least we now have the upper hand. UNLESS the surgeons say they can't do the procedure, we can look forward to happier days. Oh, if they say that they can't do it, we'll find someone who says that they can.

I would like to thank all of you for your support during this chaos. Janice, you don't even know how much I lean on you for support. Your dedication to this furbaby and your continual friendship and care has meant the world to me. I hope you know that you are loved by both Kelsey and myself more than anything. You are my rock and I am so glad to have met you and for the bond that we have had because of our fluffy white boy. I know you love him as much as I do and I take comfort in the fact that you've remained in his life all these years.

To all of our friends in the blog, THANK YOU for your prayers and warm wishes. We look forward to the many blogs that we can share with you and we will update you as this progresses until he is healthy and cancer free.

All of our love to you all,

Cody and Kelsey

Options

Well, turns out there are many options depending on the xrays today (Holly's mommy Janice is coming with me to the vets for the xrays and consultation...thank goodness for the moral support, Lord knows I need it).

In the hopes of clear x-rays, I've already scheduled two consultations with different surgeons (one of which is the doctor that Janice uses for her furbabies) and she'll be joining us for that consult tomorrow.

I've also found a local vet that uses a holistic approach in the event that the news is bad. She works on boosting immunity to help their bodies fight off the cancer and, while it doesn't cure it, it hopefully will give him more time.

I'm learning that I'm not the strong woman that I thought I was and that just one word (malignant) was enough to shut down my brain and drop me to my knees. I don't remember a lot of what was said last night with the doctor. I just remember malignant and stage 2.

We take these critters in and hope to find love and companionship. What we don't realize is that they're only on loan from God to enrich our lives. They teach us that love is truly the strongest emotion and that sloppy puppy kisses are actually not gross, but are wonderful gifts and I hope to receive more years of them from Kelsey.

I can't thank all of you enough for being here for me. I find comfort in your words and know that each of you loves your puppies (and honorary husky cat) more than anything. It is a wonderful feeling to have you in our lives and I feel blessed.

Ok, more tears are flowing, so I'm going to sign out, take a short nap with Kelsey, and prepare for the consultation at 4:30. Please God, I beg of you, let it be ok.

Cody

Not good news.

The results are in. It's called malignant nerve sheath cancer. It's stage 2 (there is 1, 2, or 3). Dr. Teter told me that it's a fairly aggressive tumor and that usually once removed, they tend to come back.

She said we have options. We can do nothing and just let him live out what time he has left or we can choose to do surgery. Before making any decisions though, we have to go in for a chest x-ray to see if it's spread already. If it has, we can't really do anything. If it hasn't we can go for a consult with the K State surgeon here in Omaha.

Either way, it's not good. She's not even sure if the tumor can safely be removed because it's so close to his spinal cord.

So, not such good news. I will know more tonight after the chest x-ray. I wanted the answer so bad, and now that it's the answer I didn't want, I would rather not have it. I'm numb and I'm scared. I just want him to be ok, but I know that his time is limited with this ugly disease so I'm going to spoil him rotten and kiss and hug him more than ever.

Cody

(no) update..

Kelsey here. I think the humom's head is going to start spinning around on her shoulders. She's really upset with something called a biospy. I don't know what that is, but she's upset that she still hasn't gotten the results and it's Wednesday night.

I don't know why she's upset, but she hasn't stopped touching me and kissing me and telling me how much she loves me since last week! What's wrong with the momma?

Anyway, she is going to call my vetrunaryan in the morning since they haven't called her. Is that some kind of howl? You know, when they call each other? Do they woooo?

Talk to you all soon (I'm ok. Just got a lump on my butt. I'm still playful and happy though)

Hugs and drool,
Kel

No News

No news yet. It's Tuesday and I'm still waiting (tho not very patiently) for an answer. I'll let you all know as soon as the verdict is in.



Cody

Tomorrow's the day...

We'll know the results from the biopsy tomorrow. I find myself looking at Kelsey and thinking that there's no way such an ugly disease could possibly be inside of him. He's so beautiful and so sweet and has those blue eyes that melt my heart. Nothing so ugly would dare enter his sweet fluffy body.

I can't keep my hands off of him either. I cuddle with him a lot as it is, but these past few days I find that I just can't bear to be too far away from him. I just can't imagine how I'll feel if we find out it is cancer. I know my life, and his, will change forever. I'll let you know what we find out. I hope that we get good news. I'm sure it'll be another sleepless night with the anxiety that I'm feeling.

Please say a prayer for us. We could use it.
Hugs to all of the furry babies out there and their humans.

Cody

WARNING...PICTURES OF SHAVED TUSHY

Ok, here they are.....

UPDATE:

If a wound is large and filled with "juice" and you sit on said wound, do you know what you get? Well, in our house it is Kelsey's hiney and it's blood squirting across the room at a distance of 8 - 9 feet.

We were bleeding all over the place and rushed to the hospital to see if he'd ripped a stitch. He had two spots where the skin kinda puckered and created small openings. A bit of lidocaine and two stitches later, we're back to being all sealed up.

I'm going to get some pictures on here (for those of you who aren't queasy) and you can see that when I say it's huge, I'm not telling a tale.

Til then,

Cody

Kelsey

Well, Kelsey has a tumor on his fanny right above and to the right of his fluffy tail. At first we thought it was a seroma, but after a few attempts to drain it with syringes, we decided to have it cut open to find out what the problem was.

Today he had surgery to get answers and the answer is a tumor. This is a large tumor (tennis ball or softball in size) and seems to be a tissue tumor and if it comes back cancerous, it'll probably mean amputation of the fluffy tail because it's pretty deep in the tissues.

On the positive side, she didn't see any weird cells during the two attempts at draining it and she didn't today either, but she's just not sure and was concerned about it. We're sending the biopsy next day air so they'll have it tomorrow and we should have an answer by Monday.

I'm hoping that either A. It's non cancerous and he'll just have a large lump on his butt or B. if it is cancerous, they can get it all and if that means he's a husky with no tail, then that's what it means.

Wish us luck!

Cody (owned by Kelsey and Smokey)