Clean margins!

Yay for Ben! He has been recovering really well. It has been a bit over 2 weeks since his soft tissue spindle cell sarcoma excision surgery (say that a bunch of times really fast). He's been enjoying the extra pampering, treats, cuddle times and extra plush bedding popping up in places where there was none before. What he hasn't been enjoying however was his limited exercise - very short leash walks only. NO running, jumping or playing for those 2 weeks. We are now easing back into it and he is one happy camper. Molly was being great during his recovery, listening to me (for the most part) when I told her to not body check Ben or invite him on squirrel chases on the hill. BTW, Ben is not wearing a t-shirt because it's cute. He's wearing it because he does not bother his looong incision site when he is wearing it. It's quite effective and worked better than the dreaded cone.

The pathology on the excised mass was guarded news for us. The not great news was the sarcoma was a grade 3 tumor that has up to a 50% chance of recurrence. It was characterized as a neurofibrosarcoma/nerve sheath tumor. The best news is that the doc (a board-certified surgeon) was able to get clean margins by 1.5cm on all sides and 1cm deep, which is excellent!!! I take the bad with the good and stay optimistic. We have a lot of good things going for us: it had not spread to internal organs, Ben is in excellent health for a 12 year old, his blood panels and CBC are great, he is lean, always a great appetite and a good pooper and... and we got clean margins. I'll say it again. Clean. Margins.

Thank you to Dr. Krista Evans and the other fine staff at Chesapeake Veterinary Surgical Specialists. This has been quite an ordeal for little man Ben and an emotional journey for me. I hope to write about that in a future post but for now leave you with some random thoughts and observations:

• Ben is very happy to be eating more raw food
• All the leafy dark green veggies in the crisper drawer of my fridge are for my dogs
• Never say you would never buy a dog ramp for your vehicle
• I hope to never have to pull a RX transdermal patch off a dog ever again
• I'm thankful to have dogs that are easy pill takers
  
• Rescue Remedy is a fine fine product
• A dog wearing a cone collar is really freaking funny
  
• Walk your dogs and cherish every minute of their company

Hipsta' Dogs and healing thoughts

Havin' a lil fun with an iPhone app called Hipstamatic.
Hmmm, what shall I photograph? I know, Doggies!

Molly, indoors without a frisbee, ball or bribe isn't all that interested in having her photo taken. Captions for the above are interchangeable:

"Ok, just get on with it."
"Aren't you done yet?"
"I get a cookie after this, right?! Riiight??"

Now Ben on the other hand, is always ready for a closeup. Again, captions interchangeable: "How about this?"
"This angle good? I can change it up like this!"
"Or this, do I look good?"

Speaking of Ben... look at that face! Dear friends of the interwebz, my lovely Ben, who celebrated his 12th birthday last week, is going in for surgery tomorrow (Thursday) for excision of a soft tissue sarcoma mass from his side. We hope to have him home on Friday, happy, safe, sound, and healthier and minus a certain Mr. Sarcoma. Please send positive thoughts for a smooth operation, clean margins and a speedy recovery. Ben would really appreciate it!

Ben, meet twelve.

Twelve. 12 years and counting. 12 years, of knowing you. I had spotted you, the one shiny solid black pup in the litter of black and tan shepherd pups. You fell asleep as I held you and I knew you were mine.

You were the star in puppy class but a hellraiser at home. My devil dog. My baaad boy. I called you those things because you were challenging as a little one. When I didn’t know better. When I didn’t know you better.

You wait for me to wake up in the morning, content to sleep in, right along with me. I love that you start the day with long stretches of each of your legs, right down to each of your toes.

You lick to clean Molly’s face every morning and every night. On walks through the woods I so love to watch you two gallop shoulder to shoulder down the trails.

I know you can’t see as well in the dark anymore. But it is you that always find me first when we play hide and seek, Molly not far behind.

Solo walks are a pleasure for me to give to you. You move a bit different, you don’t walk, rather... meander. It’s different when it’s just you and me, I feel time move a little slower. You make that happen. On the warm days, as your step slows I bring you to the shade of trees for a needed rest and you are happy to indulge, rolling around, snorting and stretching, the cool grass on your belly, never failing to make me smile.

I stare at you a lot. I’ve watched the gray face come in, on your cheeks at first, you were still young at 2 years. One day the face of a distinguished and wise dog looked back at me. It’s hard to remember what you looked like before.

Today you turn 12.

You are my Zen dog. My take time to smell the roses dog. My live in the moment, be in the moment dog. My old soul dog. My teacher. I love you Zen Ben.

Happy Birthday my dear friend! That's 12 years... and counting!