Diapers

I feel sorry for babies. These diapers are really uncomfortable. After trying large baby diapers and then small adult diapers, someone finally realized that they actually make DOG diapers! Hellooooo? I AM a dog ya know... At least I don't have a tail to worry about. Anyway... I have to wear a diaper every day and they are really annoying. I can't lick where I want to lick or scratch where I want to scratch. It's humiliating to say the least.

On top of that, the medicine I'm taking is starting to affect me. It makes me really sleepy so that's what I do most of the day. Well, besides pee. I do that a LOT. I can't help it. Mom says it's a good thing we don't have carpet downstairs because I keep making messes in the kitchen. She doesn't get mad at me though. She just gets the mop bucket and mops up my mess. Then the kitchen smells like bleach - gross... I would prefer if it smelled a little less "clean". I don't understand humans. What's wrong with the smell of rotting corpses and poop anyway? Sometimes I find a tiny dead snake in the yard and roll in it just to make myself smell good. Mmmm... nature's perfume!

My tumor has continued to grow very quickly. The prednisone is not slowing it down at all. I can finally reach it to lick it but then I get in trouble. Someone mentioned getting me a new collar. Somehow I don't think they're talking about a regular collar though. Hey, I absolutely do NOT want one of those stupid looking lampshades on my neck! No way! I'll learn to lick when nobody's watching!

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to take a nap...

Dog Park!

I got to go to Bear Creek Dog Park on Saturday! I swam in the doggie pool. I love to swim! Allie, Lilly, and Maggie got to go too. We ran around and met some other dogs too. It was very hot and I got tired so we left after about an hour. I hope I get to go back soon.

What's an Oncologist?

Last Wednesday, August 11, 2010 my family took me to another doctor. He's called an Oncologist. That's a doctor that specializes in cancer. I have cancer. He looked at my tumor and felt all around it. He says there's no way to remove it because it's so big. He says we have to try to shrink it. He took me in the back and took some of my blood. It didn't hurt. I'm a big boy you know...

He sent us home with some medicine. I have to take Prednisone to try to shrink my tumor and to make me feel better. I also have to take Benadryl (for itching) and Pepcid so my tummy doesn't hurt. Prednisone is a steroid. It makes me very thirsty and very hungry and I have to go pee a lot.

Canine Mast Cell Tumors - What I've learned...

In the last 5 weeks or so, I've learned more about Canine Mast Cell Tumors than I ever wanted to know. I was diagnosed with a tumor (on or about July 10, 2010). I didn't know what that meant at the time. The itching was driving me crazy! Sometimes I would just cry because I couldn't reach the tumor to scratch it. You see, it's on my behind - what the doctor calls the "perineal" area. I can't reach it to scratch, or lick, or anything! It's so annoying!

The doctor told us it is probably cancer. I don't think this is a good thing because it made my family cry. They took me back to the doctor and they made me go to sleep so that they could cut a piece of the tumor out and send it to the lab. I didn't like being left at the doctor all day while my family is at work.

We found out that my tumor is cancer. It is a Grade II Malignant Mast Cell Tumor. It is growing - very fast. It is also bleeding. My family sometimes puts a diaper on me. I don't like this either, but it keeps me from making a mess on the floor.