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My furbaby girl, Savannah, whom most of you know as Booboo, lost her battle with cancer (hemangiosarcoma) last night. She
was very peaceful right before she left to become an angel and she looked so pretty. She didn't have to suffer much, she was
feeling pretty good right up until the very end.
For those of you who may not know her whole story here's a summary:
(this is epic, so feel free to skip over it)
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On January 4th, 2003, Savannah had a mild seizure in the morning, that afternoon at the groomers she collapsed and the
groomer noticed that her gums were completely white. They notified me and I asked them to have the Dr. there (at Petsmart)
take a look at her. He told me that she needed her white and red blood panels checked and that she possibly may need a blood
transfusion and advised me to take her to the ER vet. So I took her on Saturday to the Dekalb County Emergency Vet where they took X-Rays
and blood tests. She was severly enemic, her white blood cell count was at 19, normal is 30 or above, and they also found
a mass in the X-ray on her spleen. They gave her 2 blood transfusions and then advised me to take her to Georgia Veterinarian
Specialist for an Ultra Sound of the mass, to see if that was what was causing her blood count to drop. So on Sunday January
5th I picked her up from the ER and took her to the Specialist. They did Ultra-Sounds and did confirm that there was a mass
on her spleen 1/2 the size of a human fist. That's very big for a tiny 6 pound dog. So on Wednesday January 8th they did surgery
to remove the mass and spleen and to do biopsy's. During surgery they discovered she had lesions on her liver, which they
also biopsied. I was able to take her home on Friday January 10th. She did very well and healed very quickly from the surgery.
She was in a great mood and very frisky, very Savannah! On Monday January 13th the Specialist called to inform me that the
biopsy's confirmed that the mass and the lesions were cancerous. She was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma, a very rapidly spreading
blood cancer that 'pools' in area's that are blood rich, hence the mass and lesions on the spleen and liver (which both process
and clean the blood). The diagnosis for this type of cancer is variable. The average is 19 days to 3 months without chemo.
I did research and found dogs that have lived for over 2 years with it. I decided to put her on a holistic diet and go ahead
with the chemo (chemo does not make dogs ill like it does humans). It took a while to get her into an appointment, January
28th was the first available. She did well the week of January 13th through the 18th, her blood panel stayed around 30. The
night of Sunday January 19th she had another seizure and it caused temporary blindness for a day, this was very hard on her
and scary for us all, but on Monday January 20th she had her sight back (after a trip to the Oncoligist at the Georgia Vet
Specialist) and her blood panel was high at 32. She was feeling really good and being her onery self, playing and growling.
On Wednesday January 22nd, Foster and I had to leave to go to Disney World, my birthday present from my MIL, Donna. It was
a hard decision to go but I felt that I really needed a little get away to keep my sanity so I decided to go ahead with the
travel plans. While I was gone Richard (he was taking care of Sav) noticed her gums were very pale white again and she was
stumbling and wobbly again. He spent the whole night up with her Thursday January 23th (after a trip to the ER with her) then
in the morning he took her to our regular vet. She stayed at the regular vet until Monday January 27th and then Richard picked
her up to take her to her chemo appointment which they moved ahead to Monday January 27th. The specialist called me on my
cell phone and informed me that her blood panel was down to 12 and basically made me feel like that was it. So on Tuesday
January 28th right after my airplane landed I went straight to the Specialist. She was doing much better her blood panel was
up to 20 and he said it was ok to do the chemo. She got her chemo shot and I took her home that night. She had a good night,
she was giving me lots of kisses and seemed to be feeling good. The next day she had a pretty good day. She ate a little in
the morning, mostly treats, and was on my lap kissing me and cuddling all day. That night she got up to get some water and
collapsed. She had 3 seizures in a row and then threw up a few times. She looked up at me and told me with her eyes that it
was time to go. I looked at Todd and told him this was it. I picked her little limp body up and Foster gave her a big kiss
and hug and said "Booboo I wuv you" and he was crying. Richard took me to the ER with her. She was still seizuring,
they gave her a sedative to stop the seizures and took her blood panels, her white was down below 8, her red was down to 40
(normally it should be between 300 and 500) and she was having labored breathing. She gave me a kiss and she half way closed
her eyes. The Dr gave her the drugs that put her to sleep while she was in my arms.
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I am feeling ok, I know she's not suffering anymore and I'm glad she didn't have to suffer much at all. I took lots of
pictures and even did a 'paw-print' stone with her name on it yesterday before she started feeling bad. I am going to miss
her terribly but I know she's happy and feeling good now. Foster was so cute, last night while I was gone he told Todd that
Booboo was going to be ok because she was going to go to heaven in the sky to play with Sissy girl (Donna's angel-cat that
she lost Tuesday). And when I got home he told me stories about Booboo and then read me books and gave me kisses and said
I love you mommy.
Love to everyone, I just thought I would let you know. Oh and if you made it through the epic journey paragraph, thank
you for *listening*!
Shann
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