Faust Animal HospitalWiley's Story
I want to tell you about my extraordinary black lab, Wiley. He has a lot of heart, and a positive attitude no matter the situation. I received him quite by accident from a breeder, who was planning on putting him and his 3 brothers down, because they had Parvovirus. All for them got over their virus in 48 hours, and went home with the staff!
Wiley just turned 9 years old. For him to still be here, enjoying life each day --- he is a modern miracle! Let me tell you all he has been through.
In June of 2004, I found a hard swelling in the area of his Adam's apple. Thinking that I was just paranoid (because 5 year old dogs don't usually get cancer), I ignored it for a week. When my pet sitter noticed it also, I knew I had to address it. I brought him into the office and did a fine needle aspirate of the mass. Once I had obtained some cells from the mass, I sent them into the pathologist. That result confirmed my concern of cancer. When dealing with cancer, usually there are 3 primary modes of treatment - surgery, chemotherapy (using medications to stop tumor growth), and radiation. With Wiley, the first step was to try and cut out his cancer. I took him over to Southwest Veterinary Surgical Services, and Dr. Lange. Although we perform surgery at Faust Animal Hospital, thyroid tumors are usually very vascular ( which means they bleed a lot at surgery.) Also, the location of the thyroid is in the neck, very close to lots of structures; a very delicate surgery that required a specialist!
They were very nice, and let me be present for the whole surgery. Dr. Lange put in a drain, so that the tissues could heal, and not build up a lot of fluid. Dr. Lange said the drain would need to be in 5-7 days; it was needed for 21 days! It was a cute little football-shaped drain that I taped to Wiley's ear, and emptied every 3-5 hours. Wiley was tolerant of that and the healing incision. Unfortunately, Wiley's tumor had been attached to the hyoid bone intact, but that meant his surgery had dirty margins (meaning some cancer cells were left behind.)
Once we got the pathology report back, Wiley and I were off to see the oncologist, Dr Hershey. She recommended radiation at the site of the dirty margin (his neck), and chemotherapy to kill any cancer cells that might have already migrated into his lungs.
So, we started with chemotherapy, first. Luckily, that is something we occasionally do at Faust Animal Hospital. I ordered the drugs, and was able to give them myself. however, at the time, the chemotherapy indicated was Cisplatin. This is a drug that is very harmful to the kidneys. In order to give the drug, you have to flood the animal with fluids before and after the chemo is given. For Wiley, this meant giving him a liter of fluids every hour for 4 hours, then the chemo, then another liter of fluids. In 1 day he gained 11 pounds!! he took it very well, but it was a rough day fro both of us! he had a 2nd doest of Cisplatin 3 weeks later and it was a little easier (better living through chemistry!)After attending a meeting and speaking to a professor from Ohio State University, I decided to give Wiley a different chemo agent, Adriamycin. It is a very effective chemotherapy drug, and the administration is much easier. So, 3 weeks later and then again in 6 weeks, Wiley had Adriamycin. During his chemotherapy, we monitored his white blood cell counts, since those cells are also affected by the chemo drugs. He maybe had a few days of diarrhea and 1 or 2 days of decreased appetite, but overall, with the rounds of chemo, Wiley was a trooper.
Next it was on to the radiation adventure. There are really only 2 places in the state of Arizona to get radiation treatment for your dog. The first one available was in Tucson, with Dr. Mary Kay Klein. The closest one in the Phoenix area is in Gilbert, at Arizona Veterinary Specialists on Juniper Avenue. Originally, I had decided not to put Wiley through radiation. However, he is such a great dog, I didn't want to have any regrets about his treatment. I told myself, we would try it, and if it worsened his quality of life, we would stop. (Now, having gotten to have him around for 4 more years, I am very thankful for his treatment and the extra time with him it has brought me.)
So, off to Gilbert, and Dr. Pam Jones to get radiation. Good thing Wiley likes to ride in the car!! His radiation was every day for 17 treatments. Being a Labrador, I think the hardest part for Wiley, was skipping breakfast! (He was anesthetized for 10 minutes every day, so his stomach had to be empty in the morning.) The hardest part for me was the logisitics of the traveling. Wiley and I would leave my house in central Phoenix at 7a.m., travel the hour to Gilbert, then I would head to work in north Phoenix. My mom would pick Wiley up in the afternoon, and take him to her house in Scottsdale. Then I would pick him up in the evening, and head home. So we could do it again the next day! sixty six miles round trip from Faust Animal Hospital to Gilbert. I told Wiley he needed to get a job to help pay for the gas!! It was on one of these trips to Gilbert when Wiley got his nickname. Tammy, one of the technicians at FAH, offered to drive Wiley to his treatment. She had 1 daughter at the time, Madelyne. So, she could drive in the carpool lane, which made the trip quicker. Madelyne called him "Willy", she often will come to either name now.
He had very little side effects from his radiation. On the last day of treatment he had a soft cough, but it seemed to resolve quickly.
Wiley was a healthy, normal dog after that. I began putting water in his dry food to get him to drink more water, just to protect his kidneys. I also started supplementing his thyroid hormone, since his thyroid gland had been removed with surgery. Wiley loves to hike, and would hike with me 3-4 times a week. He loves to swim, and I would take him to my mom's to swim once a week. What a life.
Fast forward to August 2006. I went to Australia for 2 weeks. When I returned, Wiley seemed to be having difficulty breathing. I took him in to the office and had chest x-rays done. He had tumors metastasize in his chest. Luckily they were fairly small, although there were a lot of them. Back to see Dr. Hershey to see if anything more could be done. At this point, Wiley had all that western medicine could offer. Dr. Hershey recommended an herb, bloodroot, which Wiley is on to this day. I am not certain if it is helping or not, but since Wiley is still here, and his quality of life is okay, why mess with success?
In November of 2006, I got married, and moved to a house in Scottsdale with a pool. I think Wiley thinks he's gone to heaven! Now, he can swim everyday and it helps his breathing if he stays cool. He is an avid water volleyball player.
Having been through all this with my own dog, I believe has made me a more compassionate veterinarian. Now, when counseling clients about making treatment decisions
Missy and Wiley