I got off the phone with the vet an hour ago, and I'm more confused now than when I started trying to research the types of tumors she mentioned. Turns out Gracie did not have a mast cell tumor. We were expecting to get the histo results back today and learn if Gracie has Stage I or Stage II cancer. But all the lab would commit to without further staining was that it was a "poorly differentiated round cell tumor." They seemed to think that it was consistent with a Merkel cell tumor. The vet also threw cutaneous T-cell lymphoma out there. From what she told me about Merkel cell tumors and what information I can find, I learned that they are rare neuroendocrine tumors of that appear to be fairly benign. Cutaneous T-call lymphoma seems to be quite the opposite.
So now we are waiting on the price of the further staining to decide if we want to do that or if we just want to take her in every 2-3 months for them to palpate her lymph nodes to check for metastasis. I'm usually a "wait and see" kind of person, but I'm not so sure I handle not knowing. I am reassured that my good friend, Dr. Joel, understands. He comforted me by pointing out that, for now, it is just good news her margins came back clean and that she has no other symptoms.
On a positive note, Gracie seems to be doing much better. Her diarrhea is clearing up, and she is acting much more like herself. Now that she can go off all of the meds, she should be 100% in no time. Except for that huge incision!
It's a quiet night here at the Rosendauls. The pups are lazy, and I think poor, sick Eric just headed up to bed. Time to let this go for now and go check on him. Afterall, I was the one who got him sick. Well, my kids got him sick....hmm another reason for wishing I hadn't worked at Nisonger. But it's just one of those days :-)
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