It's with a heavy heart that I reach out to those that understand. My sweet, sweet Sophie has nasal cancer... Undifferentiated carcinoma. This is an aggressive cancer with a "poor to grave prognosis".
My sweet girl, only 8 years old... My heart is breaking for what is coming and having to say good bye. She was in "perfect health" until mid to late March. Her symptoms started very innocently. Head tilt that only lasted a few days... then a few sneezing fits... Then the head tilt returned with URI symptoms, clear nasal and eye drainage and noisy, "slurpy" breathing by the end of April. By May 18th, since prior standard treatment for an URI wasn't helping, Sophie was sedated to get "a better look". Our vet thought Sophie had nasopharyngeal polyps that weren't allowing the mucous to drain properly. Also a small amount of blood and mucous was draining from her left nostril. She biopsied some "polyp tissue" and it came back NON CANCEROUS! I was relieved but that was short lived. Dr Wolfe, our vet, had never performed a VBO (surgery to remove the nasopharyngeal polyps) and our city has no specialist with CT equipment or even scope for a rhinoscopy. The closest would be no less than a 5 hour drive. My vet agreed to do the surgery but wasn't available until mid July. Sophie was on antibiotics and was still 90% herself through June. Early July intermittent swelling across her nose and her eyes started happening and by the end of the second week the swelling was constant and her surgery was scheduled on the 22nd of July. My vet knew immediately that Sophie didn't need the VBO surgery as facial swelling does not happen with the polyps... She suspected cancer or a fungal infection. We decided to go ahead and sedate her and let Dr Wolfe "look around" and get a good tissue sample. I would have to wait an agonizing 12 days before I would get the histopathology report...CANCER! No sign of fungal infection present. Undifferentiated carcinoma, very aggressive, prognosis poor...palliative care.
I'm gutted even though I think I knew all along. She has been different since Monday. I think it's time but she's trying to let the whole family come to terms with it and say good bye. I have 3 children dd B 19 yrs, dd M 16 yrs and ds T 6 yrs. I'm going to miss my sweet, sweet Sophie more than I would have ever imagined! My beautiful Sophia Kitten with bunny soft fur you will always be a part of me!
Thanks for reading, I've wanted to post through it all but I have a hard time reaching out these days.
My sweet girl, only 8 years old... My heart is breaking for what is coming and having to say good bye. She was in "perfect health" until mid to late March. Her symptoms started very innocently. Head tilt that only lasted a few days... then a few sneezing fits... Then the head tilt returned with URI symptoms, clear nasal and eye drainage and noisy, "slurpy" breathing by the end of April. By May 18th, since prior standard treatment for an URI wasn't helping, Sophie was sedated to get "a better look". Our vet thought Sophie had nasopharyngeal polyps that weren't allowing the mucous to drain properly. Also a small amount of blood and mucous was draining from her left nostril. She biopsied some "polyp tissue" and it came back NON CANCEROUS! I was relieved but that was short lived. Dr Wolfe, our vet, had never performed a VBO (surgery to remove the nasopharyngeal polyps) and our city has no specialist with CT equipment or even scope for a rhinoscopy. The closest would be no less than a 5 hour drive. My vet agreed to do the surgery but wasn't available until mid July. Sophie was on antibiotics and was still 90% herself through June. Early July intermittent swelling across her nose and her eyes started happening and by the end of the second week the swelling was constant and her surgery was scheduled on the 22nd of July. My vet knew immediately that Sophie didn't need the VBO surgery as facial swelling does not happen with the polyps... She suspected cancer or a fungal infection. We decided to go ahead and sedate her and let Dr Wolfe "look around" and get a good tissue sample. I would have to wait an agonizing 12 days before I would get the histopathology report...CANCER! No sign of fungal infection present. Undifferentiated carcinoma, very aggressive, prognosis poor...palliative care.
I'm gutted even though I think I knew all along. She has been different since Monday. I think it's time but she's trying to let the whole family come to terms with it and say good bye. I have 3 children dd B 19 yrs, dd M 16 yrs and ds T 6 yrs. I'm going to miss my sweet, sweet Sophie more than I would have ever imagined! My beautiful Sophia Kitten with bunny soft fur you will always be a part of me!
Thanks for reading, I've wanted to post through it all but I have a hard time reaching out these days.