Sweet Lonnie has certainly been keeping us on our toes. In addition to dealing with her Mast Cell Tumor we removed, she has had a Hot Spot on her leg we have been treating since she arrived. It does not matter what we do. It gets better, and then it turns ugly and infected looking. We have had culture on top of culture taken, and each time we get a different result. Something in my Gut is saying there is more going on with that leg since it is the one that had the mass we removed.
The last culture we got back showed inflammatory cells and pyoderma with Pseudomonas Infection. This particular infection causes excessive itching and inflammation. A culture panel was sent off, and Lonnie's antibiotic was changed to Baytril. Over the past week, we saw a small amount of improvement but nothing on the scale we had expected. Today it has started to bleed all over again, and Lonnie has had her cone of shame on regularly.
Sadly, Lonnie's biopsy came back a Mast Cell Tumor. We did a ton of scans and x-rays and did not find where it has metastasized to any place other than the Lymph Node that was closest to the tumor. After several conversations with Lonnie's Surgical Team and her Oncologist, we decided to surgically remove the Lymph Node and then start Lonnie on Chemotherapy.
Dr. Rachel Seibert did Lonnie's Surgery first thing this morning. The Lymph Node was one of the largest she has ever removed. Dr. Seibert also did a biopsy of the inflamed leg to determine if she has a large number of Mast Cells in the leg. Something is preventing the lower extremities of her leg from healing correctly, and we need to find out what that is. As sad as we were to hear Lonnie's cancer had spread to a Lymph Node, we were glad to have it out. If the Mast Cells had spread in the early stages, we are hopeful the chemo with take care of those.
Dr. Kerry Rissetto is Lonnie's Oncologist. To get the results we want, Dr. Rissetto has recommended she be put on Palladia, which is oral chemotherapy. We are also giving her a holistic protocol to supplement her treatment. The biggest problem we have with Palladia is the cost. Her pills will cost us close to $3000. We work with Vets and companies to get the price down, but it is still very high.
It is time for us to rally around this beautiful girl and get her Medical and Chemotherapy taken care of. We have only had a small amount in donations for her and now is the time for everyone to show Lonnie the Love. She has had two significant surgeries, and we have not even paid for her original procedure because she has had so many other things concerning her leg wound happening. Please, DONATE, DONATE, DONATE.
