Charmer completed his first radiation treatment!
2:58 pm I got the call from the Animal Medical Hospital that Charmer was ready to be picked up. I was anxious as I didn’t know what condition he would be in. Would he be in bad shape from the anesthesia as he was after his biopsy? Would he have any pain from the procedure, having his jaw propped open?
When we got to the Animal Hospital, we were pointed to go to the Checkout line, where 2 other pet owners were standing to pay their pets’ bills. In this hospital you pay first before they release your dog. No money, no doggie!
After we paid the $893 radiation bill, which included an inhouse evaluation of Charmer for maxillectomy major by the surgeon, the checkout clerk called in the back for Charmer to be brought to us.
Well I was amazingly happy to see him happy and bouncy, in better shape than when he had come in!
In the photo above he hadn’t yet spotted me and was coming down the hospital hall, passing the front desk. The radiation technician, Lisa, was leading him over to me.
Lisa, from what Dr Dibernardi had told me, has had 20 years working as a radiation technician. Lisa told me that Charmer had even eaten a little bit of canned w/d and a/d mixed together.
I asked her if I would notice any kind of changes in his tumor. She told me generally not with the first treatment, but with the other ones. But she then joked, “You could end up telling me that it shrank by 50% by the end of the week, you never know!”
I was glad to learn that Dr Dibernardi had arranged for the surgeon to look at Charmer while he was doing the procedure, and give his evaluation of a possible surgery. I had hoped to see if the surgeon could do it next Tuesday when Charmer has his next radiation, but Dr Dibernardi, thank God took care of that on her own. I left with an estimate of the surgery that I can bring in when I meet the surgeon in person next Monday.
Now I am not committed to a major surgery, I want to see if the surgeon would feel this would be beneficial and a wise surgery to do, and not along the level of trauma the race horse, Barbaro, suffered without any resolution of his problem.
Also, if it turns out that the tumor does indeed significantly respond to the radiation alone, and if the surgeon feels that the surgery would not have any significant difference, that will also determine the course of treatment.
The surgeon quoted a price range of $2427 to $2912, and that would require a 3 day hospital stay. Already that doesn’t sound good, the 3 days, that is. But it is a major maxillectomy, so that would make sense. If it would involve feeding tubes, I don’t think so! But Dr Carmona told me a couple of weeks ago that it is surprising how well dogs do recovering from that kind of major jaw surgery.