Daily Obs » MCT

Update on Hugo’s MCT…Good News!

Beth Bates — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:44:19 +0000

As some of you know, our dog Hugo was diagnosed with a Mast Cell Tumor back in April. Since his initial diagnosis and surgery, the MCT returned. He has been on chemo since September with three more treatments to go and is doing well. We had a scare a few weeks ago when his liver count increased pretty significantly.

Worried that the cancer was within a vital system or an internal tumor had surfaced, we took him in for an ultrasound and a liver aspiration. Although the treatment wasn’t cheap, we were happy to find out that he had a slight gall bladder infection and that was likely causing the elevation. No tumors or systematic anomalies were found. Now, he is on antibiotics for the infection and his liver count is slowly decreasing. As a 6-year-old, 120lb. mastiff, he is doing pretty darn good and we hope that once the chemo is over we won’t have to deal with the “c” word again!

Update on Hugo’s MCT

Beth Bates — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:21:56 +0000

by Beth J. Bates

We had a little scare last week. The vet has asked us to keep an eye on the area around Hugo’s suture for any returning tumors. Within a couple of days of the surgery, a mass had started to form just below the suture line, so I immediately freaked out and thought it was cancer. We took him to the vet just to be safe (he needed to have his anal glands expressed anyway) and it was only a buildup of fluid under the wound. So we are putting a warm compress on the area twice a day to help alleviate the liquid.

Hugo is scheduled to have his sutures removed tomorrow and we will chat with the vet a little more on follow-up treatment. So far, he is acting like his old self. Our fingers are crossed that this is the last battle with MCT.

Update on Hugo’s MCT – Grade 2

Beth Bates — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:02:49 +0000

Well, we got a call from the vet today and the news is not what we had hoped. The tumor was graded a low 2 which means that is likely that it has spread and that it will reoccur back quickly. We will be watching him for more tumors while his body heals from the surgery. If more MCT occurs, we’ll need to look into either prednisone or radiation for the cancer. We have a vet appointment for early next week to have his sutures removed, so we’ll talk with the vet more then.

Waiting on the Cancer News

Beth Bates — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:43:33 +0000

I hate waiting and am in general a very impatient person. We should get news this week on the pathology of the tumor that was reomoved from Hugo. In the meantime, he is running around and being his rambuncious self. We are doing our best to keep him “quiet”. He wants so deperately to play with other dogs, but he has to wait until the stitches come out next week. More to come once we have more news.