Finlee goes under the knife!!

Here is a recap of the interesting time we have had with Finlee over the past month! It all started when she went to the vet for a comprehensive exam. As we were walking out the door, the vet mentioned that she found a lump on Finlee’s side and told us to “keep an eye on it.” Two weeks later, the lump was still there. Finlee was going in to get some baby teeth extracted and her teeth cleaned- which requires general anesthesia. We thought this would be a good time to remove the lump if the vet thought it should be removed, since she would all ready be asleep. I thought it just felt like lipoma (or fatty tumor) and wasn’t really too worried about it. I was in a residency interview on the day of the surgery- so Joe had to make all the decisions. The vet first did a biopsy of the lump. When she looked at it under the microscope, the cells looked very suspicious- like a lymph node (in a place where a lymph node shouldn’t be!) She didn’t feel comfortable leaving it in, so they decided it would be best to remove it and send it in to pathology. After my interview, when I went to pick up Finnster (our nickname for her!) – I had lots of questions. The main information I got from the vet was that she felt there was about a 50/50 chance that the lump was cancer, but we had to wait for the pathology report to come back to know for sure. I was crushed (= lots of tears!)

Here is Finlee on her first night home. She would hardly move- poor baby!

That night was a very long night… Fin had pain medicine, but she was hurting so bad! I got like 3 hours of sleep because I was up with her. She would cry and cry every time she moved. The incision was about 4 inches long- which takes up about ½ of her little body. The next day I was scheduled to go to Wichita for another interview. Joe was originally going to come, but we couldn’t leave Finlee at home alone because she needed her pain medicine and antibiotic. So…I headed to Wichita alone. (I think Joe was relieved that he didn’t have to go!) We were ecstatic when I got a phone call on the way there from the vet saying the lump was just infected fat cells?!? – but not cancer! So… now we just had to get her feeling better.

Here is the most exciting part of this story…
I had a dinner that evening before the interview. When I got back to my hotel room, I had about 4 missed calls and texts from Joe. I immediately became concerned because Joe knew where I was. When I got a hold of him- Joe quickly told me that Finlee had gotten her cone collar off somehow and had chewed out half of her stitches- leaving a gaping wound! Joe immediately grabbed her up and took her to the vet ER, since the regular office was closed. Since it was going to be awhile (they had to sedate her to sew it back up), Joe went back home to wait for them to call when she was finished. At this point, I was driving around Wichita trying to find a gas station and some cereal! I get another call from Joe…he had gotten the call to go pick up Finlee, but when we he got in his truck, it wouldn’t start! What a mess! Luckily- our friends Brandon and Kelly were able to come pick up Joe, take him to the vet ER, and return them back home! I felt so helpless being in Wichita. Anyway- they made it back home and Joe just considers this night “training” for when Rees comes- he handled it so well!

After this incident- Finlee continued to be in so much pain. The next week we got her a fentanyl patch (a human narcotic- getting a canine prescription filled at the regular pharmacy is another story!) This helped her some. When she went back to the vet to get her stitches out, they determined that her cone collar was scratching her side up and was now infected! We are currently on our 4th bottle of antibiotic trying to get it all healed up. To remedy the collar problem- I wrapped the collar in fabric (which is attached with duct tape- real classy!) She is quite a hit at the vet. They all think I covered the collar to be stylish! We have become very familiar with the vet staff since we have been there weekly for the past 4 weeks. :)

Here is a picture of the incision. All the tape is where the fentanyl patch was taped on. Over the next few days the whole area under the tape and around the incision became crusted over and infected! (it was very gross)

Finlee is now doing much better. She still has her funny collar on because the wounds are not completely healed, but she is back to acting like herself!! The best thing about the whole experience is seeing Fiona with Finlee. She has been sooo nice to her- giving her kisses every time she comes home from the vet. She is always watching to make sure Finlee is keeping up when they are outside and she has been very gentle with her! What a good big sister! Our goal is to have the collar off by Christmas! We are so thankful that Finlee is okay and can’t wait for her to get all the way healed.

Finlee's stylish collar :)