The other C word: Cancer

I received a phone call from my vet saying Harry's sonogram came back showing a growth.

Harry is my beloved 10 year old Scottie dog.

The vet said Harry has a Transitional Cell Tumor in the Trigone Area in between his kidneys and bladder. The tumor is 4 centimeters which sounds small but due to its location & Harry's small size is very dangerous...

Surgery isn't possible but radiation & extensive medicine will help aid the problem.

Harry needs to see an Oncologist.

My brain was spinning. My baby Harry is sick.

Say what?!

Okay...

Breathe!!!

Okay...

Take it to the interweb to understand what is goin on...

Okay...

First, Harry needs to see an Oncologist. What is that?!?

Wikipedia:
"Oncology (from the Ancient Greek onkos (ὄγκος), meaning bulk, mass, or tumor, and the suffix -logy (-λογία), meaning "study of") is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist.

Oncology is concerned with:

· The diagnosis of any cancer in a person
· Therapy (e.g. surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other modalities)
· Follow-up of cancer patients after successful treatment
· Palliative care of patients with terminal malignancies
· Ethical questions surrounding cancer care
· Screening efforts:
· of populations, or
· of the relatives of patients (in types of cancer that are thought to have a heredity base.)"

...I don't know Harry's relatives!

K...

&...the vet NEVER SAID CANCER.

Does Harry have cancer?

I thought a biopsy needs to be taken to make a decision whether it is the C word?

Okay...

I need to understand as much as I can...

Back to my search...

What is a Trigone?!?

Wiki answered:
"Trigone of urinary bladder:
The trigone is a smooth triangular
region of the internal urinary bladder formed by the two ureteral orifices and the internal urethral orifice."

Seeing the picture helped me understand:

It's basically a sifter.

& a pee sized tumor is preventing the proper flow.

The sifter is blocked.

So it's hard to get the urine through.

Okay...starting to make sense!

More on the Trigone:

"The area is very sensitive to expansion and once stretched to a certain degree, the urinary bladder signals the brain of it's need to empty. The signals become stronger as the bladder continues to fill."

This is why Harry pees all the time and tries twice! He pees and then pushes more to get it ALL out. Poor baby! He feels like there is more and can't get it out.

Now...What is a Transitional Cell?!?

W:
"Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC, also urothelial cell carcinoma or UCC) is a type of cancer that typically occurs in the urinary system: the kidney, urinary bladder, and accessory organs. It is the most common type of bladder cancer and cancer of the ureter,urethra, and urachus. It is the second most common type of kidney cancer."

Imagine you felt like you had to pee all the time & when you did pee, you never felt like you got it ALL out.

That is exactly how Harry feels!!!

I had to know what this all meant so I scoured the Internet and all I can say is...

Thank you Wikipedia!!!

Today, when was the last time someone you LOVE was going through something you needed to understand solo bad bc you just had to know how they are feeling?!? Once you discovered what it was like, did you feel better having learned?!

Do you know any C survivors? What was their journey? Were you there for the beginning, middle, or end?

How much more do you know about the part of their body infected than you did before?!?

Xoxo
Ps: Harry will be okay.
Bc he's got to :)