Team Churchill!
Donation protected
Hi! My name is Churchill, & I'm a 12 year old Corgi mix living in NC. My Mom adopted me when I was about 3 years old & we have been the best of furiends ever since. Mom will do anything for me & I will do anything for her!
On May 1, 2015, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but the AMAZING news was that the cancer had not spread, so surgery & chemo was an option! This is SO incredibly rare--my oncologist at Carolina Veterinary Specialists, Dr. Diana Burr, said that I was only the second dog she had ever seen who had prostate cancer that had not spread at diagnosis! After meeting with my oncologist on May 4, having bloodwork done (perfect!), & meeting with my surgeon, Dr. Jennifer Hoch, on May 5, I underwent a total prostatectomy later on May 5. The surgery went very well & was a success all around....until May 6, when I made 74ml of urine, & then didn't make anymore. Dr. Hoch enlisted the aid of Dr. Elizabeth Dill-Macky, the internal medicine specialist at CVS, who worked overnight on Wednesday to try to help get my kidneys jump started. When Mommy went to talk to Dr. Dill-Macky on the morning of May 7, she said that to survive, I would need hemodialysis, but she wasn't sure if there was a facility with that capability closer than UPenn in Philadelphia.
Dr. Dill-Macky was such a wonderful advocate for me, & called Dr. Alessio Vigani at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, NC, about one hour away from my home. It turned out that Dr. Vigani had just recently restarted the NC State hemodialysis program & both he & Dr. Dill-Macky thought I would be a good candidate to try dialysis, since I had no pre-existing kidney problems, & I was suffering from a very acute kidney injury, which most likely happened from a reduced blood flow post-surgery, which was a complication that was completely unexpected & unpreventable. They thought I was within an early enough window of opportunity since the onset of my acute kidney injury that dialysis would give me a chance!
Mommy rushed over to pick me up & take me over to NC State in the early afternoon on Thursday, May 7. I was a sick boy, but my numbers were surprisingly not that bad, thanks to the amazing care I received at CVS. Dr. Vigani & his team spoke to Mommy & told her that if we didn't intervene, there was a 85% chance that I would die within 24 hours. However, if we intervened with hemodialysis, I had a 50% chance of living. Even though Mommy "ugly cried" a lot that day, the decision was a no-brainer. She said that if she got 50% odds against the house, she would take those odds every time, especially when the alternative was really not in doubt. I was admitted to the hospital at NC State that afternoon, & received my first hemodialysis session later that night. After that session, my creatinine was down from 6 to 2! On Friday, May 8, I recevied my second hemodialysis session, & after that, my creatinine was perfectly normal! I had the day off from dialysis on May 9th, but had it again on May 10 to help pull some fluid out of me, since my little Corgi legs were really swollen! Just as my doctors were getting me set up for dialysis, but before we began, then looked down at my urinary catheter & saw urine coming out!! What a celebration! My doctors are so good about texting & calling Mommy with updates & photos & they sent her photos of that immediately! I had my third dialysis session, and after that, my creatinine was .9.
We had a wonderful visit that night, & then some bad things happened. On Monday, May 11, the doctors noticed that I looked lethargic, & they quickly determined that I had developed some sort of abdominal bleed. After multiple attempts to medically intervene, the decision was made to surgically intervene. I received massive blood transfusions (2 times my whole blood volume was transfused to save my life) & when the surgeon, Dr. Mathews, opened me up, he saw that my original surgical site looked GREAT. However, I was still bleeding, so he opened my incision more, & found that I was hemorrhaging from the underside of my liver. There was necrotic tissue that was bleeding very rapidly. He resected it & stopped the bleeding. He wasn't able to get all of the tissue, since some was very close to my vena cava. That was sent for pathology & we don't yet know what that was. It could be cancer, but it could also be benign. Since it was on the bottom of my liver, it never showed up in ultrasounds, & the surgeon said that it probably wouldn't have shown up on a CT scan, either. I was re-transfused to full blood volume while in surgery, so my doctors could check to make sure everything looked good. I was brought recovery, & while I was waking up, the doctors talked to Mommy & told her how touch & go it had been & still was. Mommy was allowed to come see me that night & Dr. Vigani let her stay with me until midnight. He stayed all night at the hospital with me in ICU to monitor me closely & check me frequently with ultrasound to look for rebleeding & signs of acute lung injury from all of the blood products I received. Some kind person who had their dog registered as an emergency blood donor brought in a dog to give blood for me before my surgery. That was so touching & kind! The doctors told Mom that this liver tissue rupture would have happened even if I hadn't had the prostate surgery last week. Then Mom realized that if my kidneys had come back online after surgery as normal, I would have been at home alone when I started bleeding out. How lucky I am to have been at one of the best places in the world for me when that happened?!?
I made it through the night with no complications, & continued to AMAZE everyone when they did a blood panel on Tuesday morning, May 12, & my creatinine was 1!! All the blood in my body at that point was non-dialyzed blood, so that means that my kidneys were filtering blood again, which means I was back at least to 25% kidney function (which is actually all you really need!) This was such good news that I might not need any more dialysis, so that my body could get to work healing from surgery. Mommy came to see me 3 times Tuesday & had stayed over close by on Monday night since things were so scary. No one could believe what a quick turnaround I made! On Wednesday, May 13, my creatinine was .9, which meant my kidneys were holding strong!! I enjoyed visits yesterday, & really started to feel better, since I was jumping around in my cage, trying to chew the metal bars & chewed 2 of my IV lines! I had to have a cone & some sedation so I wouldn't hurt myself! I also have learned that if I don't want to come in from outside at walkies time, the sweet nurses will put me on a cart & roll me back to my cage! It sure is fun!
This morning, Thursday, May 14, my dialysis catheter was removed! No more dialysis needed! Tomorrow, I will have my naso-gastric tub removed (which is how I've been receving nutrition in the hospital, because my stomach still feels icky from my kidney injury), & Dr. Vigani will give me an esophageal tube for feeding until I can eat & drink enough on my own to sustain me. I started drinking water in my bowl for the first time yesterday, so that is progress! :) I will likely get to go home on Tuesday, which is 3 days earlier than expected! I will have an oncology consult before I leave, after my liver pathology comes back, to decide what chemo might help me the most keep up a great quality of life!
I am on Instagram as (at)churchilly. I am also on Facebook as "Churchill". So many of the people taking care of me at NCSU follow me & enjoy my updates, & I hope you do, too! Everyone at the hospital is AMAZED at how much fight I have, & what a happy, loving, sweet dog I am! I am a wonderful patient & sit still when the doctors have to treat me. I love this life so much, & I love my Mom for giving me this chance & not giving up on me. She says that I have never given up on her, & as long as I was happy & had a shot at a good quality of life, she wasn't going to give up on me. I will have some special needs when I come home, like my e-tube for feeding, & needing to wear diapers until my anatomy recovers from surgery & we see if I get some control back. But Mom has told me that she doesn't mind helping me with my challenges, since I am still so crazy, silly, & full of life! I love her & I love this chance I have been given!
I have Pet Insurance through the ASPCA, and it is a good policy with a max payout of $5000 per policy year. I have far exceed this, since my bill for my original surgery & hospitalization was $6714. When Mommy got me to State, she had to put down $10,000 as a deposit. Luckily, she had an unused emergency credit card with a limit that was enough. She tells me that the important thing is me, & that she will figure out a way for us to get this paid off.
We have been able to feel the love surrounding us, & at a time like this, it makes us feel so lucky. We feel lucky about my original early diagnosis, the successful prostate surgery, the availability of lifesaving hemodialysis close by at NC State, the fact that I was in the hospital when my liver bled, & the fact that I have come so far & have so much to look forward to in this life! We have had such an AMAZING outpouring of love, prayers & support from all of our friends worldwide through Instagram & Facebook, as well as our local friends, especially the Corgi Community in Raleigh. We have received so many offers to help us, & many people have asked how they may donate. Because of that, we decided to tell my story here & give people the opportunity to donate if they wish. We are thankful for any amount that anyone chooses to give, whether it is $1, $5, $10, or $100. Every bit makes a difference & every message of love & support means the world to us!
Thank you for reading this!
We love all of you!
Churchill & Christon (mom)
#thechurchillmovement
#teamchurchill
#churchillstrong
#churchillscheerleaders
#prayersforchurchill
On May 1, 2015, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but the AMAZING news was that the cancer had not spread, so surgery & chemo was an option! This is SO incredibly rare--my oncologist at Carolina Veterinary Specialists, Dr. Diana Burr, said that I was only the second dog she had ever seen who had prostate cancer that had not spread at diagnosis! After meeting with my oncologist on May 4, having bloodwork done (perfect!), & meeting with my surgeon, Dr. Jennifer Hoch, on May 5, I underwent a total prostatectomy later on May 5. The surgery went very well & was a success all around....until May 6, when I made 74ml of urine, & then didn't make anymore. Dr. Hoch enlisted the aid of Dr. Elizabeth Dill-Macky, the internal medicine specialist at CVS, who worked overnight on Wednesday to try to help get my kidneys jump started. When Mommy went to talk to Dr. Dill-Macky on the morning of May 7, she said that to survive, I would need hemodialysis, but she wasn't sure if there was a facility with that capability closer than UPenn in Philadelphia.
Dr. Dill-Macky was such a wonderful advocate for me, & called Dr. Alessio Vigani at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, NC, about one hour away from my home. It turned out that Dr. Vigani had just recently restarted the NC State hemodialysis program & both he & Dr. Dill-Macky thought I would be a good candidate to try dialysis, since I had no pre-existing kidney problems, & I was suffering from a very acute kidney injury, which most likely happened from a reduced blood flow post-surgery, which was a complication that was completely unexpected & unpreventable. They thought I was within an early enough window of opportunity since the onset of my acute kidney injury that dialysis would give me a chance!
Mommy rushed over to pick me up & take me over to NC State in the early afternoon on Thursday, May 7. I was a sick boy, but my numbers were surprisingly not that bad, thanks to the amazing care I received at CVS. Dr. Vigani & his team spoke to Mommy & told her that if we didn't intervene, there was a 85% chance that I would die within 24 hours. However, if we intervened with hemodialysis, I had a 50% chance of living. Even though Mommy "ugly cried" a lot that day, the decision was a no-brainer. She said that if she got 50% odds against the house, she would take those odds every time, especially when the alternative was really not in doubt. I was admitted to the hospital at NC State that afternoon, & received my first hemodialysis session later that night. After that session, my creatinine was down from 6 to 2! On Friday, May 8, I recevied my second hemodialysis session, & after that, my creatinine was perfectly normal! I had the day off from dialysis on May 9th, but had it again on May 10 to help pull some fluid out of me, since my little Corgi legs were really swollen! Just as my doctors were getting me set up for dialysis, but before we began, then looked down at my urinary catheter & saw urine coming out!! What a celebration! My doctors are so good about texting & calling Mommy with updates & photos & they sent her photos of that immediately! I had my third dialysis session, and after that, my creatinine was .9.
We had a wonderful visit that night, & then some bad things happened. On Monday, May 11, the doctors noticed that I looked lethargic, & they quickly determined that I had developed some sort of abdominal bleed. After multiple attempts to medically intervene, the decision was made to surgically intervene. I received massive blood transfusions (2 times my whole blood volume was transfused to save my life) & when the surgeon, Dr. Mathews, opened me up, he saw that my original surgical site looked GREAT. However, I was still bleeding, so he opened my incision more, & found that I was hemorrhaging from the underside of my liver. There was necrotic tissue that was bleeding very rapidly. He resected it & stopped the bleeding. He wasn't able to get all of the tissue, since some was very close to my vena cava. That was sent for pathology & we don't yet know what that was. It could be cancer, but it could also be benign. Since it was on the bottom of my liver, it never showed up in ultrasounds, & the surgeon said that it probably wouldn't have shown up on a CT scan, either. I was re-transfused to full blood volume while in surgery, so my doctors could check to make sure everything looked good. I was brought recovery, & while I was waking up, the doctors talked to Mommy & told her how touch & go it had been & still was. Mommy was allowed to come see me that night & Dr. Vigani let her stay with me until midnight. He stayed all night at the hospital with me in ICU to monitor me closely & check me frequently with ultrasound to look for rebleeding & signs of acute lung injury from all of the blood products I received. Some kind person who had their dog registered as an emergency blood donor brought in a dog to give blood for me before my surgery. That was so touching & kind! The doctors told Mom that this liver tissue rupture would have happened even if I hadn't had the prostate surgery last week. Then Mom realized that if my kidneys had come back online after surgery as normal, I would have been at home alone when I started bleeding out. How lucky I am to have been at one of the best places in the world for me when that happened?!?
I made it through the night with no complications, & continued to AMAZE everyone when they did a blood panel on Tuesday morning, May 12, & my creatinine was 1!! All the blood in my body at that point was non-dialyzed blood, so that means that my kidneys were filtering blood again, which means I was back at least to 25% kidney function (which is actually all you really need!) This was such good news that I might not need any more dialysis, so that my body could get to work healing from surgery. Mommy came to see me 3 times Tuesday & had stayed over close by on Monday night since things were so scary. No one could believe what a quick turnaround I made! On Wednesday, May 13, my creatinine was .9, which meant my kidneys were holding strong!! I enjoyed visits yesterday, & really started to feel better, since I was jumping around in my cage, trying to chew the metal bars & chewed 2 of my IV lines! I had to have a cone & some sedation so I wouldn't hurt myself! I also have learned that if I don't want to come in from outside at walkies time, the sweet nurses will put me on a cart & roll me back to my cage! It sure is fun!
This morning, Thursday, May 14, my dialysis catheter was removed! No more dialysis needed! Tomorrow, I will have my naso-gastric tub removed (which is how I've been receving nutrition in the hospital, because my stomach still feels icky from my kidney injury), & Dr. Vigani will give me an esophageal tube for feeding until I can eat & drink enough on my own to sustain me. I started drinking water in my bowl for the first time yesterday, so that is progress! :) I will likely get to go home on Tuesday, which is 3 days earlier than expected! I will have an oncology consult before I leave, after my liver pathology comes back, to decide what chemo might help me the most keep up a great quality of life!
I am on Instagram as (at)churchilly. I am also on Facebook as "Churchill". So many of the people taking care of me at NCSU follow me & enjoy my updates, & I hope you do, too! Everyone at the hospital is AMAZED at how much fight I have, & what a happy, loving, sweet dog I am! I am a wonderful patient & sit still when the doctors have to treat me. I love this life so much, & I love my Mom for giving me this chance & not giving up on me. She says that I have never given up on her, & as long as I was happy & had a shot at a good quality of life, she wasn't going to give up on me. I will have some special needs when I come home, like my e-tube for feeding, & needing to wear diapers until my anatomy recovers from surgery & we see if I get some control back. But Mom has told me that she doesn't mind helping me with my challenges, since I am still so crazy, silly, & full of life! I love her & I love this chance I have been given!
I have Pet Insurance through the ASPCA, and it is a good policy with a max payout of $5000 per policy year. I have far exceed this, since my bill for my original surgery & hospitalization was $6714. When Mommy got me to State, she had to put down $10,000 as a deposit. Luckily, she had an unused emergency credit card with a limit that was enough. She tells me that the important thing is me, & that she will figure out a way for us to get this paid off.
We have been able to feel the love surrounding us, & at a time like this, it makes us feel so lucky. We feel lucky about my original early diagnosis, the successful prostate surgery, the availability of lifesaving hemodialysis close by at NC State, the fact that I was in the hospital when my liver bled, & the fact that I have come so far & have so much to look forward to in this life! We have had such an AMAZING outpouring of love, prayers & support from all of our friends worldwide through Instagram & Facebook, as well as our local friends, especially the Corgi Community in Raleigh. We have received so many offers to help us, & many people have asked how they may donate. Because of that, we decided to tell my story here & give people the opportunity to donate if they wish. We are thankful for any amount that anyone chooses to give, whether it is $1, $5, $10, or $100. Every bit makes a difference & every message of love & support means the world to us!
Thank you for reading this!
We love all of you!
Churchill & Christon (mom)
#thechurchillmovement
#teamchurchill
#churchillstrong
#churchillscheerleaders
#prayersforchurchill
Organizer
Churchill The Corgi Mix
Organizer
Greensboro, NC
