Frank Update 31/3

Frank is recovering nicely from his massive surgery. We are hoping to get his stitches out on Wednesday.

It has been a quiet recovery as there are clamps on his little blood vessels that we had to make sure didn’t pop as this would cause a bleed so still no running or jumping. He has had a few little plays by himself and with Lilly, we have been out and about with the stroller when the weather permits.

We had our consult with the specialist oncologist at VSS Underwood. We saw Dr Rae Woulda. I was suggested to see Kate the Vet at BVSC however my internal medicine doctor at SASH has said Franks case requires a specialist.

Dr Rae said that this type of cancer is so rare that there are no case studies. I was given 3 options.

1. Palliative Care

2. IV Chemo

3. Oral Chemo

I chose oral chemo which is giving him a tablet Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. There are the same side effects but it just means he can spend less time in hospital. The IV requires one full day every 3 weeks whereas oral requires 1 visit per month for obs. The price was also the same which is $1000 per month. They are estimating he has 4-6 months to live. Because it is in his lungs he will likely develop a cough and his respiratory rate will increase as he struggles to breathe. This is how he will die so this is what I personally need to monitor.

So we are starting on Wednesday, he will get all his testing done and they will dispense the medication.

On Saturday night he starting sneezing and reverse sneezing and kind of internal sneezing/coughing. I straight away thought surely it’s not happening already but the sneezing made me think it was allergies.

Last night it got worse so I gave him a Panadol and a phenergan(?). It got worse, his nose started running and he was spitting snot everywhere quite quickly. We went to emergency where I was told he has an upper respiratory infection. They tossed up whether to keep him overnight but decided I was capable of getting him straight back there if it got worse. We were sent home with antibiotics and Panadol.

I feel so bad for him, he is so snotty and he is not able to sleep for more than about 20 minutes.

Now I have to wait to hear from Dr Rae’s team to see whether we are still able to start chemo due to the antibiotics and his immune system.

We are still sleeping on the floor, I was hoping to move back to the bedroom over the next couple of days but if he’s not feeling well and short of breathe I think we will stay on the floor for now.

I was to say a massive thank you to everyone that donated.

Unfortunately my insurance maxed out before they were even 1/4 way through the surgery so every visit is out of pocket completely as well as the debt that I have incurred so far, including credit cards and vet pay.

If anyone is able to donate further we will love you forever.

Heres a photo of Frank and I in emergency last night, they wanted to send his main Doctor at SASH a photo to let her know we were in again. I also scored these photos as the Doctor we saw was around during his hospital stay after surgery.

Update: Wednesday 19/3

Frank had his surgery yesterday, it went better than the surgeons could have hoped. It took 3 hours, they called me at 4pm to say they were out of surgery but they hadn’t woken him up as his body temp was still too low due to being open in theatre for such a long time. He was awake and sitting up by 7pm

The risk now is blood clotting. He will be at risk majorly for the next 24 hours and he will be in the clear in 5 days. I got to see him this morning, he is up and walking, he was not really present though, and he kept going on the nod and nearly falling over. I only stayed a little while, they said I could stay longer but I felt like maybe me being there was stressing him out too much.

If Everything goes well tonight he should be able to come home tomorrow. I’ll post some photos below from today.

T

hank you so much to people for helping us xx

Hi my name is Leesa (Franks Mum), Frank and I are based in sunny Gold Coast. I’m raising money for my baby boy who was diagnosed with Kidney cancer on Wednesday.

Frank turned 7 at the end of January and is the love of my life. On March 4th he went to do a wee and there was blood. We went straight to emergency where we were told he had a UTI but due to the amount of blood they recommended we do a blood test. I decided to do the test a my normal vet however due to the cyclone the vets closed the next day and stayed closed until Monday 10/3.

On Monday 10/3 we went and got some blood taken and booked in for an X-ray and ultrasound on Wednesday 12/3. The results from this showed a large tumour in his right kidney.

On Thursday 13/3 we saw the specialist for a CT scan. This showed a massive tumour 6 x 7cm. We also found out that there a little nodes throughout his lungs which means the cancer is spreading.

Today we went for a consult with the specialist surgeon who has explained that they will remove the kidney and part on the vena cava. This is a very tricky surgery done by two specialist surgeons as well as a specialist anaesthetist due to Frank being a Frenchie.

This surgery has been quoted at $17000 and the tests so far have cost $6500. I do have pet insurance however the annual limit I can claim is $12000 which means it will only cover $6100 of the surgery.

14 days after surgery Frank will start chemo to try to slow down the cancer that has spread to the lungs.

I can’t explain the bond I have with this boy, it’s something I have never experienced before and I thought I had at least 5-7 more years with him before I would have to deal with anything like this. I love him more than anything and he is most definitely my heart/soul dog.

Thats it from me, if you can donate anything at all I would appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.

Thank you,

forever Franks Mum x