The cone of shame

Storm is at home.  He's nearly back to his old self, although he still has patches of bare skin, now being covered by a thin layer of hair as it grows back.  Because he had lost so much blood, he had IV's placed in both front legs, so these were shaved.  Then, to facilitate placing the limb leads for the monitor, another patch on both front and his left hind leg were shaved.  As Ryan commented, "He looks like a poodle."  (which, for a Portie, may be the greatest insult of all)  His belly was also shaved and his incision stapled closed.  Since dogs have a propensity for licking... everywhere... he was given an e-collar (aka Elizabethan collar; aka the cone of shame).  His first collar was too big and too soft.  I put it on and he promptly walked out of it. 

After he saw his PCV (that's my made-up abbreviation for primary care vet), Dr. Annie (who, I will say is not only a great vet, but a great runner, and even nicer person), he was given a hard cone to wear.  That seemed to work until he caught the edge of it on one of his staples as he, you guessed it, tried to lick the incision site, and pulled out a couple of the staples.  So, he then received a larger cone, and this seemed to solve all of the problems.  Well, except for the one where Storm now whacks his cone on everything:  door jamb, wall, back of my leg, back of my leg, back of my leg.  Yup, he's figured out that he can get attention by using the cone as a battering ram.  He has also managed to crack his cone when he and Sancho decided to chase each other down the hallway and he ran it into the door. 

So, where are we now?  As expected, his final path came back as metastatic hemangiosarcoma.  His expected lifespan is, at best, months.  We elected to decline chemotherapy, as it would figure to only prolong his life by a few months and is not curative.  So... we're trying mushrooms!  I looked up hemangiosarcoma and stumbled across the use of the turkey-tail mushroom (coriolus versicolor is the scientific name) in the treatment of hemangiosarcoma.  While the study was not great, I figured, "Why not? (at this point)." 

Right now, we're just enjoying having Storm around.  He's still energetic, especially at mealtimes, although he gets tired more quickly.  I have no doubt that at some point in the near future, he will have another bleed, which will be the terminal event.  While I am dreading that moment, I also am grateful that we were able to bring him home and that I can spend my evenings enjoying his company.  I'll be even happier when we can get rid of that cone, as I'm sure he will be, too.