It all started 3 weeks ago...

I took Roscoe in for a check-up vet appointment, and brought Mynga along because she had this bump on her ear we wanted to check out (it had been there for about 6 weeks or so). The vet came back and said that it looked like a Mast Cell Tumor (MCT) and that we had to go see a specialist. About 6 months ago we had to go to a specialist for Roscoe's Inflammatory Bowel Disease, so we were familiar with the VMS center in Dublin.

That Friday I made an appointment for Mynga. The oncologist confirmed that it was a Mast Cell Tumor (MCT) and that it needed to be surgically removed. We had two options (1) remove her entire ear, or (2) remove the tumor with 1cm of tissue around it, which would leave her with a floppy ear. We went with the less invasive option #2. At that time they took some blood and a lymph node aspirate from Mynga. The following Tuesday, the tests came back that no cancer was found in Mynga's lymph nodes or blood. This was great news!! We scheduled the surgery for that Friday.

On Friday, Nov 6th Mynga had her surgery to remove the MCT. She would have to stay the night. When Josh got her Saturday morning she was doing great and healing well. She came home and instantly started to annoy Roscoe and sunbathe outside. We were feeling good about how everything was going. But we knew we still had to get the results of the MCT biopsy.

This past Tuesday, Nov 10th I called the VMS offices to make an appt for Mynga to get her stitches out. "The doctor wants to talk to you the results are in," the admin said. "Oh Crap!" was all I could say back, I wasn't ready. The oncologist, Dr. Rankin, got on the phone and said that the MCT came back as a Grade 2, bordering a Grade 3. My heart dropped. I had done enough research on MCT's to know that this was not the news we wanted. We were pretty confident it was going to come back a Grade 1, which means benign, so far everything was pointing in that direction.

Grade 2 means that the tumor is cancer, Grade 3 means it's an aggressive cancer and the prognosis is poorer. MCT's are the most common skin cancer in Boston Terriers, especially ages 8-10 (Mynga is 8.5 years old). The oncologist said she was surprised to hear this too and recommended chemotherapy. Needless to say that was a very emotional day and night. After many questions, research, and looking at all options Josh & I decided to go ahead with Chemotherapy. Mynga starts her treatment this Tuesday, Nov 17th.

What helped make our decision was that 80% of dogs DO NOT get sick with Chemotherapy, which is the opposite for humans on chemo. Mynga has NO signs of illness despite the visual tumor, so we did not want to make her more sick then she was. There is a good possibility that this will send Mynga into remission and give her more years with us. And we heard a lot of people (and the doctor) say "do what is best," and we do feel that this is it.

The best case scenario is that Mynga goes through her 3 months of Chemo like a champ and shows no signs of more MCTs or spreading of the cancer. She then will have ongoing checkups with the doc, and after 1.5-2 years of clean checkups Mynga will be considered in remission. After 3 years she can be concerted cured. The worst case scenario is that the chemotherapy does not stop the growth of her cancer cells and we see spreading or more MCTs. The oncologist is optimistic and so are we. Mynga has been dogknapped and Roscoe has ran away for a weekend, we have defied the odds before and we are ready to do it again!!