May 14, 2018. Twister’ s oncologist and surgeon called to tell us that the results of the biopsy had come in and that they showed no cancer, only fibrous tissue. . When my husband and I heard that they had not found any cancer, we were so relieved.
Twister finished taking his medication and antibiotics yesterday. He is in good spirits, The incision is healing properly, and the swelling on his leg is decreasing. He will wear his plastic cone for another week, then the oncologist will remove the stitches and give him another examination. As a precaution, the doctors will perform an ultrasound in about a month to make sure the tumor has no changes.We can only hope that everything will be fine. And again we ask all the animal lovers to pray for his complete recovery, and that he won’t need any further treatments.
The day Twister had his CT scan and biopsy, I pulled out the prayer book that my sister had given me so that I could pray to the Lord to help me recover from fibromyalgia.Inside the prayer book is a long ribbon, a relic from a saint, SAN Charbel. The evening before Twister had his surgery, I massaged Twister with the sacred ribbon. I remember looking at my husband’s face when I was doing this. He must’ve thought I was crazy but I did it anyway.
Also, there is a comment in the prayer book that says, “Every eighth day of the month at noon at the parish of Nuestra Senora de Libano a mass and a procession are celebrated for parishioners, dead or alive, and for anybody who needs the Saints help.” Since Twister’s surgery took place on May 8, I strongly believe San Charbel, prayers from animal lovers, and ours, played an important role in Twister’s recovery.Thank you for your prayers on behalf of us and Twister.
May 8, 2018, we took Twister at 8:30 AM for his biopsy. The surgery was supposed to take place at noon. That day I didn’t know what to do with my anxious self. Moreover, the fibromyalgia pain was having a fun time with my body. I wish the pain would tone down. It has been very intense these past few days, and I assume stress is playing a major role. To ignore the pain, I concentrated on things that had to do with writing, such as looking for a place to submit my short stories. The phone rang several times that day, but they were those blasted Robo calls. Finally, that afternoon we got a call from the emergency clinic telling us that we could pick up Twister.
When we saw Twister, he was his usual self, perky, and happy to see us. As he quickly and methodically inspected the doctor’s office, we noticed he had a bandage on his left hind leg, I suppose this is where blood was drawn, and his right foot was bandaged also. He was also wearing a large plastic cone to keep him from unwrapping his bandages and of course from pulling out his three stitches. We thanked the surgeon as we parted with Twister. He came home with medications and antibiotics.
As Bob took Twister to our car, a man stopped me and asked me about my experience with this clinic. I told him this was the first time that I had had to bring one of my pets to the clinic. The man told me that his dog who was 11 years old had glaucoma, and I sympathized with him. His dog was not with him, but I could tell that the man really loved his dog. He was pacing in the lobby.
I was using my Rollator and was trying to figure out how to open the doors to get out. The man pushed a button to open the doors. And then we both laughed when I said, “I was assuming the doors would open automatically.”
“If they did, it would be difficult to keep the dogs in the lobby, ” he commented smiling. He followed me outside. That’s when he asked me what I was doing at the clinic since the clinic only saw animals by referral.
I explained about what had happened to Twister and the very nice gentleman told me, “Tonight will be a prayer night for animals.”
“Thank you,” I answered almost in tears because the man was so gracious to pray for my dog and his. I walked to my car. thinking that if it was God’s will, Twister would be fine, but if it wasn’t, I prayed for strength because I really love Twister.. He was near death when we rescued him.( With tears in my eyes, I wrote a short story, “They Call Mr. Twister” of how Twister came into our lives. The story is written from his point of view. But, I must warn you, if you are an animal lover, the story might make you cry.)
A about 4 PM, we were on our way home with Twister, who behaved as though nothing had happened to him. He was his usual self, inspecting his surroundings and being playful in the car. Bob removed his bandages later that evening. Or was it the following day? I really don’t remember. What I remember is seeing the bandage on his right leg where the biopsy was performed. When we removed that bandage the following day, we noticed the three stitches where the biopsy was performed. We didn’t remove the cone. It keeps him from messing with his stitches.
And now we are waiting for the result from the biopsy which will be here tomorrow, Friday or next Monday. The waiting is killing me. It’s a good thing that I like to write. The activity keeps me busy and sometimes makes me forget that I physically hurt.
Twister finished taking his medication and antibiotics yesterday. He is in high spirits and the swelling on his leg is decreasing. He will wear his cone for another week, then the oncologist will remove the stitches and give him another examination. We hope that he will be fine. Again, I ask my readers, especially the animal lovers, for your prayers.
May 7, 2018. Monday, we took Twister to see a veterinary oncologist at the emergency veterinary clinic on the south side of Fort Worth. After a thorough examination, the oncologist recommended a biopsy which would take place the following day.
Monday afternoon, I had an appointment scheduled with my massage therapist, and I almost didn’t go. Physically and emotionally, I felt lousy, but I went anyway. And I’m glad that I did. My massage therapist is a wonderful lady who not only listens to me, but also gives me an excellent massage. Worried about Twister I told her what had happened to him. I cried, but she comforted me ( she has a dog too) which helped me a lot.
That evening in of spite the fabulous massage, the fibromyalgia pain intensified. I suppose worrying about Twister’s surgery didn’t help me relax or calm down my pain. When I went to bed that evening, I couldn’t fall asleep. So, I spent most of the night praying for Twister, my husband, friends, and relatives. In addition, I occupied my mind thinking about storylines for horror short stories. I recorded the plots on my digital recorder and eventually, fell asleep.
May 3, 2018. Thursday, at about 6:30 PM one of Dr. Jason Doolittle’s associates, Dr. Roller, called to give us the bad news: the needle biopsy indicated that Twister had a spindle cell tumor.
May 4, 2018. Friday, Dr. Doolittle called us and referred us to the emergency clinic on the south side of Fort Worth. The clinic only takes pets by referral, but isopen 24 hours. Dr. Doolittle had already notified the clinic about Twister, and he told us to make an appointment for Twister right away. We called and got an appointment for Monday at 11 AM.
May 5, 2018. Saturday afternoon, Bob toook me to St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church. I needed God’s help. I was so stressed out. That afternoon in the confessional, I talked to the parish priest, Father Manuel Holguin, who is a good listener and empathetic. He prayed for us and Twister.
Sometime on March 2018. My husband told me that Twister had jumped on top of the patio table last night and released a loud yelp. After carefully checking twister’s foot my husband determined that twister had broken a nail; however, it was not bleeding. So, he assumed that Twister was all right. Twister was fine for about a month. Then, around April 6, he started limping.
We carefully inspected his right foot and leg again. Twister did not indicate that he hurt when we touched him. But we still suspected something was wrong because he would occasionally limp and sometimes would not put any weight on the right leg. We Suspected That Twister had hurt himself when he sneakily tore a large hole on the back end of our tool shed. I suspect he was trying to get to an animal that had snuck into the shed.
The next day when we examined his leg, I noticed that an area on Twister’s right wrist was slightly swollen, and he was still limping. His injury concerned me because a few years ago one of our cats developed a limp. We hadn’t noticed that a very small lump had appeared on one of its hind legs. We took our cat to a vet who told us that she had a tumor and that it was malignant. There was not much we could do except to keep her comfortable. The days went by and the tumor kept growing. One day our little girl let us know the tumor was hurting. We had to euthanize her. This was a heartbreaking experience.
May 1, 2018, we took Twister to the vet to check his right foot. (Because of my fibromyalgia pain, I had not gone with Bob when he took Twister for his regular checkups. This time, even though my pain level was a six, I tagged along.) Our veterinarian, Dr. Jason Doolittle, checked Twister thoroughly, but I kept telling my husband and our vet that I noticed there was a small difference in size between his front legs. The right leg appeared to be swollen.
Neither my husband nor our doctor noticed the swelling. Besides, Twister didn’t indicate that he hurt when the doctor touched his foot and leg. Since I was very concerned about the swollen area, Dr. Doolittle decided to take some x-rays. When the x-rays were ready, he asked us if we wanted to look at them. “Of course!” I answered.
We went to another room where he showed us the x-rays on a computer monitor screen. As we saw the pictures roll by, Dr. Doolittle noticed the swollen area that I had been talking about. However, my heart sank to my stomach because I was right. There was a small mass in an inoperable area that could be a tumor. I hoped it was benign. Twister could lose his leg if the tumor was malignant. As these thoughts rolled through my mind, I heard Dr. Doolittle say that we wouldn’t know anything about the swollen area until we got the results from the radiologist, and that he would get in touch with us as soon as he received the results.
Dr. Doolittle was more than willing to answer any of our questions, especially mine. I apologized for taking so much of his time, but I told him that I was worried about Twister. He understood because he has a dog. Incidentally, all the members of the staff at the VCA clinic love Twister. He gets along with everybody.
The detailed examination of Twister was over. As we took him to our SUV, I was discouraged, frightened, and worried. Could the small mass be cancer? That was my concern. I didn’t want Twister to lose his leg. Thoughts about surgery, radiation, cancer pills, and chemotherapy ran through my mind.
That afternoon, I pretended to be okay, but I wasn’t. I played with Twister and the cats, tried to write, ate supper, and eventually went to bed. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Waiting for the radiology reports wreaked havoc on my body that evening. I’m sure my husband was also worried about Twister, but he didn’t say anything. He’s the quiet type.
May 2, 2018. The following morning, Dr. Doolittle called us early because the radiologist needed more information. So, Bob took Twister to the clinic. I couldn’t go with him. My fibromyalgia pain was close to a 7. With tears in my eyes, I watched Bob take Twister to the clinic for more x-rays. This time they also did a needle biopsy. Now we are waiting for the results which will come in 1 to 3 days. In the meantime, my husband is giving Twister his pain medication and we are watching him carefully.
M. E. Murray 
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