by Diane Whetsel

Sage, the next chapter,,,,,,,,

 

In Early Sept. 2009, an AKC representative, Ron Rella called to tell me that Sage had been selected as the recipient of the ACE award for Search and Rescue for 2009. This is probably the biggest award a SAR dog can receive for service. He asked me to confirm my contact information and told me that Sage’s travel agent would be contacting me to arrange for Sage and two humans of HER choice to be flown to Long Beach CA for the awards ceremony. It would happen at the  Eukanuba National Championships on Dec. 6, 2009. We were very excited and honored to have Sage choose us as her travel companions for the event.

Only a week later I was informed that Sage had a tumor deep down between her lung lobes and next to her heart. The news was devastating to all that knew Sage. Even my vet sounded like he was crying as he told me the news over the phone. Sage has been in a post 9-11 K-9 health study conducted by the U of Penn. and primarily funded by the AKC. Every year since 9-11 Sage has had blood work and chest X rays sent to the University of Pennsylvania for study. Until now, she has had no problems and when sending the 2009 X rays out to them I expected all to be the same. They weren’t and now we had to make a new plan. After speaking to my primary vet, Dr. Walker and the study Coordinator at U of Penn, Dr. Otto, it was determined that she would be referred to Dr. Kelly, a veterinary medical oncologist in Santa Fe, MN. We made the appointment and traveled the 4 hours to Santa Fe for the examination. There Sage was X ray-ed, poked and prodded. An ultra scanned guided biopsy was attempted but couldn’t be completed. We were then referred to the cancer center at Colorado State University. All vets involved at the time agreed that CO State is the gold standard in vet cancer care and that Sage deserved the best that veterinary medicine could offer. The referral was given and the appointment was made. It was only three weeks before her big moment in Long Beach and we found ourselves sitting in the cancer center waiting room in Ft. Collins CO.

Monday, the examination by her medical oncologist, Tuesday the CT and PET scans… The good news was that the tumor next to her heart was the least dangerous and most easily treated of the possible suspected cancers, a thymoma.  The bad news was that there was another suspicious mass inside her right lung. That set off a new problem that involved how to approach the surgery and what type of surgery would be the best for her.

The hospital at CSU is an incredible facility and Sage had several surgical oncologists and medical oncologists offering their best suggestions as to how to approach this but not one of them could agree. The question on how to proceed was then posed to me!  They gave me all of the information about her condition that they felt I could process and then they told me the options… The two approaches were, do we go in with an arthroscopy or a full surgical thoracodamy? Do we take just a biopsy of the mass in her lung or take out the entire upper lobe?  What if, what if,,,,, the decision was an overwhelming dilemma for us? Even the specialists, the doctors in the most acclaimed center canter in the world couldn’t agree and now they were leaving it to me to make the decision! 

Kathy and I left the hospital and we spent the evening discussing what to do. After tossing the questions and possible resolutions back and forth with the pros and cons to each other throughout the evening, we both agreed that they would complete a surgical thoracodamy and remove both the thymoma and the upper lobe of her right lung. As I told the lead surgeon of our decision, there seemed too be a pleased look on her face leaving me with the feeling that we had made the right decision or at least the one with which she was most comfortable. The surgery went well and she came through it without a hitch.

Before leaving for the long 12 hour drive home, we had one last check up at the cancer center. She was given a clean bill of health and permission to travel. But before we could leave, there were pictures to be taken. Sage had become quite the canine celebrity at the cancer center and all of the surgical and medical team came together for pictures. Now the biggest challenge was to keep this typically active BC calm and quiet for a month. The X pen proved to be the answer. We set it up in the middle of the living room so that she could be close to us and all of the action. After the first week she actually settled into her new more sedentary lifestyle. I constantly explained to her that this was not forever and that soon she would be back to chasing her coveted Frisbee again.

 

The trip to Long Beach came quickly. Sage was still on limited light duty but getting around much better and enjoying being more active. Sage seemed excited to be flying again. She loves to travel and it helps that she has cabin privileges when we fly. As a search and rescue dog she is classified as a service dog and the airlines don’t require her to fly cargo like pet dogs. 

 

On Dec 5 we arrived in Long Beach and they had a wonderful dinner planned for the ACE winners at the Hyatt Hotel where they had also provided us with rooms.  Not too shabby, huh? At the dinner they handed each of us a check for 1,000.00 and “Full Access” passes to the show and all events associated with the show. They also gave us meal tickets that proved to be more like four star banquets including a choice of red or white wine and all for FREE! The AKC was literally wineing and dining us! After the show, in the evening would be the group judging to be held in a separate building. The building was like a movie set production with all of the people from Animal Planet Productions setting up this fantastic back drop for the group judging and the awards ceremony.

We completed the rehearsal and then they conducted an interview and photo shoot. Sage took it all in as if she knew that was all about her. Sage has always loved to be the center of attention and this was all right up her alley. That evening was the also the ACE awards ceremony. Friends from all over had come to watch Sage that night. Unlike us humans who have to look just right for things like this, Sage could have cared less that she would be sporting a surgical hair cut or that it was going to be on national TV! All Sage seemed to care about was if there would be anyone there to play with that night. There was. There, with a Standard Poodle named Poodle was a nine year old girl Mandy. Mandy’s Poodle had won the Exemplary Companion award. Mandy, being a young girl, was delighted to play with Sage and Sage was just as pleased that Mandy was there to break up the monotony of boring adults constantly asking her to settle. Can’t beat a kid to provide nonstop play for a BC.

The presentation complete and the fan fair over with we returned to the “real world” out of the spotlight.

 

At this writing, Sage is doing very well and her prognosis looks good. She will be having a CT scan in about 6 months just to make sure that they got all of the cancer and we will go from there. It should be noted that neither one of the two cancers that were found in Sage are common to dogs and they were probably the result of sniffing toxins during her service to our country. Because Sage has served in so many potentially sites such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and in dump sites in Fallujah Iraq, there is no way to know just when or where the cancers came from.

 

As a result of Sage’s illness, and the excessive cost of cancer treatment, we are currently in the beginning stages of a foundation that will provide financial veterinary aid to dogs that serve us.

The foundation’s name will be the “Sage Foundation”. This foundation, created in her name will serve our canine heroes long after our Sage is gone.

 

B. Diane Whetsel and K-9 Sage