by Helen Stephens
Alfie's story is a bit of an epic. Alfie had a history of being sick
quite a lot. After a food trial with some improvement, the vomiting
became worse again.
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Grant decided Alfie needed endoscopy to take a look
inside his stomach. He found a large triangular lesion which looked
angry and inflamed so biopsies were taken. We were hoping for a
diagnosis of a gastric ulcer but unfortunately it was a tumour. Alfie
needed surgery. Aletheia assisted Grant with this difficult operation.
Alfie's tumour was the size of an orange attached to the outside of his
stomach. Grant had to remove a large portion of his stomach to ensure
the tumour was all gone. Over the next few days Alfie continued to
regurgitate so a follow up surgery was required to make the opening into
Alfie's stomach larger. A stomach tube and oesophageal tube was put in
place. Alfie would be fed through the stomach tube to bypass the top of
his stomach. Would this sort out the problem? With a bit more time and a
lot more nursing Alfie started to keep his food down. Day by day he
improved and became stronger. The lab results showed as far as they
could tell the tumour was all gone. We will still keep our fingers
crossed as this tumour can return in other places. For the moment Alfie
is doing incredibly well. Today his tube was removed which will come as
great relief for Alfie and his dedicated owners. He's happy and enjoying
his food again. Very important when you're a dog.