New Experiences

I started working for The Veterinary Cancer Center roughly 3 months ago as the new Referral Coordinator.  When I started with The Veterinary Cancer Center a few short months ago, I had no idea how incredible this place was and the profound impact The Veterinary Cancer Center has played in so many people’s lives.  I came to The VCC with no prior medical knowledge or veterinary experience looking for a new challenge, and to find a career that I could be passionate about.  What I found when I got her was all of that and so much more. 

As I mentioned, I do not have a background in veterinary medicine and, to be completely honest, I never would have thought my career path would have brought me to The VCC,  but I am fortunate that it did.  I have spent a large part of my career in sales, marketing and management so the question I am often asked is “How did you end up working at The Veterinary Cancer Center.”  Well the answer to that question is easy… I love animals and I was presented with an opportunity to be part of a place that helps pets and their owners during a very difficult time.  The VCC provides hope to pets and their owners when, often times, there is very little and that is something not only to be passionate about,  but to be proud of. 

During a time when so many people are either looking for a job, or find themselves in a job that does not make them happy,  I am extremely thankful that I was brought in to be part of The VCC team.  Almost everyone I know either has had a pet with cancer or knows someone that has so,  I am very familiar with how difficult it can be.  It can be one of the hardest things to deal with and to know that I work for a place that will do everything to provide hope for the pet and the owner is pretty powerful.  For those of you that have a hard time believing what you reading, I urge you to come down to The Veterinary Cancer Center and see for yourself.  Once you do, I assure you, that you will be just as amazed as I was when I walked through the door.      

Ryan Shepherd

When the Doctor Becomes the Patient

     Cancer is a scary word. Usually I am the one giving the diagnosis or discussing the prognosis and treatment with heart broken pet owners. It is a lot different when my pet is the one with the diagnosis and I am the one hearing about the prognosis and treatment. Two of my own dogs have previously been diagnosed with and treated for cancer. As a pet owner it was devastating for me but as a veterinarian it was an invaluable lesson into the emotional roller coaster my clients endure on a daily basis. 

     As many of my clients and friends know, I love basset hounds! My current basset hound, Walter, is my third basset. I got Walter about 2 years ago, several months after losing my second basset, Kirby. Kirby was a "special needs" basset hound, whom at 8 years of age found himself in search of a new home. I found Kirby (or maybe he found me) when he was almost nine. We had 3 and a half great years together when he was diagnosed with lymphoma. I was devastated, but as a fourth year veterinary student I knew a few things about lymphoma and took Kirby to see an oncologist right away. I already knew that I wanted to be as aggressive as possible while maintaining Kirby's excellent quality of life. Kirby was quickly started on an injectable multi-agent chemotherapy protocol (the CHOP protocol). As a vet student I knew that Kirby's lymph nodes were supposed to shrink quickly and return to normal after receiving his first treatment. I checked his lymph nodes multiple times a day waiting for them to get smaller. But days went by with no change, he had further treatments, weeks went by and still no change. Kirby still felt great and was handling his chemotherapy well but his lymph nodes were not budging. I was again devastated, the chemotherapy was not working. 

    But I wouldn't give up and neither did Kirby's oncologist. We decided to switch to a different treatment protocol, one in which Kirby received oral medications by mouth daily. Again, I hopefully felt his lymph nodes every day, willing them to get smaller. Again, there was no change in the size of his lymph nodes. I was starting to feel defeated, but lucky for me and for Kirby, his oncologist was not defeated. We switched Kirby to yet another treatment protocol. Full of new hope, I continued my ritual of daily lymph node palpation. This time it worked! Kirby's lymph nodes were normal and he still felt great! I was beyond thrilled. Not only did the new protocol give me 5 additional months with Kirby (who sadly was euthanized for a reason unrelated to lymphoma) but I also learned an important lesson; never give up hope. Sometimes hope is all we have, we hope that the next treatment will work, we hope that our friends continue to feel well during treatment and we hope that when the time comes to say good bye it is peaceful. Kirby and his doctors taught me a lot and because of them I will always have hope for my patients and my clients.

JenniferMcDaniel, DVM

The Missing Link

As I toyed with the idea of going back to school to become a Registered Nurse (for humans), I found myself teetering between an unwillingness to leave veterinary medicine and a desire to further my education in order to elevate my level of medical knowledge and clinical skills.

 

It seemed that the more I learned here, at The VCC, the more that I realized how fascinating the field of Oncology was. I would hear Dr. Post frequently referencing human Oncology literature and I started to appreciate the undeniable link between veterinary and human Oncology.

I realized that going to Nursing School did not mean that I was going to be forced to make a choice between animals and people. It was becoming clear that Oncology was Oncology and that really, there didn’t need to be a line drawn between the species that I would work with.

Now that I have graduated and am proud to be both a Licensed Veterinary Technician and a Registered Nurse, it is all starting to come together with my new role as Clinical Trial Coordinator.

Maybe you’re wondering what it is that a Clinical Trial Coordinator actually does…. Check out my next blog to hear more about I get to help patients receive cutting edge treatment (sometimes for free) while at the same time helping to further research for animals and humans with cancer!

 

Maria Salas, LVT, RN,  Clinical Trial Coordinator for VCC

LEXI

I brought Lexi home as an 8 week old puppy in November 2001. She was a beautiful brindle boxer/pit bull mix who got me in quite a lot of trouble with my landlord, as I wasn’t allowed to have pets in my building – as any true pet lover knows, rules about animals are merely suggestions that don’t necessarily need to be followed! We always had fun rollerblading when we lived in Hamden, she would wear a harness and drag me sled-dog style down the bike trail, and when I moved into Fairfield, St. Mary’s in Black Rock became our new favorite place to hang out – she loved to swim in the marsh at high tide. Her brother Roscoe, a boxer, came into our lives in 2004, and she had a constant companion from then on. She lived a very comfortable doggy life in our home in Stratford, we have a big yard where her and Roscoe ran and played, and a big couch to spread out on inside. Her tail would wag so hard she would leave bruises on your leg (and knock more than a few things off the coffee table). Anyone who knew Lexi knew her tail.

In April of this year, I came home to find my previously perfectly healthy dog had a distended belly, and my 10 years of training in veterinary medicine told me that something really bad was going on – despite the still wagging tail. Cancer was at the top of my list of “what could be wrong,” and unfortunately, I was right. I said goodbye to Lexi in July, but she didn’t go down without a fight, and her tail never stopped wagging. I’ll talk more about the path we took through emergency surgery and aggressive chemotherapy next time. For now, I want to share one of my favorite pictures of her with you. Thanks for taking the time to follow our story.



Allyson Stewart, CVT, VTS (Oncology)