Bella first came into Hope Rescue’s care in October 2005 when she came over from Ireland as small, malnourished, scared pup.
Bella was looked after and loved by Lou and her family and gradually Bella built up strength and was rehomed to what was meant to be her forever family in 2006. Lou says Bella was one of those “special” dogs – the ones that make you seriously consider giving up fostering and keep them.
We don’t know what happened during the next couple of years of her life but in late July 2009, Hope had a call from a local authority pound in Kent (thanks to her Hope microchip) to say that Bella was there. There was no answer from the details registered with Hope and no-one contacted Hope to ask where Bella was, so Bella made the long journey from Kent back to South Wales.
Bella came to us on foster. Bella brought a few 1000 friends with her and was quickly treated by a vet for fleas, worms and ear mites. Bella was underweight and generally in a poor condition with horrible pus filled wounds on some parts of her body which had to be treated with antibiotics. Bella also had what was believed to be a haematoma on her leg.
With lots of love and care Bella thrived and turned back into the dog that Lou had seen a few years before. Seven weeks after she came back into our care on Tuesday 29th September, Bella was thought to be well enough to have the haematoma drained. Sadly, that didn’t prove to be as straightforward as we all believed. A phone call from the vet explained that the haematoma was a strange lump which was sent for histology.
Bella came home but the lump was highly vascularised and had proved very difficult to stop bleeding. It started bleeding through her bandages and Bella went back for her second operation of the day. Bella was in theatre a long time and the wound was eventually cauterised and the bleeding stopped. Poor Bella came home again only to be rushed back to the vets because of a swollen paw. After the operations, Bella’s wound did not prove very easy to heal and over the next few weeks went back to the vets on almost a daily basis.
On Monday 5th October the results of Bella’s histology were faxed through. The diagnosis was “Mast cell tumour grade II, extending to margins. Consultation with a clinical oncologist is recommended” and Bella was started on Prednisolone, a steroid to help with the symptoms of the tumour (extreme irritation etc).
Poor Bella – at only 4 years old, her second time in Hope’s care and at another point where she had everything to live for this was a real blow.
Despite the costs of Bella’s care to date, Hope didn’t hesitate in approving a referral to the Small Animal Hospital at the University of Liverpool. Bella was seem there at 10am on Monday 19th October 2009. Bella was kept in overnight so that she could be sedated - she had an ultrasound scan, x-rays and an aspiration from the the local lymph node and spleen. Those results show no spread. Bella's wound had not healed and Liverpool did a further operation to debride and stitch the wound. These scrapings have been sent for histology.
Bella's tumour is on her carpus (knee) and that is now posing the biggest problem.
Not ONCE during all the dressing changes, tablets and general examinations has Bella been anything but a real lady. Despite all that life has thrown at her, she has one of the sweetest natures towards us humans and returns all the love that we give back 10 fold. Bella has made friends of all the vets, students and nurses she has been in contact with. Bella really is the most special of girls.
Bella is gong to stay on lfoster with us – myself, hubbie, Angharad (15), Ffion (10) and Lexi JRT (2) where we hope that we can give her all the love and care she deserves during her treatment.
Bella has really appreciated all the love and care that Hope Rescue has given her and would like to try and repay as much of her treatment costs as possible. Bella would like to ask you to give generously so that this can be achieved and Hope Rescue can use this money to continue rescuing dogs from put to sleep situations in the pounds and other dogs like Bella who need help.
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Thank you.
1st November 2009 - Update
We have now had the results from all the tests Bella had.
Unfortunately there are still mast cells in the scrapings that were taken from Bella's wound, and they are unable to tell whether these are new cells or not.
If we opt for radiation treatment at this stage, for the type of tumour Bella has got it will only increase the chance of that tumour not returning by 5%. This is further exasperated by the fact they would not be able to irradiate the the whole area due to the difficult location on her knee, and mast cells may be present in the area that's not treated.
There is still a 50/50 chance whatever we do that a tumour may occur in another location. The odds are 70% that we have treated this tumour successfully . At this stage we have decided that for the increased 5 % chance of being able to prevent the tumour reoccurring (and only if there are no mast cells lurking in the untreated area) we will wait and see rather than put her through the tough radiation treatment. We will review her treatment options if the lump begin to grow back.
We would also like to say thank you for your support for Bella's Fundraising Fund. We are still waiting for the final bills of this stage of tests and treatment but we do know they are in excess of £1,500 so we are very grateful.
