I picked up blind Callie at the WSU teaching hospital on Friday morning and brought her back to the ranch. I took these photos just before we left the hospital. In the photo above, Callie is being held by Sarah P., the 4th year vet student who was Callie's case manager for the past couple of weeks. Sarah is graduating this week and is now officially a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, so Callie was her last case at the university. Everyone fell in love with Callie during her long stay at the hospital, Sarah among them!
Callie had her last radiation dose Friday morning while Sarah and Dr. Fidel, the oncologist, were walking me through her discharge paperwork and instructions for follow-up care. Callie hadn't eaten yet because of the anesthesia, so after the radiation technician brought Callie out to me, Sarah served Callie her breakfast on the lawn:
The bandanna around her neck was given to her by the WSU staff, and it says "I'm a cancer survivor":
Because of the serious ear infection she developed while she was in the hospital, her left ear drum is ruptured and her vestibular system is consequently "off," so she has a pronounced head tilt and does some circling:
But the good news is that she is finally responding to the medication and her symptoms have improved significantly from just a week ago. The head tilt and circling will continue to diminish. The WSU team thinks the ear infection may have developed because the prednisone she's been on for several weeks has suppressed her immune system. Callie is still on a low dose of the pred but will finally be weaned off over the next couple of weeks as the tumor shrinks from the radiation. Dr. Fidel explained that these menigiomas are very slow-growing tumors and consequently take a long time to die off — about three weeks after the radiation treatments are over.
Nevertheless, Callie is still a happy little girl who continues to have a terrific appetite and who still loves to roll around on her back in the grass:
Thanks again to everyone who made such generous gifts to Callie's medical fund. Her total bill came to $4,653.77, all of it paid for by your donations! Thank you so much!
Callie and I got back to the ranch Friday afternoon, and it didn't take her long to settle back into her routine here … as you'll see in tomorrow's blog post!
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Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge.
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote. We won
$1,000 in this online contest last year because of your help and would
like to win it again this year.
We're on a roll — up to No. 4 nationwide this weekend, so please keep voting! Thank you!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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