A letter from Dr. Goodman...

Who among us doesn't love the idea of a white Christmas? But as the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!" For the Goodman family, hailing from Duluth, Minnesota, this has been nothing but a pleasure! (Of course, having four wheel drive and snow tires helps a lot too!) But while the snow certainly has been beautiful, it has also caused more than it's share of trouble. I was particularly proud of our staff here at Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital, as we were one of the few veterinary hospitals in the area that remained open during the bad weather. Team members walked, car-pooled, snow- shoed and skied into the hospital to ensure that our patients were taken care of. Our work is always important but it became even more evident during the storm. We were there to treat a number of emergencies, and save lives, because we were open and close at hand. From our family to yours, we hope you are enjoying this wonderful wintery holiday season. We hope you are enjoying the snow falling, waking up to cold, frosty mornings and Christmas lights on the houses brightening those dark rides home from work. This is a more peaceful, reflective time as the year comes to an end. It's a time to surround ourselves with our loved ones, to give to others, and to keep hopes alive for a better, brighter, New Year. It's a time to be thankful for the things in life that are truly important. With this in mind, we thought we would share a few of our success stories with you in this holiday newsletter.

Right after the New Year we'll be celebrating the always popular National Pet Dental Health month in February. Sadly, 85% of pets over three years of age have periodontal disease. Proper dental care is the most important single item we can do to ensure a longer, healthier, and more comfortable life for our pets. To help celebrate Pet Dental Health Month, we're offering a nice discount and we'll even throw in a complimentary toothbrush and toothpaste to get you started on home care. I invite you to take a moment to check out our informational picture story on our web site, "Arlo Gets His Teeth Cleaned-the Murrayhill Way!" at www.murrayhillvethospital.com. Then call the hospital to schedule a dental evaluation and cleaning. The benefits to your pet will be a longer life and a more comfortable, fresher smelling mouth!

During this time we need to be mindful of certain hazards the holidays pose. Please visit our HOT TOPICS section on our Web site at www.MurrayhillVetHospital.com for a complete list of hazards you'll want your pet to avoid.

As the holidays approach, all of us at Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital want to wish you the peace and happiness that the season brings.

Sincerely,
Dr. Laird Goodman

Dr. Goodman is the hospital director and owner of Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital. He lives in Tigard with his family, and enjoys spending time with his Golden Retriever, Zoey, and his three cats, Lilly, Eileen, and Annie.

Dr. Goodman's Bio

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Hope Lee
by Dr. Debbie Miller

This year Dr. Miller was fortunate to meet a very special nine year old black lab named Hope, who has been a client at Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital for the past eight years. Hope earned her name when she wandered into her present family's life. She was found roaming the streets with a bullet wound between her eyes. From the extensive damage caused by the bullet, it appears she had been sitting and looking up at the person who shot her. A jogger found her and took her to a local veterinary clinic where her loving attitude, despite all she'd been through, won everybody over. Her current owners, Don and Claudia Lee, saw her story on television and decided to contact that clinic to see if they could help with her medical and surgical bills.

When the good samaritan jogger was unable to adopt her, the veterinarian caring for her asked the Lee family if they might be interested in adopting her. It was a match made in heaven. Except for a resounding snore when she's lying down, Hope has recovered fully from the gunshot wound. Since having been adopted by the Lee family in 2000, she has been a patient of Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital.

In September, she was at our office for a routine health check when Dr. Goodman felt a tumor in her abdomen. Radiographs and abdominal ultrasound showed she had a large mass, about the size of a cantaloupe, growing from her spleen. A needle aspirate of the mass indicated that it was malignant, which gave Hope a very poor prognosis. Both benign and malignant splenic masses can rupture and cause fatal internal bleeding, but malignant masses also spread very rapidly to other organs, usually resulting in the pet's death within only a few short weeks or less. The Lee's decided to do whatever was necessary for Hope, especially since she was still feeling good, so they elected to have her spleen and the mass removed. She recovered very well from the surgery and was home within 24 hours, while we waited for the biopsy results to return.

In the meantime, Hope began feeling better and better, despite not acting ill before the surgery. By the time of her suture removal, her owners reported that she was acting and feeling like a puppy again. Hope's biopsy came back as an unusual type of tumor, a Myxosarcoma, which is malignant, but has a much better prognosis than the typical splenic tumor. Dr. Miller began Hope on metronomic chemotherapy, a regimen of very low dose oral chemotherapy medications as a preventative. On her two month recheck, an abdominal ultrasound showed no signs of tumor spread and all aspirates came back negative. She is still feeling like a puppy and is currently enjoying a winter vacation down South with her family.

Dr. Miller's Bio

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Rushmore Nojima
By Dr. Gabriella Flacke

"Rushmore (Rushie) Nojima" is a incredibly sweet 12- year old yellow lab who belongs to one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He has also been blind in both eyes for some time due to cataracts. Rushie says "hi" by gently mouthing people to feel who they are, since he cannot see them! He always comes into Murrayhill with a smile on his face and his tail wagging!

However, Rushie has had a mast cell tumor on his abdomen for several years now, and due to its size (about baseball-sized), his mother was understandably very worried about putting him through surgery to remove it. Rushie was doing fine with the tumor, it was not painful or bothering him. Unfortunately, one day it suddenly grew to about 3x its original size and was actually so big it was dragging on the ground from his belly! Now we had no choice, we had to do something about it.

Rushie had full bloodwork and even chest and abdominal radiographs prior to surgery to make sure he was safe to go under anesthesia and to make sure the mast cell tumor had not spread internally as well. Everything looked great on the pre- anesthetic work up including the radiographs and so we went ahead with surgery. Fortunately, the surgery went really well and Rushie came through with no problems - he lost over five pounds of weight just from the tumor! He continues to do well several months later, without a large mass hanging from his belly and dragging from the ground, and his mother is so happy to still have him with her. It just goes to show that just because a patient is older doesn't mean that he or she cannot do well with major surgery and go on to experience a good quality of life afterwards, and Rushie is living proof! And he still wags his tail and smiles when he comes through the door at Murrayhill.

Dr. Flacke's Bio

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Charlie Sliger
By Dr. Gabriella Flacke

"Charlie Sliger" came in for an appointment one Saturday afternoon because she had a swelling on the side of her face near her jaw. Her parents were worried about a bee sting or insect bite, as Charlie's face was very uncomfortable. During her exam, it was discovered that she had a tooth root abscess of her upper back molar on that side, causing the facial swelling. Charlie was scheduled for a dental and extraction of the abscessed tooth on Monday morning.

However, once Charlie was anesthetized, a large growth was discovered behind her last upper molar that could only be seen now that we were able to open her mouth completely. A biopsy was taken of this mass and the pathology report indicated bad news: malignant bone cancer. The invasive tumor had cause destruction of the tooth root of the molar and a secondary abscess. This was a becoming a much more serious situation than anyone had anticipated. Charlie went for a CT scan later that week to determine the extent of the tumor within her head. The following week, surgery was scheduled with a specialist and Charlie had an egg-sized bone tumor removed from her upper jaw and part of the bones of her face. She recovered from surgery very well and went on to eat a soft food diet for several weeks. The entire tumor was submitted for histopathology and we all waited for the news to find out how bad the prognosis for Charlie would be. To all of our amazement, the pathologist reported excellent news the following week - the tumor was benign and had been completely removed, thus leaving Charlie and her parents with a very good prognosis! Charlie eventually was able to go back to eating hard food a few weeks later and continues to do well, leading a normal and happy life. Charlie is so fortunate to have had a wonderful family and such excellent care from all of the doctors involved in her case.

Murrayhill Veterinary Hospital

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Freida from Golden Bond Rescue
By Dr.Chea Hall

I met Freida, a 6 year old golden retriever, one friday morning when she was brought to our clinic by Golden Bond Rescue of Oregon in late August of this year. She was found cold and hungry with a bowling ball sized mass hanging from her abdomen, almost touching the ground. Although obviously neglected for some time before being rescued, she had the sweetest temperment and a great personality.

Unfortunately, tumors of this size and in this location tend to be malignant and have usually already metastisized. After a thorough workup including full bloodwork and chest and abdominal radiographs to look for further evidence of cancer spread, Frieda was scheduled for surgery within the week. The tumor was beginning to bleed from rubbing against the ground when she was laying down.

Drs. Zambelli and Flacke spent almost 2 hours in surgery removing the massive tumor. It was a dangerous surgery due to the large vessels that were feeding into the tumor that had to be removed. One week later we were all so happy to receive the news from the pathologist that the tumor, although malignant, had been completely excised by our docotrs and Freida's prognosis was excellent.

Three weeks later we took Freida back to surgery to do an ovariohysterectomy so that she could be adopted. She is now in foster care awaiting the perfect family to adopt her and as happy and carefree as ever!

Dr. Hall's Bio

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