Puppy Update (Pupdate?)

Tomorrow is six weeks since Risa's initial diagnosis and she is still with us.

We were hoping to avoid the vet this week. It's the first week since Risa's diagnosis that she has no vet appointments. But luck doesn't seem to be on our side...

We had a scare with Orion today. Doug came into my office with a very serious, very scary look on his face and said he wanted me to look at something. He proceeded to point out what felt like a lump on Orion's chest. Okay, I might have jumped to conclusions even if I didn't have a dog with cancer, but given everything we've been through, we both went into shock. We called the vet and got an appointment for an hour later. We spent the better part of that hour planning... if it's cancer, we're going straight to UCD; we're catching it early, etc etc. We stopped to think about cysts and maybe an infection, but were so sure what it could be. When we saw the doctor she first asked about Risa. (She performed surgery on Risa in July to remove a growth from her eye and her tonsils (both were benign). She felt bad about Risa and hadn't been updated, as we've been keeping in touch with a different vet from the practice for the cancer.) We pointed out Orion's lump and she said she thought it might be a lipoma, a benign fatty mass that is common to larger breeds. D'oh! Forgot about that possibility, Risa had one removed a few years ago when it started interfering with her gait. The doctor examined O-dog and then took her to aspirate it. She came back and said that it was in fact a lipoma. She had taken samples from two different angles and the results were the same. Doug asked just how confident she was in that diagnosis and she said extremely. We'll keep an eye on it to see if it grows, but they don't recommend surgery to remove it unless it's interfering with something. Tonight Orion starts the Shaklee supplements (Omega oils and antioxidants) that we started Risa on a few weeks ago. We've been talking about doing it, but nothing like a scare to really get it going.

All these vet visits, especially to UCD have made me think about vet school again. It's been a long time since I considered that (maybe high school?). Of course, then I remember why I never did the vet school thing, I don't get science. ("Damn it, Jim, I'm a technie not a scientist.")

Okay, I'm rambling.

Whew! Talk about an emotional rollercoaster.

I think I need to go decompress.

-hgs