Back under the knife…

I feel badly that I’ve been away from tripawds for a while.  When I work my “long week” at work I feel I lose touch with some things.  And then we had a bit of a trying week last week.  I took Toto in for her routine blood work to make sure she was doing fine and could receive her second dose of CCNU which was due last Tuesday.  If I haven’t mentioned it, she had some cancerous (histiocytic) lesions under her skin and on top of her skin.  Anyway, those lesions had started to ulcerate.  So when I took her in, though not scheduled to see the vet, the technician asked me if I could leave Toto there so he could make sure our vet gave her a thorough exam and looked at those lesions.  One was clearly getting infected.  A few hours later that wonderful technician called me and said our vet wanted to do surgery right away to remove those lesions and the tumor underneath her skin in the same area.  He said the vet thought it was very urgent and that they were scrambling to see if people could stay and/or come in so that they could do the surgery that very evening.  Uh…SCARY!  So…they did it!  They removed a great deal of skin and the underlying tumor and lymph node.  You can’t even really tell there was anything there!  Except for the fact that she now has an incision nearly the same length of the horrendous amputation incision but going the other way…she now is marked permanently with an “L” on her right side.  🙂  Stitches still in for another week, but she is doing well.  I’m pretty bummed though because she’s back to being lethargic and not really interested in eating much whereas before this most recent surgery she was eating twice a day and even wanting to go for walks again…finally.  Granted, this recovery shouldn’t be nearly as long, but I just want her to enjoy the days she has left.  My 12-year-old daughter was so insightful when she said of Toto having to stay overnight at the vet again, “Another night without Toto!!??  I want her for all the nights she has left.”  🙂

We did, however, get some very good news!!!  ALL of Toto’s blood work on her CBC…all results were within normal limits!  SO…..we got to give her the second dose of CCNU last Wednesday…just a day late.  She’s on antibiotics for another week as a precaution from the surgery, too, but she is doing OK.  I don’t know what I did to deserve this dog in my life.  She’s an amazing creature.  I’ve started a list of what I’ve learned from Toto.