a99kitten's Musings

Spent another day at the vet hospital. Had to rush Storm to the vet this morning after his fever spiked (was 106.5 when he got there) and he wouldn’t even get up to go to the car. After another ultrasound and seeing the mass changing from yesterday, they booked him into surgery right away. They let us see him right before he went in. He was pretty drugged up and feeling pretty ok and all smiley…he just looked so cute and sweet sitting there like “what’s going on guys?” You have to hold it together though so he doesn’t feel your stress. Much easier said than done.

He was in surgery for 2 hours. They took 2 masses out – along with 2 lobes of his liver. It seems the blood flow to the mass was clotted/stopped so the tissue started dying on the inside. So the body fights back with the fever. They said the rest of his liver, along with the rest of his insides, looks great – tumor free. But it looked great last time and here we are 5 weeks later. The doctor said neither she nor the other doctors there have ever seen anything like this (they have been in the business a long time.) Great. Storm is always wanting to be different to get all of the attention….

They sent off the tissue to a lab in Davis. Supposedly one of the best with longtime Davis faculty now working there. The doctor said she will also have them look at the previous samples to see if anything could have been missed .

I also spoke with the surgeon who said he was a trooper and a fighter. He went over the details of the mass and removal and sounded very positive. The internal medicine doctor also sounded positive and said there was no reason to give up. But she also acknowledged that if they grow back again so fast, that is not good.

So back on cancer-watch. We will have results back tomorrow or Friday. But even if it’s not cancer, and the 2 tumor/masses were benign – so was the previous one. But they just keep growing and hurt him anyway. And this was FAST. Unheard of fast. Awesome.

But I have to stay positive. He made it through surgery with flying colors. The doctor called me tonight and said his fever was down to 100.5 (that’s normal for dogs) and his blood pressure and other vitals were all great. He is on some good painkillers so he is sleeping but has poked his head up to look around. She said he was doing very well.

So with 4 hours of sleep last night, and just too much stress and sadness this week, I will try and get some sleep tonight knowing he is getting his fluids and antibiotics and his fever is down, and the reason he had a fever is gone and out of his body. And I need to focus on that good news. Because I really cannot handle a what if they come back bad news scenario right now. I am generally a positive person but this little doggie just cannot catch a break lately and that is totally not right. He is just full of love and happiness and it’s just not right. So then I cry.  Because while I refuse to “need” anyone, I need my huskies. So staying focused on the fact that he came through his surgery successfully and we will go from here is important. Because he needs that. And so does Angelus, who misses his little buddy. And he will feel better when he gets out and home and that is what is important right now.