An unexpected post
I frequently have a few postable thoughts ruminating through any given week. And since it would be unusual, especially lately, for me to have the time and focus during the week to put thoughts fully to paper, I'll often let one present itself for more complete digestion towards the end of the week, with the hope of posting over the weekend. Such was the case this week, but this is not the post I'd been preparing. Other events have taken precedence.
I took our boxer Keko to the vet last Saturday while the Bear was in the Kootenays. There's been a funny lump on her elbow for sometime, but it seemed to be getting a bit bigger, so we figured it was time to get it checked. As it always seems to be with our good intentions, it was awhile before we actually made a vet visit happen. Finally, when I sent the Bear by the vet's office after work to pick up cat food I had him make an appointment for the weekend, for both Keko and our cat Fluff.
The vet aspirated the lump, which basically means she took a sample from the middle with a needle. Two samples actually, first with a small needle, and then with a bigger one since Keko was fairly cooperative with the first and the bigger needle gives a better chance of picking up anything.
The clinic got the results back from the lab mid-week, but with a few other things keeping me busy, I didn't actually connect with her until this morning. The results are that it's a mast cell tumor. I'm bringing her in tomorrow morning to do the pre-anaesthetic bloodwork, and Friday she goes in to have it removed. Just like in people, we won't know all that much until after the tumor is removed and a biopsy done. I was planning to get the bump removed anyway, but having done the aspiration, now the vet will know to take a wider margin around it.
Having done a bit of research online, apparently boxers are particularly prone to these tumors, but tend to have less aggressive cases. I'm trying not to think too much about worst case scenarios, at least not until there's reason to.
In the past, we've been known to answer when asked if we have kids, "Just furry ones." In many ways we've thought of them as our kids, in terms of looking after them, and including them in stuff we do. But with a two legged - and presumably less furry - baby on the way, we've been working to prepare them fur for a shift in status. I think they know instinctively that something's up, and quite possibly what, through those senses they have that we can't compare to.
Hopefully, this won't require much of my maternal reserves beyond post-op care, which I'm pretty good at by now. We'll likely have to move her to the basement so she won't have to deal with stairs. Since the room they're in now will become the nursery, it was going to happen eventually anyway. Perhaps it'll even be easier for them to accept if it's for Keko's healing, rather than to make room for 'the usurper'.
Like most things these days, the effect of this news kinda comes in waves. I can only write when the emotional tide is at low slack, at least if you want something coherent, but it probably comes out a little detached. Perhaps I'll still get to the expected post later this weekend.
I took our boxer Keko to the vet last Saturday while the Bear was in the Kootenays. There's been a funny lump on her elbow for sometime, but it seemed to be getting a bit bigger, so we figured it was time to get it checked. As it always seems to be with our good intentions, it was awhile before we actually made a vet visit happen. Finally, when I sent the Bear by the vet's office after work to pick up cat food I had him make an appointment for the weekend, for both Keko and our cat Fluff.
The vet aspirated the lump, which basically means she took a sample from the middle with a needle. Two samples actually, first with a small needle, and then with a bigger one since Keko was fairly cooperative with the first and the bigger needle gives a better chance of picking up anything.
The clinic got the results back from the lab mid-week, but with a few other things keeping me busy, I didn't actually connect with her until this morning. The results are that it's a mast cell tumor. I'm bringing her in tomorrow morning to do the pre-anaesthetic bloodwork, and Friday she goes in to have it removed. Just like in people, we won't know all that much until after the tumor is removed and a biopsy done. I was planning to get the bump removed anyway, but having done the aspiration, now the vet will know to take a wider margin around it.
Having done a bit of research online, apparently boxers are particularly prone to these tumors, but tend to have less aggressive cases. I'm trying not to think too much about worst case scenarios, at least not until there's reason to.
In the past, we've been known to answer when asked if we have kids, "Just furry ones." In many ways we've thought of them as our kids, in terms of looking after them, and including them in stuff we do. But with a two legged - and presumably less furry - baby on the way, we've been working to prepare them fur for a shift in status. I think they know instinctively that something's up, and quite possibly what, through those senses they have that we can't compare to.
Hopefully, this won't require much of my maternal reserves beyond post-op care, which I'm pretty good at by now. We'll likely have to move her to the basement so she won't have to deal with stairs. Since the room they're in now will become the nursery, it was going to happen eventually anyway. Perhaps it'll even be easier for them to accept if it's for Keko's healing, rather than to make room for 'the usurper'.
Like most things these days, the effect of this news kinda comes in waves. I can only write when the emotional tide is at low slack, at least if you want something coherent, but it probably comes out a little detached. Perhaps I'll still get to the expected post later this weekend.
posted by Coastal at
6:05 p.m.
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