I guess I forgot to update here, so I will consolidate my posts into one.
One and a half months ago, after going back and forth, getting my hope up and down and delays because of my own problem, it was confirmed that my dog Locky had to be operated to remove tumors on his head and below his left eye. We were worried about the one in the head because it was growing, and the size was significant. Tumor, as scary as it sounds, is the term given for every unusual growth; it could be benign or malignant.
It was an emotionally exhausting day, but we came home together. Locky has kidney issues, irregular heartbeat, and reverse sneezing (while all these don’t give him troubles, they increase his risk significantly in how he would respond to anesthetic); it didn’t help that several dogs we knew didn’t wake up from the anesthetic. So, those couple of months had driven me crazy, and the possibility of him not coming home with me after the operation paralyzed me with fear.
Thankfully, here he was.
The recovery was challenging, especially for him, since he had to wear a big cone, and I can imagine the pain and discomfort. The stitches were scary, and after changing the dressing the bandage didn’t stay because his hair had started to grow, so I had to improvise a bandana. Most day, I needed to redress his wound twice daily. Above all, the waiting time for the biopsy result was terrifying.
However, the little guy was resilient and in high spirit, and endured all those processes. Look at his smile!
Finally, we got the result about two weeks ago, one month after the operation. It’s benign! It’s such great news. I can’t express how much it means to me. The test took very long because they needed to add a more advanced process, using specific ‘coloring’ because it was hard to detect some cells without that (a direct translation, I know nothing), which of course, didn’t help my anxiety.
And a week ago, he is out on the beach again!
At first, he couldn’t play in the water and had to be kept on leash.
But now, he is free again, rocking a cool scar and a biggest smile.
Life is good again.
I have forgotten how I used to live my life before him. He is my sunshine.
