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We finally took the lumpy old girl in to have some of her many lumps removed.
We know that golden retrievers are something like 60% more likely to develop cancer than any other breed, so even though her vet has been telling us for a while that he wasn't worried about the ones that she had, she's developed more recently, so it seemed prudent to have them checked out.
We identified 7 that were potentially problematic. 2 on her chest, a huge one and a small one on her back, 1 on her tummy, a fair sized one on her right hip, and a small odd- shaped one on the back of her left leg.
She went under the knife yesterday. When we picked her up that afternoon, I almost lost my lunch. My beautiful little girl looks like something out of a horror movie.
The two on her chest were aspirated (needle stuck in and fluid drawn out) and it was determined that they were nothing-to-worry-about lipomas (fatty cysts), so they didn't remove them.
This is the big one on her back. It was also just a lipoma, but we wanted it removed anyway because it was so large. Not that we care about what she looks like, but everybody that pets her kind of freaks out about it and that, in turn, causes me a lot of stress and anxiety.
This little one was also on her back, but it was harder and smaller than the lipomas, so it will be sent to the lab for analysis.
This nasty L-shaped incision is the one on her right hip, it's going to the lab too.
As is this one from her back left leg.
And the one on her tummy.
Poor Taz doesn't have a good side to lie on, so she had a very uncomfortable night last night. She seemed to settle down a bit when we let her up on the bed with us, and even slept for a couple of hours, which means everybody slept for a couple of hours. Albeit uncomfortably. (yawn)
The vet suggested that we put a t-shirt on her to stop her from licking the incisions, beats heck out of those Elizabethan collars, but she doesn't seem to be going at them, so we might dispense with that.
We put it on when we went to the park last night, and this morning, more as a warning to other dog owners that something was wrong, and to reign in their animals around her, but it impedes her movements and catches on the stitches, so I'm thinking it has to go - even if it IS stylish.
Anyway, she seems much better today. She's figured out how to lie down without hurting herself, so she's spent most of the day snoozing.
My co-worker phoned this morning to volunteer to cover my day for me tomorrow so I can stay home with her again. (Thank you, Anne!!!)
Dan will be home with her on Friday, and by the time we have to go back to work on Tuesday, she should be on the mend.
We won't get the results back until next week sometime, but we have our fingers crossed for good news.
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