Monday, August 30, 2010

And now, we wait


I found a lump on Rupert's paw a fortnight ago, a little angry, weepy sore-like bump under a toe nail that made some interesting red footprints.

Rupert didn't seem bothered by it, it wasn't hurting him at all. Me, I freaked out. We humans have more emotional baggage than dogs. The last time we found a lump on another dog's paw, it turned out to be a mast cell tumour, and that resulted in Queeni losing a toe. This time round, the lump is very different, so we're hoping for a less traumatic outcome.

However, the lump didn't respond to a course of antibiotics. So the vet's Plan A of treating it as an infection didn't work and on Saturday, he resorted to Plan B -- excising the lump and sending it off for a biopsy. We won't know the results till a week's time.

Roop spent one day staggering around the house like a drunken sailor, another day comatose and now, he's right as rain. I'm glad he bounced back because it was really distressing to see his perky tail pointing down instead of up. I hope we have more bouncy, tail-wagging news from the lab soon.

UPDATE:
I should have updated this post much earlier, I didn't realise there were so many people pulling for Roop -- and I'm so grateful for all your kind thoughts.

The lump was benign, caused by "clinical turbulence" -- two toes rubbing against each other. It may occur again later, or on another paw. But nothing major to worry about.

I would have thought that "clinical turbulence" was when Roop farted in the exam room. FWIW, the vet faxed the lab report to me at work. Even a roomful of newspaper sub-editors couldn't understand the English. I got as far as "generally benign lesion" and that was enough to do the happy dance of joy.

Thank you, everyone, for thinking of us.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How is he doing? I am a friend of Milly's Muse and was worried about him. You voted for my dog -- Betty -- in the beauty contest.

Debby

Unknown said...

I should have updated this post, I didn't realise there were so many people pulling for Roop -- and I'm so grateful for all your kind thoughts.

The lump was benign, caused by "clinical turbulence" -- two toes rubbing against each other. It may occur again later, or on another paw. But nothing major to worry about.

Thank you, everyone, for thinking of us.