News! Sort of..

So, Dr. Emily called me today to give me the information on what the specialist had said. It was a lot of information to take in and process and I am hoping it will start to make sense as we go to more appts. The specialist that the x-rays were sent to thought that the lung tumor could be one of a few things. Excuse my spelling here, it's been a long time since my Vet Tech days, and my spelling is a little rusty...due to the fact that it looked as if along with the tumor in the left caudal lung field, there appeared to be some lymphnode enlargement around the heart area as well. The abdominal x-rays we took showed everything to be normal, except the spleen was on the higher end of normal. Judging by the way the tumor looked it could be a number of cancers that I can't spell such as lymphomatoid granulomatosis, malignanat hystiocyctosis, or a long shot, a fungal infection. I think there were a few other cancers thrown in there as well, but I was in the middle of a timed Quiz when the Vet called and felt overwhelmed and distracted. Of course none of these cancers can be determined without an aspirate..since cost is a factor right now, we decided to try just the aspirate and not the ultrasound which could range up to about 500.00 plus the costs associated with the consult, and the pathology report etc. we are looking upwards to 800.00 for just a diagnosis..so keep your fingers crossed we can get an aspirate without an ultrasound. The other option is a CT scan, but we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

We were referred to Dr. Dougherty at Bend Vet Specialists for an appt. Thursday at 10am. I just want to know what kind of cancer this is, some sort of prognosis, know that I am feeding him the exact diet he requires, etc. I have never gone through this before, to this extent with a pet. I knew somehow in my heart that he would get through the mast cell tumor, but this time I am afraid of having "false" hopes. I have my moments of ups and downs, clarity and confusion, but I am so happy he is an animal and does not process or understand this sort of information like a person does. I had some pretty amazing epiphones yesterday that Leroy enabled me to have, and if I am feeling more like writing later I will elaborate on them. Until then, hug your pets, tell them you love them, and remember that diet is SO important. The stuff that you buy in the stores is NOT healthy, do your research, and in my opinion prevention is the best "cure". Keep y'all posted as we know more!