Monday, August 4th

While I am still dealing with a little trip-delaying snag of my own which must be resolved before I get on the road, another popped up suddenly, with Leben this time.

This morning, as I was checking Leben's ears for signs of an infection, after I finished, I patted him on the head as I usually do after things like that. He cried out in pain, which is quite unusual for him because he is such a stoic dog.  I then noticed that where I had patted him on his head there was a huge hard lump, perhaps the size of the top hall of an orange.  I am sure this wasn't there last week as I often pat him on the head. Maybe it was but it just didn't hurt him then and he did not cry out in pain.  I immediately took him to the vet today.  The vet took a needle sample of the fluid in the lump and could not go any further with the diagnosis until the culture report comes back from the pathologist.  She was hesitant to give me any idea what it is, but I gathered that if she had, it would have been a tumor. She had never seen anything like this before, but then  again, she is a resident just out of medical school a couple of months ago.

This is a trip-stopper until this is resolved.

I cannot believe that over the last four years, some problem or another has popped up with either of my dogs in the two weeks before our schedule trip.

I guess the good news is that if this was going to happen anyway, instead of happening as the result of something Leben did or encountered at home, it is best it happened here and not on the road.  Also, I guess it's good that the trip got delayed a few weeks so I could deal with this at home. Maybe there's a silver lining in everything.

ED

No comments: