So ... not exactly the weekend that was planned. Our plans were to do some shopping at the up-scale grocery store in Franklin Lakes, The Market Basket, and then go on to a liquor store in Wayne that was hosting Kathy from Real Housewives of New Jersey as she promoted her new Cosmo drink. I was looking forward to seeing her in person but it was not to be. As you know we spent Saturday in and out of vet offices. I’m not all that sorry about my lost chance to meet a “celebrity” since family comes first.Our dogs and cats are like our children.

Alex came home last night and passed the night fairly comfortably. I slept downstairs on the blow-up bed on the floor just to keep an ear out for him if he had any difficulties. He didn’t. One time he came and joined me on the bed and wanted his belly rubbed. His poor stitched-up shaved belly. The incision looks good, though it’s a long one. I can’t imagine how much he is hurting from having all that skin and muscle cut through. Right now he is on a pain medication that contains opiates, Tramadol, so he’s a little not-quite-with-it at times. He’s been getting lots of rest with short intervals outside to stretch his legs and pee. His appetite isn’t great but he will eat biscuits. Anything to kick start his appetite!

So, to recap a little. After acting off on Thursday evening, he was acting better on Friday. We were assuming it was because sister Bella had jumped on him again and wrenched his neck. I gave him aspirin throughout the day and he seemed to be better. But Saturday morning he was not better and we just knew something else was up. We took him in the vet who found an enlarged spleen on exam. Not exactly what I wanted to hear since the cancer hemangiosarcoma runs in his lines and one of the first places it shows up is the spleen (or lungs/heart). She did x-rays and blood work and when the x-rays showed a large mass she sent us down to the specialty vets in Paramus for an ultrasound. It was crucial to take a closer look and rule out involvement with other organs. His chest x-rays were clean which was a good sign.

In our consult with the vet before the ultrasound he was not optimistic. Alex’s blood work with higher than normal white cell count plus the mass in his spleen was not adding up to anything good. So, we left Alex for his ultrasound and went to eat lunch (which I could not force myself to eat). I was already preparing in my head to have to say good-bye to him before too long. BUT, it was a little bit different than I had imagined it would be. The vet said that actually the mass was pretty solid and not fluid filled like they normally see with hemangiosarcoma and it was completely contained within the spleen (something you could not see on x-ray). Added to that better than expected news was the fact that none of the surrounding organs (kidneys, liver) looked to be affected. Also on ultrasound they noticed that his prostate was larger than usual (he is intact and not neutered) so the high white blood cell count could be coming from a case of prostatitis and possibly nothing to do with the mass at all. At that point we knew we had to go ahead with the surgery and give him the best chance for a longer life.

Of course it was consultations, ultrasound and surgery on the weekend, so emergency fees were in place. We felt we could not take the chance on the mass bursting and rupturing the spleen if we waited until Monday at our regular vet. No way could we do that.

Another good thing was that once they opened him up for surgery there were no surprises and all the organs looked good, so a good chance whatever it is had not spread. It’s no guarantee of course, but a good sign nonetheless.

So now we just nurse him back to health. I have to keep in mind he just had major surgery and with all that opiate stuff in him he’s not going to be feeling all that good. He’s a trooper. He’s our Boo and we love him dearly.

Thanks for all your good thoughts. I’ll tell him for you.

Out for a quick yard visit this afternoon!