I took this yesterday. The incision is a little red, which had me concerned, but it’s not hot or swollen, and the redness is fading. They had to loosen the skin underneath, to get enough slack to close the incision, and I think that’s probably what’s causing the redness. The vet gave her antibiotics, so there shouldn’t be any problem with infection.
Other than the redness, she looks good! I’m amazed at the fact that there’s no swelling. The contours of her butt actually match on both sides now.
Harriet is home. She’s doing great! She’s alert, happy, and has a good appetite. That first photo is of her hoovering the kitchen floor for stray crumbs.
The surgery site is going to ooze blood for awhile. I was prepared for that (it’s a bad location for that sort of tumor on a lean dog). They’re sending the mass out to be identified, but the vet is pretty sure it’s a spindle cell tumor. If he’s right, he thinks it’s going to be benign, but will come back in the same location and grow more quickly than the last one. We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. Right now, I’m just glad to have my dog back in one piece!
Oh, and the incision itself? It’s a smiley face. My dog has a happy butt!
Harriet’s surgery is next week. I’m assuming the best, but just in case, I’m spending lots of time just hanging out with her. I would really hate to regret not having done so. Tonight, hanging out means watching CSI re-runs with a lap full of dog. Every time I get up, Harriet sits up straight, with her best “We are not amused” expression.
Spotty is spotty no more. I noticed this morning that his last two burned scales are back to their proper orange color.
I also noticed that I have acquired an astonishing pile of fishy accouterments. Everything from medicine to tank clarifier to stress coat to 101 different types of food. All for two silly goldfish and their pet pleco.
And speaking of Mr. Pleco, he’s a total riot. Whenever I give him an algae tablet, the other fish try to take it away. He’s no dummy, though. He lays down on top of it while he nomnomnomnomnoms, so that they can’t get to it. And watching him clean the algae from above the water line is hilarious, too. He suckers himself to the side of the tank, then shimmies up until his head is just above the water, then he scrubs furiously until he has to go back under.
Those leopard print couch pillows are wonderfully squishy. Miss Brown approves.
1. If you’re a supervisor, shouldn’t you know that it’s kind of inappropriate to say “Good job, girl!” to a black employee? Aieee!
2. Slowly but surely, all paths to the library are being eliminated by road work. This morning, 10th street at the bypass was closed. WTF?! They really shouldn’t make it difficult for me to get to work in the morning, because I just might take it as a sign to turn around and go back home.
3. One day last week, I came home to a note from FedEx on my door, telling me that they’d left my package with Charlene. Okaythen! Who the hell is Charlene (an apartment number might have been helpful), and whose package is FedEx trying to deliver to me? Because I hadn’t ordered anything, so I knew it wasn’t mine. Nor did I have any way to find out who the package rightfully belonged to, to inform them that Charlene had their goods.
Of course, my iPod is being shipped FedEx. Hopefully, they won’t leave it with Charlene.
4. Windsor and Newton’s Galeria line includes an iridescent acrylic medium. I didn’t buy any, but I did make note of it. Ooooh! Shiny! I did get a tub o’ acrylic structure medium for the new painting, as well as a few new brushes and two big, fat tubes of cerulean blue and naples yellow paint. There shall be painting this weekend!
5. Across-the-hall neighbor trapped a kitten, and I got to go over and hold it. She’s super cute and not nearly as wild as my neighbor first thought. I’m betting that her owner moved out and left her. That tends to happen a lot in college towns. I held her for about 30 minutes, and she was perfectly comfortable. She purred, but not in an anxious way, and when I rubbed her ears, she leaned into it. So if any local folks are looking for a nice cat, I can hook you up. (Yeah, fat chance, I know!) She’s all black, short-haired, with two little white toes on one hind foot, and a small white patch on her belly. And a DC-10 motor.
6. Harriet could not be any cuter, not even if she tried. I have no new photographic proof of this, because I was too in awe of her ubercuteness to take peechurs. She was in a Mood, last night, though, so there was much kidney beaning, boinging, and wrinkly-snarly-smiley face making. (Lamprey face-making, even. Totally ridiculous.) And much rolling around with legs in the air, flippy-flapping like a happy trout. I should also mention the snorting and the nubbin wiggling. There was quite a bit of that, too.
She was very happy about something, and when Harriet is happy, it’s impossible not to be happy right along with her.
Surprise Lily Keeps Surprising
1. Spotty fish is very nearly completely unspotty. All the ammonia burns are gone, except for a small patch of about five scales on his side. That will be gone soon, too, and I will be back to not being able to tell Fish One from Fish Two.
2. Harriet’s lump removal surgery is scheduled for September 9th. I was afraid that I’d have to talk them into doing the surgery, because the vet seemed hesitant. Apparently she took my concerns about it bothering Harriet seriously, though, because she put a note on Harriet’s chart, recommending that it be done.
When I took Harriet for her last potty break last night, there were two fire trucks and four police cars in the street out front. I haven’t a clue what they were there for, but there were cops in our parking lot, talking to people.
I thought all the lights and noise would make Harriet tweaky, but she was all business and completely ignored the confusion. The only thing that got her attention was my neighbor’s dogs, who were off-leash in front of his apartment. They were between us and the dumpster, so we had to walk past them to throw Harriet’s “doggie bag” away. Leash your dogs, people!
Harriet went to the vet last week. She was due for her rabies vaccine, and I wanted to talk to the vet about her allergies and her butt lump (it’s started bugging her). Harriet was Very Good. No surprise, because she has always been good at the vet, no matter what horrible things they do to her. The new vet, after doing a fine needle aspiration of the lump, pronounced her “tough as nails.” Miss Brown may be melodramatic, but she’s also made of stern stuff.
On the allergy front, the vet recommended 50mg of Benadryl 3x/day (dogs require a much higher dose than we do). I’ve given her Benadryl in the past, but only 25mg once or twice a day. A higher dose does seem to be helping. I’m also trying a different food, because the vet agreed that Harriet’s allergies are largely food-related (if they were environmental, they’d go away or at least decrease in winter). So I picked up a bag of venison and sweet potato kibble and a few cans of the same formula, for treats. I figured that she’s never had venison, so she’s less likely to react to it. She’s had sweet potato, but the other limited ingredient foods at the pet supply shop both had potato in them, and she’s had that, too.
Aside from the food change, we’re going to keep her on Benadryl for three weeks. If that doesn’t work, the vet mentioned trying Zyrtec. We also talked about prednisone, which I’m really leery of. It would likely help with the allergies as well as hopefully shrink the tumor, but it’s magical tumor-shrinking powers are finite. That’s an avenue I don’t want to go down unless and until it’s absolutely necessary. My feeling is that, if the tumor truly needs to be dealt with, I want it removed. The vet was concerned about removal, though, because 1) Miss Brown ain’t got no fat on her butt, and 2) she is a 9 year old Boxer. She’s reluctant to put a Boxer of that age under unless it’s really, truly necessary. I agree, but I think it might be really, truly necessary.
So at this point, we’re waiting to see if lessening Harriet’s allergies will lessen the tumor’s irritation factor, and 2) for test results. The vet looked at the slide and saw a few cells she wasn’t comfortable with identifying, so she was going to have a colleague look at it. If her colleague can’t identify them, they’ll send it out. I’m going to call back on Monday, but the vet said to assume that no news was good news, so that’s what I’m doing.
I guess this is the kind of crap you go through when you own a Boxer. They are notoriously allergic, lumpy dogs. Thankfully, Harriet seems to have avoided the heart problems common in the breed (murmurs, SAS, and cardiomyopathy). Her teeth are beautiful, she’s not showing any signs of arthritis, no hip dysplasia, and she doesn’t suffer from any of the breathing problems that brachycephalic breeds sometimes experience.
In the meantime, Harriet is off all forms of people food, including her beloved peanut butter. Woe is Harriet!
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1. Assuming anything shows up one way or the other. My understanding is that FNAC is not necessarily a good diagnostic tool for determining that a fatty tumor is, indeed, just a fatty tumor. And it’s probably a moot point, anyway, since my opinion is that the stupid lump needs to be removed, regardless.
Harriet was past due for a bath, so she had one this morning. She’s not a fan of water, but she’s very good in the tub, especially if you prime her with peanut butter. Afterward, she had the zoomies, then decided it was time for a nap. Baths are apparently hard work.
I also picked up a new pair of nail clippers this afternoon. Hers were old and dull, and though I could get replacement blades, they were also getting loose. The new ones are heavy duty and easy to grip. Like baths, she’s not fond of mani-pedis, but puts up with them more or less gracefully. Again, peanut butter helps. I usually set the PB jar on the coffee table, so that she knows a treat is forthcoming. If she’s good.
red paper boat 