Sadie's Surgery

I took Sadie to the vet the day before Thanksgiving because she had been acting a little strangely and we just weren't sure what was wrong with her.

Our beloved Dr. T. was not working that week, so I made the appointment with another of our favorite vets, Dr. B., who is sweet and amazing and we love her.  She decided to keep Sadie for the day after an initial examination revealed a mass in her abdomen.  She aspirated the mass and sent the sample off to be analyzed.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and we had to take her back for an ultrasound and a biopsy because Dr. B. suspected Sadie had cancer.

Finally, at the end of December, we found out that the mass was indeed cancerous and we had to decide whether to do surgery or not.  On one hand, the tumor on her stomach would be removed, but on the other hand, she is 13 years old, and surgery is not to be taken lightly.

After weighing the pros and cons and chatting with Dr. B., we decided to go ahead with surgery because we didn't want the tumor to worsen, and once that decision was made, we wanted to get it scheduled as quickly as possible.  Unfortunately, we were traveling for 11 days, and the next available surgery slot fell during our time away.  Fortunately, we have the world's best Fairy Dogmother to care for our girls when we are away and she assured us that she would handle everything.

Sadie had surgery on January 13, spent two nights at the vet, and came home with 17 staples on her belly.  She healed very nicely and had her staples removed on January 25.  We are so pleased with how everything went and she seems to be back to her chill, relaxed, happy self.  And her two little sisters have been snuggling with her even more than usual since her surgery.

Sadly, the pathology came back with an official diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma, which was not really a surprise, but apparently the margins weren't clear, so Sadie still has cancerous cells on her stomach.  We are not going to put her through another surgery, and we hope that whatever cancer still exists will progress slowly and allow her to live out the rest of her days without it being a major issue because her quality of life is all that matters to us!

Huge thanks to Dr. B. and to my mom who took such outstanding care of our girl way we were away!

Look at this beautiful frosty face!

waiting patiently at the elevator at the vet

after getting her staples removed

before and after staple removal

the Maddy & Ginny inspection upon returning from the vet

hanging off the couch in a blanket cocoon

timber!
:-)

Happy Tails to you!