Trip to the Vet

I took Ginny to the vet this afternoon because she had a growth on her chest that we first noticed about six weeks ago. We didn't think much of it at the time, but it continued to get bigger and bigger, so we made an appointment to have Dr. T. look at it.

Although it looks pretty gross, it really didn't seem to be bothering her whatsoever. I'm convinced it actually somewhat ruptured on its own because I noticed yesterday and this morning that it seemed slightly smaller and less inflamed than it had been over the weekend.

Dr. T. aspirated it and looked at the cells under a microscope, and the good news is that it doesn't appear to be cancerous in any way. We came home with ten days of antibiotics, which we're hoping helps it to shrink and heal. If not, we'll have to take her back for minor surgery to remove it. Dr. T. expressed as much disgusting material from it as possible, which caused it to bleed pretty heavily, but despite all of that, Ginny was so well-behaved!

I'm not kidding when I say I don't know who she has morphed into over the past year or so, but I don't recognize this cooperative and pleasant dog! When it was only the two of us in the room, waiting, she was her usual nervous, panting self. But as soon as a tech or Dr. T. came in the room, she was absolutely perfect. It reminded me of all those times when I had conferences with parents and would tell them how wonderful their child was in class and they would look at me like I was crazy and tell me how their behavior at home was anything but wonderful! LOL!

The worst part of the day was the drive home because she panted heavily and cried the entire time. If she'd only been panting, I might not have found it noteworthy, but the crying? She never does that. It was clear she was in a lot of pain. As soon as I got home with her, C have her some pain medication and that definitely seemed to help.

She was able to sleep comfortably for most of the evening, and generally seems much more like herself now, so those are definitely good signs!  I'm sure I've said it before, but I hate how animals can't speak to let us know what's wrong or what's hurting them! I feel so helpless sometimes!

We have a little tradition that whenever one of our dogs goes to the vet, they get a cheeseburger for dinner (and when we had multiple dogs, if one dog went to the vet, they all got cheeseburgers for dinner that night!). Ginny was thrilled to gobble hers down earlier tonight!

Happy Tails to you!