The aftermath

Lily had surgery one week ago to remove three tumors, and she came home groggy and looking like Frankenstein’s monster.  Poor kiddo.  The doctor said she did well.  The x-rays revealed no metastasis of the cancer to her lungs.  And in true Lily style, she bewitched everyone at the vet’s office to fall in love.  Or maybe the doctors say that about every dog.  Either way, we certainly think she’s the most lovable dog on the planet.

Then came the waiting game.  The doctor said to keep her coned for the next 12-14 days, and he would call with the biopsy results in 3-10 days.  Give her antibiotics and pain meds, keep her from scratching or licking, and for goodness sake keep that cone on!

We finally got the biopsy results today.  Lily’s belly tumors are just fat, and her face tumor is probably stage 1 cancer.  Apparently if your dog has cancer, you’re looking for definitely stage 1 cancer to avoid chemo and radiation. Even with the biopsy and histopathology, Lily’s results are not crystal clear.  The doctor, however, thinks that she’s going to be fine.  The doctor took a large swath of skin and flesh from around the tumor, as evidenced by the enormous line of stitches, so there’s a high likelihood that he got the whole thing.

If we want, we can go to a cancer specialist who will probably recommend chemo to be on the safe side.  Or we can wait and watch to see if the tumor comes back in the same approximate location.

We’re not sure next yet of what’s next for Lily.  But what I do know is that she is awfully tired of the cone.  She wears the inner tube during the day, and a cloth cone with boning in it at night.  If we take the tube off her for a break and she scratches her face, the tube goes right back on, much to her chagrin!  I wish we could tell her it’s not forever, but you know dogs: in one ear and out the other.