Homecoming for Dread

Jep and I were able to pick Dread up from the animal hospital this afternoon!!! It was such a relief and so great to be reunited and greeted with lots of tail wagging! It's amazing how much of a part of you your pet can become. Last night with him being gone, I felt like a part of me was missing! The house was so empty--no offense Jep! :) We both are beyond ecstatic to have Dread home!!!

So back to our visit with the Dr. Milton this afternoon. Before we got to see our little baby, Jep and I had some time to speak with the vet about how the procedure went. He was pleased that he was able to remove all of the mass and did not see any signs that anything has spread to his liver or spleen. (GREAT NEWS!!) However, he is still very perplexed as to what this mass could be. Worst case scenario is that it could be a hemangiosarcoma-a very aggressive, nasty type of cancer. We are praying that this is not the case! Or, he said it could be something extremely benign. So, we are playing the waiting game...half of what Dr. M recovered has been sent to Auburn to be further evaluated. The other half was available for Jep and I to see! You heard correct--Dr. M actually let us see what he retrieved from Dread's side. It was a bloody mess about the size of a fist and looked a lot like a sponge.

Below is a picture of poor, pitiful Dread with his incision--Dr. M said he had to go in pretty deep so Dread has about three different layers of sutures. I counted 28 staples on the incision. We have a strict recovery regime we need to follow: Dread is not to run so he needs to be kept on a leash at all times-even in the house; he is supposed to be confined to a 6x6 space again so he doesn't run around too much; he also needs to wear an e-collar, and take three different meds (anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and pain meds) multiple times a day. We go back to Dr. M in 2 weeks for a follow up.

Please continue to keep our little guy in your prayers...we still aren't completely out of the woods. We'll hopefully get the results from Auburn by early next week. We'll keep you all posted!!