It’s been a bit, but we’re back and Suki is recovering well! She had a bump that looked like a bug bite for a year. It was previously aspirated with no cells being present. I noticed a change in it recently which concerned me. It was larger and looked bruised around the outside. Unfortunately, this time the needle biopsy confirmed my worst fear…mast cell tumor. Waiting a week for the surgery appointment was difficult. I wanted this awful thing out of her, but I was also scared to put her under anesthesia. Time stood still until the vet called to say Suki was awake and ok. The pathology results came back as a level 2 tumor, low grade…not exactly what I hoped for but not the worst it could have been either. The vet thinks it was fully incised and no chemo is needed. Whew!
The “restricted activity” for 14 days was a constant battle between Suki & me. The cone of shame resulted in a very annoying car ride home and major doggie tantrums. For both of our sanity, we switched to using t-shirts to prevent licking the incision. My t-shirts had to be tied up but still made it hard for her to walk. To say she wasn’t amused is an understatement, so off to Walmart I went. Their youth t-shirts were a perfect fit, and she had cute colors to show off each day. She had a bad reaction to one of the pain meds, so we had to stop it. I spent the rest of the recovery period dealing with a bored pup, following her around the house to prevent jumping onto furniture (failed a few times…she’s surprisingly stealthy), and trying to explain why we couldn’t go for a walk every single time we went out for a potty break. Luckily her incision healed well, and we avoided any infection. Suki was so excited to have her stitches removed and to get out of the t-shirt! She’s still rocking a punk, shaved look, but she’s back to her usual silly self!
Get this silly thing off me!
I’m free of the silly shirts…and I can go for a walk!
