Shelby's Life and Whatnot

Waiting

Kevin has written a little bit about our situation in his blog here and here but I haven't addressed it until now.

We are currently waiting for the results of a biopsy to tell us if our beloved little Scouter has cancer.

She's been visibly losing weight for about 4 weeks now. Other than the weight loss she's been acting totally normal--no loss of appetite or anything different. We upped her food, but it hasn't helped, so we decided to take her in.

She'd lost almost 2 pounds, which doesn't sound like much but is really 10% of her body weight. The vet found swollen lymph nodes and some pain when palpating her tummy. He did a bunch of tests--urinalysis, x-rays, complete blood panel. This was Tuesday. Yesterday (Wednesday) morning we went in to discuss her test results. X-rays were basically inconclusive--nothing showed up, but that doesn't really rule anything out. Blood tests came back good--no liver, kidney, or thyroid problems. She was dehydrated and had blood in her urine, so he thinks she has a bladder infection.

She spent the day at the clinic yesterday getting IV fluids and an antibiotic shot. The vet also dewormed her, just in case. And he did a needle biopsy of her lymph node to test for lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes). He thought he might have the biopsy results today but it doesn't look like that's going to happen (it's already 4:45), so we should have them for sure tomorrow.

Scout was fine last night. They had shaved her arm where the IV was and she had a bandage on it. As soon as I got home she had to "show Mommy" her wounded paw. She looked up at me imploringly while holding her paw up. A couple hours later we took the tape off and she was a brave patient, although I think she would have preferred to chew the tape off herself rather than my pulling it off. Now she looks a little funny with her shaved arm.

It looks like if the biopsy comes back as a "no" or "inconclusive" that the next step is an ultrasound to try to figure out why she's losing weight.

Of course we are worried sick. We made the mistake of looking up doggie lymphoma in the Internet. I won't go into details, but if that's what she has the outlook is not good. I've spent the day trying not to panic, although it's been pretty productive--I did some laundry, stripped the bed, and scrubbed the bathtub.

Will keep you all posted as we know more. Please remember Scout in your thoughts and prayers. I don't know what we would do if we lost her.

Update: We called the vet and he will be calling us back around 5:45 or 6:00. Hopefully we'll get an answer tonight.

Update: The biopsy is NEGATIVE!!!!!! Just got off the phone with the vet and the biopsy is definitely negative. We are supposed to continue her on the antibiotics for the UTI and keep an eye on her weight. If her weight decreases, we need to bring her in immediately. Otherwise we go back for a recheck in 10-14 days. I cannot tell you how relieved I am. The past two days have been pure torture, worrying about our little baby. Thank God it's going to be okay.