Thursday, September 25, 2014

Cop a Feel of Your Dog and Gratitude | Barks and Bytes

Rudy is home now, but still anxious from his surgery.

Barks
Even if you cop of feel of your dog every day, life can still throw you a curve ball.

If you follow me or For Love of a Dog on Facebook, or read my blog earlier this week, you know that Rudy had some surgery Monday morning.

When my dog Benji was diagnosed with cancer so many years ago, I became obsessed with "feeling up" and examining my dogs daily for lumps and bumps. After all, early detection can make the difference between life or death.

Sometimes that's not even enough.  Last week, on Wednesday, there was no sign of anything worrisome on Rudy's body.   Friday night he had a lump the size of a golf ball on one side of his penis.  

A call to the vet on Saturday morning found my vet overwhelmed with emergence surgeries.  After some conversation, we all assumed this was probably a hernia.  Rudy was scheduled for an 8 am appointment on Monday.  He fasted in preparation for tests.

Good thing he fasted.

Our vet took one good feel and said:  Lipoma.  Normally, he would aspirate and wait for lab work to decide on treatment.  Due to the location and size, he said surgery.  And since Rudy had fasted, he agreed to do the surgery immediately.

The very good news is that the tumor was a Lipoma - a totally encapsulated fatty tumor.  Rudy should be a-okay.  Truthfully, I don't think I would have been so freaked out if this thing hadn't happened almost overnight.  But it did.  And I was.

The outcome could have been very different.  If you don't already check your dog for unusual lumps or bumps, you should.  Make it part of your daily routine.  Your dog will love the handy-hands massage and it will give you some peace of mind.
The dreaded cone - a necessary evil overnight. You can see how thrilled Rudy is about this development.  Not to mention Jeffie won't go near him when he's wearing it.
Rudy is doing very well in his recovery.  He hates the cone, but it is a necessary evil for overnight.  Poor Rudy - his brother, Jeffie, is afraid of it.  He even barked once last night and made Rudy feel even worse.  Rosie isn't afraid of the cone, but Rudy is disappointed that his sister can't help him get the dog-gone thing OFF!

Bytes
I don't often share personal news and information on the internet.  However, when I got what was a sucker punch of a shock, I did include it in my Monday Mischief blog post and I shared my situation on Facebook.

While I waited for my vet to call with a surgery update, I read the responses with tears in my eyes.  Happy tears because of all the caring and love from my friends.  Wow.   It made some very stressful hours so much easier to bear. Thank you so much for the support.

Heart Like a Dog
We're participating in the Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dogs and Heart Like a Dog.  The Barks and Bytes hop is for anything at all and all bloggers are welcome. You don’t have to be a dog blog to join.

18 comments:

  1. I'm so glad Rudy with be okay!! I also think it's very important to check the dogs for lumps and bumps! I'm sure having something huge pop up overnight was very scary! I would of been freaked out, too! I hope he recovers quickly and feels better soon! <3 ~hugs~

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  2. I am so relieved/pleased that Rudy is fine, very worried about the boy's sudden development.
    I have to laugh a bit at poor Jeffie, "There's a funnel eating Rudy and it's trying to come for me!"
    Glad that Rosie was able to take it all in stride. Lots of healing energy sent Rudy's way :-)

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  3. Hi Y'all!

    Heal quickly, Rudy. Soon that collar will be just a bad dream, hopefully just as quickly forgotten.

    So happy all is well.

    Y'all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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  4. Just think how awful it would have been if you didn't check daily! Glad to hear everything is OK. Thanks for the rubdown reminder.

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  5. I'm so so glad that Rudy is okay! I love how so many people care about our dogs while most have never even met them!

    Thank you for joining the blog hop! Give Rudy a kiss for me. :-)

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  6. Jack is so glad his buddy Rudy is okay. His advice on the cone is just look pitiful and mom will take it off :)

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  7. I'm so glad Rudy is okay. My Flash had a huge fatty tumor removed recently. It grew so quickly! Scary stuff.

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  8. Thank GOD he is ok!!!!!!!!! Pawtastic news! xoxoxo

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  9. I'm so glad Rudy is alright, but what a scare that must have put into you! We pet Daisy all over every day and look for signs of anything weird (her skin is so prone to reactions), but now we're going to do a much more thorough and deliberate daily search. Thanks so much for this information, and I hope Rudy's recovery is quick and easy.

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  10. Heck, we've all been there before or understand what its like, so we are glad that you shared it. Would have hated for you to have gone through all of this alone. Sounds like Rudy is going to be fine! Happy dance! Love Dolly

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  11. We get that feel up all the time. I tend to get small ones that come and go in a short period of time. Katie has one that is nothing but we keep monitoring it. So glad that Rudy is alright, poor boy! Sometimes it helps to share with people you don't "really" know, and you also don't feel so alone.

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  12. Sometimes when the worse things happen, those are the hardest to write or share about. I'm glad that you did and it helped you through the stressful time. Mostly we're just glad that Rudy is OK! We do feel our dogs up regularly.....Sheba especially loves the special attention it gets her. The two senior girls have some lumps and bumps but they've been checked by our vet and/or we monitor them for changes. We've never seen one come up suddenly and large, so can only imagine how scary that must have been!

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  13. When something like this happens you go ahead and share away, that is what friends are for, to help you through difficult times so you don't have to carry the load yourself. I am glad it was just a lipoma and nothing more serious. It's hard to notice them when they arise in are area like that, almost coming from the inside out. You have to wait until they are big enough to really feel. Here's to a speedy recovery so he can enjoy his birthday without a cone on.

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  14. I am so glad everything worked out for Rudy. I have been so blasted busy that I have not been on FB much. I was able to follow some of your news when some of my FB friends commented on your posts. Thanks so much for joining the hop and sharing the good news.

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  15. So glad to know Rudy is doing better, such a scary thing to go through. And darn that Jeffie for barking at his cone lol. Again I'm so glad everything is OK, it's so scary when lumps appear, I would have been a nervous wreck.

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  16. Glad you're all better now, Rudy! :) Stay healthy!

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  17. Oh thank heaven it was just a fatty lypoma. Those ones that suddenly appear are scary! We feel up our dog too! :) (Would Jeffie like to apply for that job?)

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  18. I was so out of it this week and got behind. Sorry I missed your post about Rudy. I'm so glad he's okay. Yes, I feel on my dogs too, ever since I found a lump on Sephi a few years ago. It was a fatty tumor, but it was still scary enough that I check my dogs regularly. Besides, checking them isn't really a chore. They like the attention, especially when it is combined with belly rubs.

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