A couple of weeks ago, I took Bean to the vet's office for some regularly scheduled maintenance. On the way over, I looked over at Bean, sitting in the passenger's seat, and noticed that the little bump on her side that had been there for years was looking different. Since any sudden change in a mole/bump is potentially concerning, I asked the vet to take a look at it. The doctor came in and said she wasn't sure what the bump was, but it was suspicious enough to warrant taking it off. She also said that if it were her dog she would have it taken off as soon as possible.
OK....now I speak Doctor, and I know this is code for "THIS IS REALLY REALLY BAD!!! OMG GET IT OFF!!!"
And so on Friday Bean had surgery to remove the bump and send it off for analysis. Since she was going to be under anesthesia anyway, I asked them to go ahead and clean her teeth (did you know dogs have to be put under to have their teeth cleaned?). Here she is recovering this weekend:
"Hey mom, check out my rad new scar. I'm going to go as Franken-Bean on Halloween!"Bean never reacts well to anesthesia, and she spent the first night home standing over me (front legs on my left side, back legs on my right side) in my bed and crying. Every few minutes she would fall asleep standing up, start to lean over, and then startle herself awake and cry some more.
Then today, the pathology report came back. The bump was scary. It was a mastocytoma, aka "mast cell tumor". These can be nasty and sometimes need chemotherapy. Thank God Bean's was a Grade 1, and they seem to have gotten all of it. The vet says she will need to have any new bumps checked out, but we can pretty much consider her "cured". I am so relieved! I don't know what I would do if my Bean got sick right now. She's such a good companion.
"Oh Mom, you know I'll always be here for y....SQUIRREL!!!"By the way, 2010? You can cut it out now. I've had enough. Thank you.
