[Dailydrool] Drool for Abner

[Drew McQuade]

For a while now, Abner has had what I thought was a lipoma on the first 
turning of his rear left leg. Because it recently looked as if it was 
bothering him, I made an appointment with the vet.

This morning, the doc took a sample from this lump and put it under the 
microscope. It turned out that it is a tumor--we don't yet know what sort, 
but we had her do a cytology test, to find out. Unhappily, since both she 
and her partner are on vacation, we won't have results until Monday. Cruel 
and unusual punishment it is, to have to wait that long, but what can we do?

The possibilities are these:

1) It could be a benign lump
2) It could be a low-grade cancer that might come back in the same place but 
is unlikely to spread
3) It could be a more serious cancer

We are asking for plenty of drool in Abs's direction. He does not accept my 
handling very well and probably will be very unhappy about this. Of course, 
he was just an angel at the vet's, though they did muzzle him to be on the 
safe side. But he didn't even try to snap, though they stuck him with 
needles. But he came home and immediately started being crabby with the 
other dogs, who were just curious about what had happened to him. He's 
harder to deal with at home than in the vet's office.

Of course this comes at a time when Drew is unemployed and I'm working like 
a nut to make up for six months of being workless earlier in the year. 
Please send drool and prayers for our checkbook, as well as for the test 
results, Abner's attitude, and the nervous mama and papa. Unless the 
diagnosis is really bad, and he has cancer that has already spread, we are 
going to have to remove the tumor.

I'm hoping that at the worst, it's a nonaggressive cancer. Our Alexis had 
that, and we shared more than two good years with her. I know Abner can be a 
pain, but he's MY pain, and I really don't want to lose him.
Pam