[Dailydrool] Good news/bad news

[surferdogs at comcast.net]

Thanks to everyone for all the drool and good thoughts. Barney came out of surgery around 1100, and he did very well. There was a softball size tumor in his spleen that showed signs that it had been oozing. There was also another smaller nodule on the other end of the spleen. So the whole spleen was removed without bleeding and will be sent to pathology, though it's a hemangiosarcoma until proven otherwise. The liver is fine. The mass we saw was a lymph node - golf ball size - indicating metastatic disease. The liver itself looked OK for now and with normal labs it isn't affected at this point. So, it's likely that the cancer will either go to his right atrium (which is also clear for now) or his liver. He would either progress to liver failure or develop a tumor that would bleed, like with the spleen. The good news is that he shouldn't be looking at any pain, like with bone mets. The surgery definitely bought him some more time, though how much is unclear. I think quite a while since there aren't other obvious tumors beside the enlarged lymph nodes. 

Barney is still very snowed with morphine and will be until tomorrow. I'll go visit him this evening, but he will most likely still be sleeping. I'll go back in the morning. He will wake up more tomorrow and they will offer him some food. He should come home on Sunday. 

Thanks again to everyone for the kind notes and drool. I've tried to answer everyone, and my apologies if I've missed anyone! 

Synthia - thank goodness I'm a well trained slave and give belly rubs! 
Bud, Barney (I have a shiny new zipper!), Zuma, Kahuna, Pearl, coming attraction Bodhi 
Ace, Maya, Sage 
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