[Dailydrool] Drool and advice for Abner

[Pam McQuade]

Last time I was in the vet's with Abner, I had the head of the practice (my 
favorite vet) take a look at his penis, where Abs had a malignant 
pilomatrixoma. The surgeon who took off the original lump in April had told 
us we should bring him in again before it got as huge as is was when the 
initial surgery was done, and I wanted my vet's opinion on the growth of the 
lump in that area. Though it's not huge, I didn't want to let it get away 
from us. Since our vet had told me that Abner is high-risk for anesthesia, 
we were hoping that maybe she could do some surgery under a local 
anesthetic, to reduce the risk. But it seems that if she can do it, we might 
end up with some other increased risks anyway. My vet said said she'd call 
the surgeon and see what he advised. Today she got back to me.

This tumor, which the surgeon had told me was highly invasive, has gotten 
into Abner's lymphatic system.. Our vet had already taken a second lump off 
Abner, near his spine, using a local anesthetic. Today my vet told me that 
until the lumps start coming up again, vets cannot know what might happen. 
Sometimes the lump doesn't reappear for years, sometimes, as in Ab's case, 
it reappears quickly.

What horrified me was that she said all any vet can do is "debulk" the tumor 
on his penis. But eventually, perhaps after a number of surgeries, the area 
will not heal, and Abner will be licking at it (if he can reach it, with his 
back trouble, which I doubt. He never curves around like that.) The surgeon 
expects that we will have to do surgery every 3-4 months. With Drew being 
unemployed, we cannot afford to spend large amounts of money that often.

So I am asking for drool for Abner--that this thing will not continue to 
grow. (I know that doctors can only do so much, but drool works impressive 
miracles.) Also, perhaps, some drool for Drew, who still needs to find work. 
Though he has excellent credentials, I believe his age is working against 
him. His coworker who was laid off at the same time as Drew has had even 
fewer interviews or interest shown in her resume. I don't know how many 
she's sent out, but Drew has been really trying to find a job, not goofing 
off at all. We are caught in a lousy economy in which employers want to 
spend as little as possible on employees.

Drew has just started taking a course for a master's degree. I'm not telling 
him about Abner today, since he has lots of pressure on him at the moment, 
as he settles into the course work and as other things have come up to make 
life even more challenging. At any rate, our vet suggested we bring Abner in 
next month, since this is not a rush situation and he will be going in then 
anyway for a test.

Thanks for all the drool you can sling Abner's way. It's so sad, because 
though he is still occasionally snappy and won't let me do some things to 
him, he's become much more mellow recently. I'd hate to see him suffering 
more and having less quality of life.
Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets