[Dailydrool] Dan

[Randee White]

Well, Dan is at the vetspital.We had tapered his prednisone down and he had finished his Baytril and he started dragging around again, acting like he was in pain.I had to go out of town and I didn't want anything bad to happen while I was away, so we increased his doses again.I got back Wednesday afternoon and he still looked draggy, so I made an appointment at the veterinary specialist for yesterday morning.The wonderful, kind surgeon there, examined him and read all of his previous history and the biopsy reports.He said he felt 75% sure it wasn't cancer but he felt another lymph node that was swollen and wanted a CT scan to see what large vessels and such were involved.I agreed and we proceeded to do the scan.The results were not as expected.The mass is huge.We couldn't find his thyroid gland on that side so the surgeon feels that the mass might be his thyroid.He rescinded his earlier statement and in light of a swollen lymph node that also lit up
 on the scan, feels he probably has thyroid cancer.I have gone through so many emotions with this, up and down and up and down, that I just don't know what to think at this point.I don't want to lose my boy, but I don't want to prolong the inevitable either.He's 11 but otherwise in good health.But we know 11 isn't young in basset years.The mass is rather immobile which tells us it's not encapsulated, which makes for a worse prognosis as he probably won't be able to get clean margins.He feels he can go in and remove the bulk of the mass and get rid of the pain Dan has been having but without radiation, if it's cancer, he will still have only about 8 months to a year.He would need to stay at the vetspital for 2 or 3 days.My dilemma is that we still have no positive diagnosis.The biopsy was positive for inflammatory tissue but not cancer.I asked if he can do the surgery and when he gets in there, if it looks ugly, can we just stop and let him go to the
 bridge.That is an option.I'm going to ask this morning if they can get pathology while he's under anesthesia to see if it is cancer or not.I was so stunned when I saw the CT pictures, that I never thought to ask.They kept him over night to make sure he stayed well hydrated after the CT dye and I did ask if I could stop by and spend some time with him before the surgery so we can have some time together in case I decide to let him go after he's asleep.I hope I make the right decision.I have so many "what ifs".Last night was very lonely without him asleep at the side of the bed.   Sadly, Randee and the White House Gang 
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