a very nice little word

Benign. Nice little word, don't you think? It was my favorite word two days ago, when we finally got the results of Penguin's biopsy.

A few months ago I found a tiny lump in Pen's shoulder area. I took her to the vet, where they aspirated the lump. Nothing troublesome was found and we agreed to just keep an eye on it. Then the lump got a little bigger. Not huge, but a little bigger, about the size of a marble. (The biopsy report says 2cm but that surprised me. It didn't feel that big.)

Since it was time for her annual exam anyway, I made another appointment and took her in. This time when they aspirated the lump the composition of the cells was different. Still not screaming "cancer" but worrisome enough that my vet thought it worthwhile to put an 11 year old dog under general anesthesia.

I was in for a big shock when I picked her up from the surgery a week later. The incision was enormous!

Apparently the thick and loose skin of her breed made the giant incision necessary. So there you have it, FrankenClumber. She was groggy when we brought her home but back to normal within 24 hours. Though I had five days of pain meds for her I stopped giving them when she started trying to climb the dining room table on day three. She was not a dog in pain, that's for sure.

We thought the biopsy results would be back in a week but it took more like 11 days. The vet's office received the report via fax while I was in having Penguin's sutures removed. And there was that beautiful word...benign. She's a happy dog and we look forward to more healthy time with her.

[Can't believe I forgot to throw in a plug for the Clumber Spaniel Health Foundation. We're young but already doing great work to improve the health of Clumbers everywhere.]