I recently realized that I have been subconsciously putting off The Next Post because I do not know what to say about Doug Dog.
I love this beautiful face <3
He truly is thriving. His appetite is 100% back, though he claims to now only be able to eat Science Diet i/d, one of the most nutritious, and impressively expensive, diets out there.
As you probably know, that does not bother us a bit. It does amuse me. And I love seeing him feel well enough to eat.
But the hesitation in writing, and the tiny speck of dread - which was overwhelming for a full month and now has agreed to only be a tiny speck for now - is two fold.
Immediately post-splenectomy - home and recovering with a new version of the first toy Abby ever gave Doug - the night she and Blue met him <3
One - I still do not know what disease process we are dealing with.
Two- Dougie has only been doing this well on a fairly significant dose of prednisone.
Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, Kevin, on the cusp of graduating from Puppy Kindergarten, joined the family at the Pride Parade. Doug, two days post-splenectomy, and not agreeing at all to a recovery plan, was recovering at home.
Look at this smart little graduate!
Kevin DID graduate - top of his class! Blog post soon! And Dougie continued to recover well. He put the weight he had lost back on and is back to full length walks and eating and feeling as good as ever. What a blessing and a relief!
Card from Doug’s bestie (and also my favorite human) Kelani <3 (The inside says “heal” :)) and a rock Abby painted for Russ of our favorite photo of Doug hanging out the upstairs window!
Doug’s splenic aspirate (small sample of cells obtained from a needle and syringe and evaluated by a veterinary pathologist) showed lymphoma. His actual splenic biopsies (larger wedges of tissue taken with surgical scissors from his removed spleen) showed no abnormal cells.
I am backed to stumped. I reviewed the case with the UNL pathologist, and she was so helpful. But I still do not know. My theory - and strange hope - is that this IS primary splenic lymphoma that went into remission before surgery because of the prednisone Doug was on.
My fear is that Dougie still has cancer, and it is hiding in his bone marrow.
Now do we wait, or celebrate this big beautiful orange dog being well and back in the middle of everything?
Both, I think. I choose to focus mostly on celebrating though. It is so very good to have our goofy, sweet, fun boy back and feeling so good. More info - and gorgeous photos! - as it all becomes available.
NEXT POST - I have my favorite doctor (and her awesome dogs!) back as co-workers! This is a challenging professional season, and my absolute favorite one yet. Come join us <3
Here is a clue to next week’s post - the gorgeous and super sweet Pip NEUBERT! Let’s hear all your guesses!