Bud has a big owie...

We have had some tough news to hear about our 12 year old dog, Bud. In November, we found a lump on Bud just behind his right armpit about the size of a grape. We kept an eye on it to see if it grew. Well by December, it was the size of a golf ball. It was time to go get it checked due to it's fast growth. After the vet took some slides of the fluid inside, they came back to us with news we did not want to hear...Cancer. "Now what do we do?" we thought.

We decided to have the mass removed. First we had blood work done to make sure there were no other problems popping up for surgery. X-rays of the heart and lungs were taken, and everything looked good. We had the go ahead for surgery. Surgery was the first part of February and the mass had grown to baseball size. We couldn't believe how fast it's grown! During surgery, our vet found 2 more masses around the main one. After 2 hours of surgery, Bud had a 10 inch incision. Poor guy! In two weeks, he healed up well with no complications. If he didn't have the incision, you would never know anything was wrong. Then it was time to have the staples removed and surprise...4 more lumps to appear. Two of them were fatty, one was full of fluid, and number four appeared cancerous. This sucks for us but also for Bud. He's such a tough guy!

We had surgery yesterday, and they treated it very aggressively. The cancerous mass was about the size of a grape. So more staples, more hurt for Bud, and more waiting. We are staying hopeful and are asking for everyone to keep Bud in their thoughts and prayers. We hope this extends a little more time for such a great boy. Thank you!

Update
Bud went in Tuesday because he decided to take out some stitches. We went in to get staples put in lieu of the stitches. He started having some swelling at the bottom of the sutures and is on an antibiotic to prevent any infection. He is in good spirits...and LOVES the attention! We have a tshirt on him to put a barrier between him and his wound...he likes to lick it. Stinker!