waiting for a diagnosis

About a week ago, I was scratching Ginger’s ears and neck and I felt some lumps in her throat. Her lymph nodes, I’ve since learned. I figured she had an infection or something. I didn’t really notice them for a few more days, so it slipped my mind. Then I noticed them again—they didn’t seem to be getting any smaller. I asked Stanley what he thought, and he agreed that they were enlarged.

Ginger, in Natick, Christmas 2007

Since one of Ginger’s teeth is cracked, we just assumed it got infected, or maybe something from a tick. We took her to see her vet, Dr. Re at Strawberry Hill Animal Hospital, yesterday. Dr. Re found more enlarged lymph nodes in her legs and mammary area, and said there were several possibilities, including lymphoma, a kind of cancer that Goldies are particularly prone to. So Dr. Re aspirated the lumps to send samples out for testing. We were supposed to hear today, but had gone out to dinner with our friend George by the time Dr. Re had a chance to call. Her message just said she’d call in the morning to talk about what to do—since she didn’t say, “It’s not cancer,” we assume that’s what the diagnosis is. I’m still hoping we’re wrong. So if it is cancer, lymphoma, it is treatable, according to articles we read on vet sites on the Internet. Something like 85% go into remission for about a year after chemotherapy, which, the articles all say, dogs seem to handle well. Waiting sucks. It’s going to suck even worse if we’re right about the diagnosis. She just turned seven years old. I can’t stand this.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/06/08 at 04:42 AM
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