Tumor is such a small word to have such big consequences. This one word changes lives the second it is spoken out loud. We found out last week that our girl Indigo has one. It’s not small; just well hidden. It’s the size of a tennis ball and its removal necessitates her losing her right front forelimb. What we thought was a limp due to arthritis turned out to be so much more. We do not yet know if the tumor is malignant. We only know that it has to be removed in order to get rid of her pain. I would do anything for this dog. Paying for an expensive surgery when we don’t know her official prognosis seems pointless to some but not to me. Indigo is family and you can’t put a price on love. The doctor gave me some numbers today for the various scenarios but I told him that I don’t believe in odds. So tomorrow, our loyal, loving, and funny girl is going under the knife with the hopes that surgery will be curative and she can continue life in the manner in which she deserves: happy and pain-free. Either way I know I’m doing the best that I can to protect her and keep her as safe from harm as I possibly can. Even from such a powerful word as “tumor”.
My Mom and Dad made the word “tumor” a funny thing, to take the scariness out of it, by always repeating a line said by Arnold Schwarzennerger in some bad 80s movie, where he says in typical Arnold voice…”It’s not a toomuh!”
I’m sorry there’s one in Indigo’s leg though. But you know I had one too, and my prognosis wasn’t good either. Two years later, however, I made those doctors look sooooo silly! So as you go through this journey, remember that nine out of 10 statistics are wrong! Prognosis schmognosis I say!
Welcome to Tripawds. We’re sorry that you got bad news but we’re here to help any way we can OK? xoxoxo
Thanks Jerry. I love that line from Kindergarten Cop! You’re Mom and Dad are pretty smart to take the scariness out of the word. They obviously take great care of you. Thanks for sharing your experience. I’ll pass it along to Indigo for inspiration! xoxoxo
Welcome to the site nobody wants to join but everyone is glad they did.
Please keep us posted on how the surgery goes.
Hang in there! I like your attitude about the odds. đŸ™‚
Jackie, Angel Abby & MBBunnyRita’s mom
Thank you so much for the warm welcome! Indigo’s surgery went very well. They were able to get all of the tumor and it hadn’t spread to any of the places they were worried about. She is home now and resting comfortable. She’s already hopped around some and is eating pretty well too. That’s not too bad for a 13 1/2 year old girl who just had major surgery. The vet said she’s very smart and got the hang of things pretty much right away. We’re so proud of her and ecstatic that things went well. We find out next week if the tumor was malignant but since they removed all of the tissue we hope it won’t be an issue either way.