Blogging about life in Minnesota, raising our six kids with Down syndrome while battling Breast Cancer.

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the devil says, "Oh shit! She's up!"

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Surgery tomorrow

Not for Angela, not for me or Dean, but for Dudley. A few weeks ago I noticed a small red, slightly raised, inflamed spot under Dudley's ear. I kept an eye on it for a few days, and it was unchanging so decided to wait and see what it did. Although it looked sore, it didn't seem to be bothering him. After a few days, I kind of forgot about it. (I know, bad dog mom!)

Fast forward a couple weeks when I had Dudley to a new groomer. She was showing me how to do some grooming techniques on him. When we got to his ear, and shaved off some of the hair, this is what we found. That was 3 weeks ago, and it's about doubled in size since then. It's now about the size of a golf ball.



Anyway, we had a biopsy done, and found it is what we feared, a fast-growing cancerous growth. We were told it's a benign type of cancer, however, those of you who know Dudley know that since he was about a year old we've had a TERRIBLE time keeping weight on him. He is skin and bones. We've had done all kinds of blood work and other tests, hoping to find a reason for his inability to gain weight, but found nothing. In my gut, I always knew there was a problem lurking that we just couldn't see yet. We've been warned by a vet friend that sometimes, even though a growth is benign, messing with it can cause the system to go haywire and what WAS benign now no longer is. We're praying that's not the case with Dudley!

So tomorrow, as soon as Angela is on the bus, I'll be dropping Dudley off at the vet. Here's a couple pictures from today of my guy.


5 comments:

Tamara said...

Oh - poor Dudley! I hope it all goes well.

Lund7 said...

Stumbled upon your blog...looks like we live in the same town. My 7-year old son has DS. Love Angela's blog as well!!

Googsmom said...

{{{{{{HUGS Dudly}}}}}}}

Michele said...

Leah,
Norman and I will say extra prayers for Dudley....we'll be thinking of you!

Michele and Norman

Monica said...

Here's hoping everything goes well!!!