This week, I'm thinking about...
The Doofus.
I took him to the vet on Monday because he'd been off his food for a few days--a huge red flag for a Golden Retriever--moving slowly, and generally not being his usual goofy self. Since he'd had an episode a couple of weeks ago of vomiting and acting lethargic that cleared up after a couple of days of the "bland diet" (ground beef, rice, and cottage cheese mix), I began to think that this might be something more chronic than the usual Goofy-Dog-Ate-Something-He-Shouldn't.
The vet did an X-ray to check for blockages and found a tumor on his spleen. A big tumor. It's possible that it may have already ruptured once and sealed itself off, hence the previous vomiting.
He's happy enough to be back on the bland diet again--as is Princess Doggie since I can't feed one something different than the other--and other than the fact that he's still moving a little more slowly than usual, he seems to be feeling okay.
This afternoon he has an appointment for an ultrasound which may show if the tumor has metastasized, meaning it's malignant, meaning there's nothing more we can do. Or it may not show anything more than the X-ray did. Which means we'd then have to decide if we want them to do surgery next week. They can't just do a needle biopsy on this one--they'd have to actually open him up. Once they do, they can biopsy it to determine if its benign or malignant. If benign, they can remove the spleen and we're good to go for years. If malignant, still nothing to be done.
I'm trying not to prematurely worry. Meanwhile, he's getting a little extra love these days.