The Burden of Worry

For those of you who have been following, you may be aware that Toby hurt his knee while playing in the backyard right before Christmas. However, I recently learned from one of my favorite dog trainers that what I thought was a knee, was actually a carpus – better known as a wrist.

Who knew? I never excelled at anatomy.

Near the end of Toby’s ten days of prescribed rest, his limp disappeared. On the final day, thanks to the arrival of an icy snowstorm, I decided to extend his time-out while waiting for the treacherous drifts to melt. Instead, I tried walking him, but it just wasn’t enough. Restless in the house, he pestered and paced to no end. Outside on leash, he lunged and whined, longing to join the girls in their wintry excursions.

“I’m sorry,” I’d say. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. Just wait for the snow and ice to melt.”

It never did. Here in the Northeast, it has been accumulating weekly, relentlessly battering us with slippery roads, plow-smashed mailboxes, and driveways to excavate. So in order to save Toby’s sanity (and my own), I decided to give in and let him run. His first time free, he barreled around the yard in endless circles, racing with the rapture only a recently released prisoner could know. Yet it still wasn’t enough. Each time Nick or I liberated him, he sped with the same lunatic frenzy as he had the first time. In the house, he continued to pester us, stealing our gloves, shoving toys in our laps, and just being a royal pain in the rear. During Rally class, he acted like a dog who had never seen the inside of an obedience school.

My only consolation - his limp did not return.

Then, some more bad luck befell upon Toby. First, Leah bit him. She got a little ‘overzealous’ in play and decided it would be fun to grab him by the scruff and throw him to the ground like a lion takes down a gazelle. I of course snatched her by the collar and gave her a good verbal scolding, but apparently not everyone was paying attention, because a few days later, Meadow bit him too. I didn’t witness the incident, but the evidence clearly states that she was enjoying a furry toy, (which I gave her in lieu of my shoe), and Toby attempted to steal it. Not a nasty creature by nature, the little redhead was merely protecting her prize. Regardless of her motive, she gave Toby a small gash under his eye, and feeling a bit miffed with both of my girls, I grumbled while I began checking my battered boy for additional tooth-marks.

Instead, I found a suspicious lump.

Since Toby was going to the vet anyway on Monday for a check-up on his persistent ear infection, (did I mention that he currently has a black cloud following him?), I asked his vet to aspirate the suspicious growth and send the material out for a cytology report. The doctor said it was most likely a lipoma, a benign tumor which Labs are prone to, and that I would have the results by Thursday. Today.

On Tuesday, of course after Toby had just been seen by his vet, I discovered that his wrist was swollen - again. But since he wasn’t limping, I decided it was reasonable to wait for the vet’s call regarding the lump before inquiring about the fluid filled joint.

I should have just called, because later that night, (once my vet’s office closed), the worry set in.

Having recently lost a cat to cancer, and knowing that a close friend’s dog was just diagnosed with cancer – which started as a lump on her leg – I began researching symptoms. Before the night was through, I diagnosed Toby with a mast cell tumor growing out of his side and osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in his wrist. What’s more, I began questioning existing lumps and bumps that both Leah and Meadow had - ones that had previously been examined by our vet and discounted as benign. But the more I read, the more I felt certain that all three of them should go to the vet and have every suspicious growth sliced and diced.

I was so involved with my research I was stunned when my husband walked in from work. Four hours passes swiftly on the internet. Of course, Nick disagreed with my chronic hypochondria, and insisted that I close the laptop. Although I complied, I worried my way through the remainder of the night and all through Wednesday.

Toby’s vet called this morning. He advised me that his initial diagnosis had been correct - merely a lipoma and nothing to worry about. As for Toby’s faulty wrist, his doctor prescribed a few more days of rest (egads!) and another round of Deramaxx. If the swelling does not recede, he wants to see my dog next week for a follow up x-ray.

And with that, I must go. I don’t have much time before Nick gets home, and I have loads more research to do...