4-2-01

Today was supposed to be Magnum's TPLO surgery. He had some little lumps around his muzzle and under his nose. I had asked the surgeon if he could take those off as long as Magnum would be under and he said sure, no problem. When I had asked other vets about the lumps, no one seemed to be concerned about them at all. So, we figured no big deal. However, when the surgeon aspirated some cells from the lumps he found some cells that he couldn't identify. He wasn't comfortable continuing with the surgery until we knew what we were dealing with. So, he took biopsies of the lumps and sent them off. If it is not cancer, then we can go ahead with the surgery on Friday. If it is cancer, that changes everything. I don't know what we do if that is the case.

We left around 8:30 p.m. to go get Magnum as we had company over tonight and waited til they left. We got to the clinic around 9:30. When they brought him out they said he had a couple of stitches under his nose, which I saw. We left the clinic and Magnum isn't real crazy about car rides even when he feels good. So, we gave him a bone to keep him busy for the drive home. After he had chewed on the bone for a while, I wondered if he could hurt the stitches under his nose by chewing on the bone. I told Kurt to go ahead and take it away from him. He said, ewww he slobbered it up already. I turned a light on for him and it wasn't slobber but blood. There was blood all over Kurt and in Magnum's mouth. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from so I pulled off the road to check him over. There were stitches on his lip that I didn't know about. So the bone was the worst thing I could have done for him.

Well, it appeared that he had not done any real damage to the stitches so we decided to go on to the next exit and get some ice. We got some ice, got some napkins, got everybody situated in the car and headed home. We were about 15 minutes from home when the police pulled me over. I have a broken lens on the back of the van and that is why they pulled me over. I was also going 37 in a 30, which he *could* have given me a ticket for and I haven't changed the address on my license since we moved 6 months ago, which he also *could* have given me a ticket for. So we had to wait for him to write up my warning and give me a change of address card (my license expires in 3 months anyway) with Magnum whining in the back seat and blood all over Kurt.

This was a night I would not like to repeat. When we got home, Magnum was whining a lot. I couldn't give him a chew toy to calm him down so I gave him a chicken ice cube I had made earlier today. I had taken some chicken broth and put it in an ice cube tray with a piece of turkey in each one and froze them. He liked those a lot.

I called the clinic when we got home to see if there was anything else I should do and they said no, I was doing all the right things. But, don't feed him tonight. Every time he bumps his lip it bleeds. So, feeding him was making his lip bleed. The poor dog wouldn't settle down. He kept pacing and whining. I'm sure he wanted something to eat. He hadn't had anything to eat since last night. We fed him more ice cubes but that just wasn't enough. I finally fed him some banana. I figured it was soft and wouldn't hurt his lip too much and I fed it by dropping it just above his mouth so he could just catch it.

Finally, after about 3 hours of whining and pacing, with Erica and I both sitting there petting him and scratching his ears, he settled down and went to sleep. I am so tired I can hardly see straight but I'm a bit afraid to leave him alone. I think I'll try to sleep a little bit on the couch with Kurt. Magnum seems to be resting pretty well right now.