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Nigel Under the Knife

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10:31 pm
9/23/08

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incandragon
So, once upon a time I was talking to someone about the kind of AIDS test that the blood center used. (This was years and years ago, btw.) They said they'd started using a new test -- it was "much more accurate" they said, "although it was wrong a lot more often than the old one."

"I'm sorry," I said. "It sounded like you said the new test was more accurate and also more wrong." They said that was what they said. I said those were two mutually exclusive phrases. They said no, not when it came to AIDS tests. The new AIDS test reliably told you when you were HIV positive, but it threw out a lot more false positives. So it was always right if you were positive ... just a lot more often wrong when you weren't. Ah.

I'm married to a guy who worries a lot. I've learned to embrace the stupid worries for the benefits of not letting real worries get by us. Case in point: Nigel has a lump. I found it ... oh, I don't know, two days ago. When I find a lump on a dog, my inclination is to squeeze it and see what happens. Lycangeek's inclination is to schedule surgery, and then make everyone in the family wash their hands with alcohol.

Tomorrow, that lump is coming out. That would be a Sunday discovery, one day for waiting until the vet is available for getting a call, one day for bringing him into the vet, one day for the vet to clean off the surgery table.

I'm beginning to think it's a good thing we have extremely fuzzy dogs, if this is going to be a habit.
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On September 24th, 2008 01:13 pm (UTC), [info]ebeeman commented:
Hope all goes well with Nigel's surgery!

-Ell

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On September 24th, 2008 01:17 pm (UTC), [info]j_cheney commented:
Sadly, my dog is covered with lumps. My vet recommends that we only remove ones taht are interfering with his movement, so right now, we're just living with them. ::sigh::

But he's 10, and surgery isn't take lightly.

I hope that Nigel bounces back quickly! ;o)

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On September 24th, 2008 03:03 pm (UTC), [info]moviescape commented:
Oh no, my poor Nigel! Here's hoping it's a fatty lump like Copper got all the time.

The waiting is the worst! Please let me know how the biopsy goes asap

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On September 24th, 2008 04:16 pm (UTC), (Anonymous) commented:
Reflections on lumps
Between my three misfits I've had two lumps that actually *were* cancer, and I still live by the creed that if it's squishy and moves with the skin it's probably nothing. Growing can be bad, though, particularly if it involves turning non-squishy. Also, while "mast cell tumor" sounds terrifying, it's really more of a cancer wanna-be with a self-indulgent name. To put it in context, if you think of squamous cell carcinoma as the Arnold Schwarzenegger of skin cancers, mast cell is more like Jean-Claude Van Damme (though at least Jean-Claude Van Damme can be ignored entirely, so maybe that's not the best analogy).

Long story short, thank god I don't panic every time I find a new sebaceous cyst, or I'd be popping Xanaxes like they were Chicklets (not that I don't do that anyway, just for other reasons).

Incidentally, did your vet tap the lump to find out what it is first? They can usually identify the cells under a microscope (though I understand that, being close to the eye, it's probably wise to get rid of Nigel's regardless).

At any rate, hope Nigel's OK, though I'm optimistic that he is.

--Some vagrant down in Austin

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On September 24th, 2008 05:01 pm (UTC), [info]incandragon replied:
Re: Reflections on lumps
When *I* bring in a lump, they needle biopsy it. When *my husband* brings in a lump, they pull the whole thing out. Or, so far that's how it goes for this set of dogs. Copper was going for the complete collection of lumps, blocked mammary gland, blocked sweat gland, fatty tumors, "just a lump" etc. etc. We let her keep most of them. (She even worked up a good set of hives once, just to check that box off.)

To be fair, Lycangeek isn't panicking ... he's just getting rid of it. It's growing, and he doesn't want Nigel to start scratching at it. It's pretty close to Nigel's eye. :-(
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On September 24th, 2008 05:48 pm (UTC), [info]texanfan commented:
Hugs for Nigel. I hope it turns out to be nothing.
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On September 24th, 2008 11:02 pm (UTC), [info]clouds_loom commented:
Hope all goes well with Nigel's surgery. Keep us posted. (((HUGS)))
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