Just before Christmas Wizard, who loves a good run, managed (yet again) to rip one of his dew claws almost out and proudly stood in the hall way bleeding everywhere and demanding attention. Needless to say it was a quick trip to the vet for a removal, bandaging, painkillers and anti-biotics.
A week after Christmas we went camping north of Auckland, leaving both Wizard & Lucy in the capable care of the kennels. We'd been away for 2 days of our booked 8 when the kennels phoned to say that they needed to take Lucy to the vet. Lucy, who is the most lazy, hard to move hound that I have ever met, Lucy who never, never runs had actually been running and (shock horror) managed to rip her dew claw€¦more pain killers, anti-biotics and a quick removal.
I believe that I may need to teach both of these guys to run properly. The only trouble is, I know I'll never keep up.
We'd been back from our camping trip for about a week when we noticed a golf ball sized lump on the side of Lucy's neck€¦sigh€¦it didn't seem to bothering her and certainly didn't seem to be painful to the touch but clearly yet another trip to the vet was called for, so off we went€¦and we were greeted with enough concern to have us truly worried.
X-rays didn't really reveal too much other than a stunning shot of some bones and a dark mass where the lump was, sitting right over the jugular and carotid arteries and looking as if it was starting to put pressure on a major nerve (there's enough twitching in this house without the hounds joining in thank you very much).
The first option was a course of yet more anti-biotics in the hope that the mystery lump would respond and go down, but after a week the opposite had happened and Lucy was starting to resemble the elephant man, slowing down and being even lazier if such a thing is possible. The decision was then made to get her in to the vet again and see if the lump could be bled, hopefully releasing fluid and whatever was causing it.
Lo and behold, it could be bled, and bled a lot. And along with that came more pills and potions for another week, followed up by a€¦well, a follow up. When the appointed follow day for the follow up arrived it was found that the lump, as we suspected, had gotten slightly larger and slightly hardly and yet it still didn't seem to be causing her any discomfort. In fact, the only animals showing any signs of discomfort were us, our vet and all the cats at the clinic that day.
The decision was finally made to operate on Lucy, very delicately due to where the lump was, so she managed to score an overnight stay at the clinic where she managed to charm and weasel her way in to the affections of all the staff€¦and we managed to bring home a very tired hound the day after, complete with a drain and another course of assorted pills€¦by this point that damned hound should have been rattling every time she moved.
When I picked the lovely Lucy up from the vet he informed me that they had removed a "mass€ and the core of it looked as if it could be a bone fragment. Naturally everyone thought that was deeply suspicious, so we agreed to have it sent off to the lab for analysis€¦and because our vet was showing an unnatural level of interest and enthusiasm for solving the riddle of the lump. It's been a long time since I've seen a grown man bouncing around like a pre-schooler who's just discovered his lunch consists entirely of jelly beans and chocolate but he was certainly succeeding at doing just that.
Recovery Mode
Faced with the nervous wait for the lab results we spent the next 4 days following Lucy around the house with a damp cloth and a mop as the drain was mostly dripping gently but sometimes flowing freely. In fact, she stood in front of the television one night and shook, gently spraying the X-Factor NZ contestants with blood and "run off€€¦to be honest, it seemed like a fair call to me however I can neither confirm nor deny if it merited a treat.
Eventually the lab results arrived and we were all relieved to learn that it had been nothing more than a calcified bruise hence the bone like core to the lump. Having said that, it was at precisely that moment that it dawned on us, with mounting dread, that the bill for the last two months activities would arrive shortly, no doubt crippling our letterbox with it's weight. In a vain attempt to stem the impending hemorrhaging of our bank account (and by way of thanks) the lovely Mrs. S whipped up a masterfully decorated cake and delivered it to the vets.
It didn't work. The bill arrived, along with a fanfare and drum roll and I had to take a seat several times before I could even speak again (a rare treat for all). Still, Lucy has made a full recovery and is back to her usual self, for which we are eternally grateful, trolling for affection, food and some space on the couch and we're all very much looking forward to receiving our invitation to the gala opening of the new Lucy & Wizard Stevens Wing of the New Plymouth Vet Groups clinic (and I'm sure that the second mortgage will be paid off sooner€¦or later).