Penny has a lump

It's a bad, bad moment when you're grooming your dog and you feel a lump. You say to yourself, 'No, I just imagined that.'

You call Human Number Two and she feels the spot and looks at you and says, 'Yes. I can feel it."

Just when you've had this scare, the grandmother of all thunderstorms rolls across the city.

I wouldn't have had a good night's sleep anyway, but the thought of Penny with a lump and the sight of her sitting frightened in the doorway of the bedroom led to her first night ever sleeping on the bed. In the past, she has occasionally been allowed to jump on the bed around dawn, but this was her first all-night sleepover.

First thing in the morning, we rang our vet (Saturday), but had to wait until today for an appointment.

What a worry!

He first tried to get some fluid out of the lump, with the thought that it would be a lipoma. When that did not work, we discussed the situation and he said we could simply wait a while and see what the lump did. But there's the drawback that it might grow quickly, which would be dangerous if it is a 'bad' lump. (Notice I'm a bit scared of writing the 'C' word.)

So tomorrow Penny won't have any breakfast and the vet will take off her lump. It's not the first lump our vet has removed from Penny's chest. I

I hope she will have a quick and full recovery and the lump will turn out to be something that is just a natural part of aging.