those darned lipomas scare us

For about six months we've been worried about a lipoma in Penny's neck. We tried to be optimistic about it, but our local vet thought he should take it out. However, he decided that because it was so close to her carotid artery, he should stop the operation and we should wait and see what it did.

It's been simmering in our minds as a generalised anxiety, and when I took her to the vet yesterday to talk about her cough, of course he also re-examined her lipoma and thought it was time to consult a specialist surgeon. (We've been going to our local vet each month, BTW, to keep a check on it.)  I was concerned that it might be pressing on something in her neck and making her cough.

We were fortunate to get a specialist appointment for today.

Off we went, Penny most concerned that her worst fears had finally come true and her humans had forgotten to feed her. Of course, it was only because the specialist centre told us not to give  her food in case they operated.

Well, they did. And it was great news. The lump was a simple lipoma, not invasive, as everyone who examined it previously thought was possible.

And now she's home, having got rid of this worrisome growth. She has four more lumps that we know of,  but the surgeon examined them and said it should be okay to leave them alone.

When she arrived home, she was tuckered out, but managed to make her way to the kitchen when she heard dinner being prepared.

I cooked up a nice bowl of soft-boiled rice, carrot and chicken, and we gave her a small serving.
(Yes, you'll notice I burned the pot in all the stress of the moment, but her meal was not burnt.)

She tucked into the delicious meal and even had the energy to check around the outside of the bowl to make sure she hadn't spilled any.

During the evening we fed her the rest of the meal, in two separate serves. She certainly hasn't lost her appetite so far.

Now it's a matter of keeping her comfortable and checking she doesn't scratch at the stitches. She didn't after the last operation on this lipoma, so here's hoping.

Oh, and the cough... well, she had so many (expensive!) preparatory checks today that we now know there is some bronchitis, so she'll continue on the doxycycline and we'll hope the bronchitis will clear up.