Huge Relief

We had a bit of a scare this week, with Ryme. Our doggie chiropractor was here, to do her magic tuneups on the dogs for their quarterly visit, and she found an egg-sized lump on Ryme, under his ribs on his left side, that was not there the last time she checked him (which was early August in an off-cycle visit). It's a little scary in a nine year old dog to find a fast growing lump like that. The dogs were all due for annual visits to their vet, anyway, so I made an appointment for Ryme to be the first one to get brought up to date. I totally did not need a big expensive vet event, right now, and moreso, was worried about Ryme's health. At nine years old you just never know what is going to happen. Bid was nine when we lost him so it is always a scary year for me with the dogs.

Anyway we were able to get in with our vet the same week, Friday afternoon, which was amazing. They've been booking out two to three weeks recently so I felt this was fortunate. Ryme does not like going to the vet. He gets very worried and in the past we have only been able to do a very sketchy exam on him. But this time he was a trooper. While he was worried, pulling me towards the door, he was good as gold when Dr Joy examined him. She said right away, "oh that's a lipoma". Whew! But then she said she could tap it to make sure. Once again Ryme held still for her to insert a needle into the growth and get some cells to view, and yes, she confirmed it was a fatty tumor, or a lipoma. This was a huge relief!!! I am so grateful that this is not a big problem for Ryme, and a huge bill for me. We have lots of work yet to do; he is my right hand guy for close sheep work, sorting, pushing through the chute, and so forth.  And he will be my backup for exhaust at the Finals.

I felt bad for the staff at the vets office. They were working with a new computer system and Friday was the first day for it. They were a bit stressed. I can relate! They are also combining two practices and offices. A vet practice that burned down last October in the Santa Rosa firestorm is combining with the vet that I have gone to for probably almost twenty years. I am hoping this will be a good thing, but for now, until they get larger quarters, it is a bit crowded and crazy in there. Eventually I think it will be positive. I felt very positive with Ryme's news! Now I just have to go back with the other three dogs, and bring everybody else up to date, probably split into two visits to spread out the cost. No pet insurance here, although that might have to happen someday.

Gratitude all around, for good news... :-)