Bo

This is going to be a weird one – which might end up leading to multiple weird ones, unfortunately. If you’re not in the mood for something sad, just FYI, this is going to be kinda sad. 

Since about a month before I went to Thailand, Bo was acting weird sporadically. He’d wake me up at all hours of the night, seemingly to just wake me up. When I woke up, got moving, made coffee, etc, he’d just flop down and go back to sleep. He’s caused me MANY an awful, sleepless nights since then, which has been tough – selfishly. 

Because it was frequent, however inconsistently frequent it was, I started looking into it more. I called my vet, and he suggested trying a few things that essentially link to dogs (like humans) growing older. I tried anti-anxiety meds which didn’t work, I tried senility-slowing chew tabs, which don’t really work, went in and got him checked out and everything seemed fine. But it kept happening. Ended up going back into the vet for blood work, and a few days later found out that his numbers for these things called “Liver Enzymes” were way high. Turns out there are four different things they check for, and three of them were high. One was off the charts high – to the point of it’s supposed to be between 5 and 100, and his was 750. So…that’s not normal. Doc suggests that preliminarily, it looks like it could be something called Cushing’s Disease. I won’t go into what all that can mean, but it’s not debilitating, it’s not the best. He sent the bloodwork to a specialist and a few days later, the specialist suggested more tests. Doc suggested I come in to have Bo get an ultrasound from one of the top Docs in the country to do it. She infrequently goes to the clinic, because she travels around so much, and it’s so specialized, but she was there today and thus, I took Bo to get an ultrasound.

I didn’t realize it, because I wasn’t told (though I could have probably assumed?) but they had to shave Bo’s belly for the ultrasound, and now he’s got a bare belly which is funny and sad. Did the ultrasound, and I knew it was probably bad news when the Doctor asked me to go into a private exam room. Funny, the first thing I thought was “in 6+ years of coming here, I’ve never been in this room. I wonder if this is the bad news room.” Doctor came in and said “I’m not going to sugar coat it” which kind of made my stomach fall out, and he went on to explain that Bo has a large “mass” on his liver. When he said large, he put his hands out in the shape of a cantaloupe. As is typical with me sometimes when bad news is delivered, I burst out laughing and said “oh, damn! that’s enormous!” He then went on to explain that he’d definitely recommend further tests, and a specialist and that surgery might have to happen, but it’s a very intrusive surgery and involved and for a dog his age, and for the cost, and and and…I kind of trailed off.

My Doc’s the best. He’s got perfect bedside manner. He’s eloquent and just a really good, caring guy. He’s going to come up with a full explanation and recommended course of action in the next few days. He said he’s open to talking it out with me as well, which I’ll take advantage of – definitely. 

So I don’t know what to do. The money’s not an issue, I’ve got a credit card with a high balance, and I’ve got insurance, as well – which – since this is totally out of nowhere, I’d HAVE to assume at least part, if not all, of a surgery would be covered. But Doc made sure to mention how hard the surgery is, and there’s the potential that Bo wouldn’t make it, and being a dog his age, etc…Pretty tough day.

Highlight of the day, though, was accidentally bumping the car in front of me on the way home because I was zoned out thinking of Bo, and the girl and I went to the side of the road, there was absolutely no damage, and the girl was like “are you okay?” I said, yeah, are you okay? And she’s like, yeah. Didn’t even leave a mark. I’m like…okay, so…and she’s like, I guess just have a good day! All smiles. She seriously made my day. Just a subtle reminder that there are a lot of good people out there like Doctor Mike, and random car girl who can present some good in a bad situation. More to come.