Long story short, it wasn't an absess. It was a tumor...the size of a baseball. They removed it successfully, and have sent it off to have it biopsied. We won't know for two weeks whether or not it's malignant...we are all hopeful that it isn't, of course.

I've been home with him today. His face is SO awful looking. Shaved and stitched up. He looks like our own little Frankenstein dog. I'm just so relieved that he made it through the surgery. He's working his way back to being normal...appetite's good, peeing and pooping is good, he's asking me for affection constantly. So in his mind, he's totally pulled through.

Now, we'll just have to wait and see, as far as what his body will have us do.

Truly, the hard part's over. If he has cancer, at least we can plan out a "timeline" for him, and make the most of his final days. I feared suddenly losing him in surgery, so facing the possibility of cancer actually isn't scary because at least it wouldn't "blind side" us. We have two weeks to hope for the best and prepare for the worst...

But again, I'm hoping for the best.

Thank you everyone, for checking up on us, and for the prayers and puppy love. He's quite appreciative, and so am I.

Our sweet "Pookie Bear" [as I always call him] has developed the nastiest absess on the side of his face. We've been putting hot/epsom salt compresses on it and keeping it cleaned up/disinfected for a few weeks, but the damn thing is not going to absorb on its own. So...we have to take him in for minor surgery tomorrow.

Now, you KNOW the year I've had with pets...with ELDERLY pets, and MacReady is 16 years old in November. A minor surgery for an elderly animal can be fatal. I'm trying to anticipate the worst, so that when he pulls through like a champ, I'll be happy as ever.

The vet has told us that he'll have a special anesthesiologist on duty monitoring MacReady very carefully. And this vet has been really amazing this past year, so I do believe that MacReady is in capable hands. I just can't help but be a little bit anxious over it, because I canNOT handle another death in the family...not this year. I'm taking Thursday off to be home with him, and make sure he doesn't have any "day after" reactions after the surgery. We take him in bright and early tomorrow morning, and if all goes well, we pick him up after work and take him home.

I fretted about him staying in the kennel when we went to Estes Park, and he did SO great. So I feel like he'll be fine...but with Al, I thought he'd be fine too, and he wasn't. So...I'm trying to be realistic, yet optimistic, which is...actually not very easy!

Please send healthy/recovery vibes for a successful surgery to MacReady tomorrow, okay? Thank you.