ruff night & day

I'm still groggy from my treatment this morning, so forgive my any typos or weird run-ons.

Today has not turned out the greatest. Not really about me, but my dog.

A little before midnight last night, he acted like he wanted to go out, so I got up, let him out the backdoor and played a Yahoo computer game while I waited. He wasn't out long, maybe 10 or fifteen minutes, and got a long drink of water like he usually does after coming in from taking a pee (refilling, I guess.). He seemed fine. We went back to bed. I crawled in bed, he lied down on the floor. Pretty soon, I reazlied he was making this kind of little groan on a somewhat regular basis. I got on the floor with him, and his breathing was a bit shallow, and every so often, he pull in his lower abdomen sharply, and that's when he groaned. He also didn't want to get up, not to go outside or even for a treat.

I did manage did get him out the front door, but all he did was lie down on the porch, not go out in the grass to go potty or anything. I finally got himinside and he settled on the floor near the TV. I lied down with him and petted and talked to him, and that seemed to help calm down his breathing to something more normal. I was getting myself worried sick that he would die right there, his chin restingon my arm. And I begged God not to him away from me, not yet. I still need my beast friend to help me get through this rough spott in my life. But I shouldn't be so selfish, I guess. If this will be Nipper's time, I should let it be, and let it be as easy as possible.

Mom got home from work about 6 a.m., andshe sat with us for awhile. After she put her head down for a quick nap, and I took a shower and got dressed, we managed to get Nipper on a blanket that we used to carry him *most* of the way to my car. He didn't like it much and got the last part of gettinginto the back of CRV himself. Such a big, brave boy.

We left him at the vet's, describing the symptoms, and headed over to the cancer center. My check in and chemo was pretty routine. The doc was pretty understanding of why I seemed upset when she came in the exam room. Called the vet from the treatment room and they said the vet wanted permission to do an ultrasound. Told them OK, and that we would stop by on our way back home.

The vet visited with us for awhile when we got there. Nipper does have some sort of mass in his abdomen. She said a blood test would be a good first step, to see if he's got infection. Next step has several options. We could have her (the vet) open him and take a look at what's in there, or we could have an ultrasound-guided biopsy, which she says she's not too comfortable with, but knows a vet who is, or we could have a CT scan. The latter two would mean taking him to Manhattan, to the K-State Vet school. That's kind of along drive.

After the blood test results, she called. Mom took it, so I don't have all the details, but she is prescribing a couple antibiotics for him. She thinks the mass is near his liver, but is not affecting how his liver works. So that's some good news. And I think she'd said earlier the mass is fluid filled, which sounds like it's not awful.

He seems a bit more chipper now that we've got him home, but still awful tired A lot like I feel right now.

Back to bed, then. Think of me and Nipper as well.
Thanks
JunO