Hazel's surgery #2

After the surgery Hazel had in January, we made it a point to check her for any abnormalities about once a week.

Unfortunately, we found a little red bump, this time near her left nipple. It looked like blood to me. Dr Wolf (who kindly saw Hazel at his house even though he was sick) thought it was better to observe her first. And so we did. It stayed about the same size for a couple of weeks, and we became less worried.

Alas, the day before we left for Utah, we checked Hazel again, and found that she had a big lump under her skin, about the size of a 10-cent coin, next to her right nipple. I went into panic mode, coz we had no time to bring her to the vet the next morning (we had to catch a flight in Chicago at 11.30am), and we will only be back four days later. And I have read too many horror stories about how GPs can deteriorate overnight and pass on the next morning.

Thankfully, we had a friend who helped us keep an eye on the two piggies while we were gone. And when we came back from Utah, Hazel is still alive, lump and all.

We wanted to bring Hazel to see Dr Wolf, but he was hospitalized due to an infection. (I hope he is better now. Work hazards of being a vet, I guess?) So we were referred to Dr Becker instead. She was wonderful with Hazel, helping her to clip her nails and clean off the wax in her ears, all in record time. And when it came to the lump, we were told that it has to be removed. Sigh. Poor Hazel. Second surgery in three months.

This time, her scar is longer, because the lump is much bigger than the last time. She also had to have part of her fur shaved off for the operation, so now she is partially hairless. And because the scar is pretty close to one of her hind legs, she is now walking with a slight limp. Dr Becker asked if we wanted to do a pathology test on the lump to see what it was: a cyst, a benign tumour, or a malignant tumour. We weighed the pros and cons of knowing and not knowing what the lump is, and figured that no matter what, we still have to watch out for more lumps on Hazel. So we opted not to do the pathology test.

Just like the previous surgery, Hazel seems oblivious to what has happened to her. She is still crazy about food and hay, but not so crazy about the antibiotics and the painkiller. It still takes the both of us to feed her her meds. Only one more day of antibiotics left before she finishes her course!

Here's hoping that Hazel remains lumpless and healthy for the days to come!