Siroons is killing me.

Last Friday, after my week of kennel duty madness, I got home ready to sink into the couch, pour myself a of glass of wine, and pat myself on the back for getting through it all. The driving back and forth, the socializing with twenty year olds, working at the dog school, trying to get midterms studied for and pulled off was just exhausting. All of it. I had eaten dinner at my parents house, adding to the exhaustion. Walk in the front door, and there's Siris, wagging her tail. With a big giant mass sticking out of the right side of her head.

I freaked out. She looked like she was packing a golf ball in her cheek. Her jaw or teeth or something were making a weird grinding noise. She looked ridiculously, hopelessly asymmetrical. So I worried all night, hoped it was just an allergic reaction, and the next morning called the vet. They squeezed me in and told me likely not an allergy since it's not bilateral. Which I should have known but was in denial about it. They told me possible tooth abscess or mass or salivary gland infection. So they sent off hematology (blood work) and histology (tissue work) and I worried about how I would afford it all. Blah.

Today I got a call that it's a "submandibular granuloma", that they think we can treat with anti-biotics. They said usually caused by a foreign object getting in there and a resulting infection. So, that's good news. The antibiotics they gave me when I took her in seem to be working, I can still feel the hard mass, but the swelling is barely noticeable. She's on FOURTEEN pills a day now, between these and the ones for a skin infection she's had forever. My old girl is slowing down so much. I am terrified of losing her. She just limps along beside or behind me, tail still wagging, ears still looking goofy. I wish she could talk to me so much. She whimpers at the cat, and sticks to me like a shadow. She is trying to pretend to herself that she's not getting old. But she is getting old. Sniff.

I sure hope she stays healthy and strong - I can't imagine my life without her. Taking her back for a re-check tomorrow and they might add another antibiotic. Yikes. We're going UP from fourteen pills a day.

The mutters appreciates any good vibes from cyberspace.
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*edit* I just clicked on the photo to enlarge it so you can read my annotation, and noticed that in the background you can see Senor Snuggles peaking out at Siris from the dining room, plotting, and his eyes both hit the flash so that he looks like a demon cat. Awesome.