The Mysterious Bump.

This is the bump that led to the vet visit, and tomorrow's surgery:

I considered not sharing a picture, but then realized that there may be another dog out there with a similar growth whose owner doesn't realize that it could be something serious. Some dogs are prone to lumps and bumps as they age, and though I'd heard of mast cell tumors, I had never seen one.

Dudley is wondering why everyone is suddenly taking such an interest in his butt, when his face is so handsome.

Wow...I'm...just....

I promised updates and full disclosure, and I'm happy to share that the balance in my account is now $187.45. It started out at a little over $15. I'm so touched, and so grateful! Words truly fail me. Dudley doesn't have a clue what's going on, of course, but if he did, he'd be really excited.

Ohmygawsh, y'all.

THANK YOU!!

I had very mixed feelings about putting a donation button here. I didn't want anyone to feel pressured to donate to not just a stranger's dog, but a stranger's daughter's dog! When donations started coming in and I got a notice in my email, and then another, and another... I stared at the screen, somewhat dumbstruck. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Seriously, my daughter and I are almost without words. Thank you, very, very much. There is a long way to go, but honestly, as small as this blog is in the great Blogiverse, I'm just so touched that anyone clicked the button. I've never asked for financial help before, and felt quite squicky about doing this. My mind is racing, trying to figure out some way to adequately thank the people who have contributed.

I jokingly refer to my readers as The Few and The Loyal, but if I don't have a million readers like the Bigtime Bloggers, I definitely make up for it in Quality. I love you guys!

Dudley's surgery is Monday, the 20th. I don't know how long it will take for the full pathology report to come back, when we should find out if the surgery got all of the tumor. I had heard of mast cell tumors in dogs before, but honestly, I never paid any attention, because it wasn't anything I'd ever encountered before. Apparently they are sneaky, nasty little buggers, so let's hope that this was caught early, and this surgery is the end of the drama. We've done Drama too much already.

Again, thank you, thank you, a million times thank you.