Word of the Day: Histiocytoma

When you own a dog you get to learn a lot of new words. Today’s word is HISTIOCYTOMA.

Milo has something on his front left leg that resembles a blood blister. He runs around so much outside I at first thought it was a tick – but it doesn’t look like that at all. If it was on my left leg I would think it was a huge cyst of some sort. I knew it was something I wanted the vet to look at, and luckily Milo was due for his heartworm test, anyway, so we we had to make an appointment.

Well, we finally went in on Friday and after determining that his heartworm test was negative, I had the vet look at the bump. He called it a “very normal, very common”  Cutaneous Histiocytoma. These are sometimes referred to as a “young dog tumor”, and are almost exclusively diagnosed in dogs under the age of three. They are more common in certain breeds, especially purebred dogs, and are generally found on the inner ear, the legs, and the front half of the body. They are almost always benign, but do require removal by surgery to be tested pathologically and so that they don’t grow to the point where surgery is not feasible. They can grow  so large that when they are finally removed they have to heal as an open wound, which makes the area ripe for infection.

So now Milo is scheduled for surgery Thursday morning.

And I’m so nervous and worried I can’t stand it. Not only because I have to actually *leave* him at the vet’s office for a few hours (which, BTW, I probably won’t do – I’ll bring a book and wait, thank you very much), but I am also all stressed out over the fact that he has to be put under anesthesia. I don’t like anesthesia. It scares me.

But I did talk to Milo’s breeder, and the breeders calmed me down a lot when they pointed out that when you get your pet spayed or neutered, they also go under anesthesia, and that it is just such a routine thing that there really isn’t anything to worry about. For some reason, that *did* help me. I like “routine” and “done all the time”. Safety in numbers and all, I guess.

So, there goes another $1,000 on this dog for the surgery. (But he’s so cute, how can you really be upset about it?) The vet broke all the charges down. It is going to cost like $300 just for the pathology report. I mean, what the hell? Where are they sending this thing? To the Mayo Clinic? And I was kind of pissed off to see that the vet was even charging for the fucking band aid. And that’s exactly what he called it, too. “A Band Aid” – $15.00. I’m thinking of bringing one from home – I mean, ours even have SpongeBob on them.

So everyone think really good thoughts for Milo on Thursday morning. And me. I’m sure by then, I’ll be so freaked out I’ll be having panic attacks.