Sunday 1 March 2015

Millie’s Temporary Traffic Light



Poor Millie.
She walks around with two great big bald patches. There’s one in her groin too, but she won’t let me get at that. The growth there has been sent off for analysis. The Vet said they had taken a lot of the area surrounding it away, so if it turns out to be cancerous they might well have removed most or all of it.

The lump in her side was just another fat lump but as it was bothering her it was as well to remove it while they had her on the operating table.

She was only gone for five hours. Within a day she had recovered and now she is herself again. The only difference is that on these gloomy days the patch shines out like a traffic light, more visible than the rest of her from a distance.

Dogs are wonderful patients, Millie remained calm and seemingly untroubled, once she had recovered from the anaesthetic. Where humans make a tremendous fuss, dogs just accept what is. Millie has not even tried to bite her stitches and the big plastic collar is still sitting there, unused.

Ten days after the operation the stitches need to come out. I just hope that the Vet isn’t going to ask me to turn her over so that she can get at the soft belly.



39 comments:

  1. Good girl, Millie - and sympathy to you and your husband who have had all the worry! It sounds like the outlook is positive and that as soon as the hair grows back, Millie will be back to normal.

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  2. Wise observation of your canine charge


    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  3. Gosh, if she goes anywhere near one of those strobe lights she's going to be seen for miles. They always shine up any white as pure white, don't they? (We used to worry about it when we were at the disco in the 1970s, in case we had any specks of dandruff.)

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  4. She is passive as most dogs tear at the stitches when they heal and it starts to itch. Or if it aches they lick it. She looks a little angry in that photo, as if she is insulted at how you ruined her lovely black coat.

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  5. What a good girl she is. All and any of my dogs have been wild to lick and tear at stitches, so all had to suffer the indignity of the lampshade. Best wishes for the results.

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  6. Sending tons of hugs, love and doggie petting to Millie -- I hope her recovery is swift, her prognosis good and her caretaker takes care to avoid the obvious!

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  7. I'm sure I don't need to mention it, but keep a close eye on her as the wounds heal. They may get itchy and need tongue, teeth or foot attention. Her expression to me indicates she is a little puzzled at why you need to take her photo. Hope it all turns out well for her.

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  8. Best wishes to dear Millie for a good report from the testing, and a quick return to her beautiful self.

    xo

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  9. No collar? Good for Millie! Hope all turns out well for her ... and for you.

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  10. "I'm just not at my best. Please put away that dreadful camera!"

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  11. Millie looks serious and resigned. Poor gal - I hope all heals well.

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  12. Such a good dog. May all be well and stay well!

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  13. Friko I just love people like you who have true empathy for their animals and care for them with so much devotion.
    Sweet Millie is in the best of hands. :-)

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  14. Poor Millie. Here's hoping that she will have a clean bill of health following testing on the mass. Our vet felt very worried that what she removed from Benny's eye looked serious, and she too removed a lot of the surrounding tissue so that both could be examined. All was fine. I am hoping for the same outcome for Millie. In a few weeks her fur will be back to normal.

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  15. A much calmer patient than I am. Hope all continues to go well.

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  16. Some reasons to love our pets is that they never complain and seldom whine.

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  17. What a relief to know that Millie was back home after only a few hours, and the anaesthetics did not have a worse effect on her! Hopefully, she won't need another OP.

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  18. millie must be a very good girl. That she is not even licking those areas must be a sure sign of gentle patience.

    a world without dogs and children would depress me to no end….

    love
    kj

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  19. Poor old girl ! She does look rather unimpressed with her 'make-over' .
    I hope her recovery is swift and painfree .

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  20. Here's my sincere hopes that all turns out well from the pathologist. Millie made me smile with her grumpy face. :-)

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  21. Poor Millie...hope all turns out well for her....and you!

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  22. here's hoping that it wasn't cancerous.

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  23. The ability of animals to take things in their stride has always amazed me. A woman with a hysterectomy may take months to feel and act normal again whereas a female dog when spayed will return to acting normal in a matter of days. Is it an ability to raise their pain level or an ability to accept what is and get on with it...? I will pray that Millie continues to do well.

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  24. i hope that she continues to recover from it...and that the test results come back in a good way...

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  25. Not all dogs are as good as Millie. ;) I hope it wasn't cancerous. Let us know. May she be done with all of this now once the stitches are out.

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  26. Milly became your true friend, Friko, your companion in strolls and evenings. Poor thing! I'm hoping she will be well.

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  27. Here I am on return visit :)
    And since I love the way you write, I'll read
    more here from now on. You should really
    write a book. If you don't feel like writing a
    big one, just do some short stories. But it's
    really worth it! :))
    Please give a hug to Milly, I hope she'll
    get better pretty soon.
    Wish you a fine time
    【ツ】Knipsa

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  28. My dog inspires me all the time. They are so inspirational. Love poor Millie and her troubles and her stoicism. Get well soon wee girl :)

    XO
    WWW

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  29. Poor Millie. I do hope the results are good.

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  30. I shudder just looking at those stitches. She must have a super placid nature to be totally un-bothered by them. I do hope the tests results are good.

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  31. Dogs are, indeed, good patients. Hoping Millie continues her rapid recovery.

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  32. You reminded me of something...I am not stoical, just like a dog...mostly accepting what comes my way. Woof!

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  33. She looks very calm and stoic. We can learn such a lot from our companion dogs. Every blessing for her recovery. Freda at Dalamory

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  34. Dogs have no memory they say. I don't know if that is true or not. They certainly remember scents of people and place. It just seems they have no memory of loss or pain. Perhaps that is why they are such wonderful companions. They do seem to bounce right back from everything. Millie is a real champ.

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  35. Your comment about her bald patch seeming to glow in the dark was interesting. I follow a photographer from Montana who sometimes sees pronghorn antelope and big horn sheep. They have white patches on their rumps, and he says those white patches make it possible to spot them easily, even from across a valley.

    I trust all is continuing well for her, and that the biopsy comes back clean. We do worry about them, don't we?

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  36. Millie is such a winner. Our dogs have to wear those awful collars to keep them from working at stitches and itches.

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  37. I agree entirely about dogs as patients. Many children are great patients too. All the best to Millie.

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