Good news!!!!!

Gizmo and I trekked to the other side of Houston today to see the veterinary oncologist. There, Gizmo had chest X-rays, sonograms, blood drawn and a thorough examination. He was a very good boy for all of it.

The vet found no sign of a tumor. Although that doesn't mean there isn't one somewhere, it is definitely better than finding one.

The vet explained that mast cell tumors are so common in pugs that at first he wondered why our regular vet had sent us. Then he read at it was in a lymph node, and he understood our concern.

Mast cell tumors usually appear on the skin, are removed and are generally no big deal. However, internal mast cell tumors are more serious. There's a few places mast cell tumors "normally" begin inside the body, and a lymph node is not one of them. In fact, it is so rare for a mast cell tumor to begin in the lymph node that the pathologist who examined it classified the tumor as having metastasized (spread) from somewhere else to that lymph node. So, the odds were that today we'd find the primary tumor, which was likely to be larger.

Finding nothing today increases the chances that the removal of the lymph node also removed all the cancer. Although technically he is at stage zero, or no cancer, the vet can't say what Gizmo's chances of recovery are because this is such an unusual circumstance.

He recommended another test of the removed lymph node that will give him more clues about how aggressive it is, etc. But it will take a month for those results to come back, so he suggested we begin chemotherapy this week.

The treatments are administered with a pill and a shot every two to three weeks, and dogs generally tolerate them very well. Hair loss is unlikely, and he said the drugs are relatively inexpensive. Given the total bill today, I'm not sure what his idea of inexpensive is, but we're going to take care of Moe no matter what.

So, this was the best possible news we could have gotten today. Now when Moe cuddles up or does something cute I won't burst into tears. I cried for the first couple days after finding out about the cancer. I looked up every scripture involving dogs, something I'd never done before. After a few I realized why - they weren't really seen as lovable pets back them! But there's plenty about God taking care of animals. No pug references though!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and good wishes!!!