Late last month I found small BB-sized bumps on the belly & chest of our 9 1/2 year old furbaby, Muffin. Our vet said we needed to wait until she was no longer in heat & have them removed. We made the first surgical appointment we could (last week) & she required a full-mastectomy on her right side. She will have to have the same thing done on her left side when she's recovered. She has an incision that goes from above her front leg to her back leg on her belly. Amazingly, the day after her surgery, she was up & literally acting as if nothing had happened! She's been being her crazy/normal self since.
I have not-so-patiently been waiting for the biopsy results since last Thursday. During my hand-wringing & nervousness, I started Googling & found YorkieTalk.com. I honestly would not have made it through any of this without this website & it's members. I found another family here going through the exact same thing that we are & it made me feel like I might pull through. In the meantime, I've been reading all the stories, both sad & happy, about all of your beloved four-legged companions. I've poured over many of the fabulous photos people have posted here & laughed & smiled more than I thought I could. Doing this has filled a lot of my nervous waiting time.
Hallelujah, the vet just called & her biopsy came back with a very low grade malignant cancer that the surgery will more-than-likely take care of. She will require the left-side mastectomy & close monitoring for the rest of her life, but no radiation, etc. I honestly have never cried so much in my life. I'm sure when my husband gets home, I'll do it again!
I realize now, in 20/20 hindsight, that we could have probably spared her this horror if we'd had her spayed. When we first got Muffin, she was so tiny & wasn't going to be around other dogs, so I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I hope that anyone who is debating about having their Yorkie spayed will read this & give it serious thought. Believe me, you do NOT want your furbaby to go through this. Thankfully, it seems our story is going to have a happy ending, but it could easily have gone a different way.
Thank you for providing a forum where a Nervous-Nellie-Mommy could find like minded Yorkie Lovers! I've discovered
so many wonderful new ideas by reading this website. Please keep Muffin in your prayers...her stitches come out on the 19th & she'll probably have her second surgery early in January.
Happy (& Healthy!!) Holidays from Muffin & her Mommy, C.J.
