Successful Surgery, Waiting Game Begins

i didn’t know what to expect when i started my new job back in august, but i certainly didn’t expect to feel like family with SO many people in such a short amount of time. i was away from my desk for a few minutes this afternoon and returned to find this next to my keyboard. you people are just freaking awesome. i couldn’t believe it.

and now for the even MORE great news…

loki made it through the surgery with flying colors! the surgeon called me around 4 this afternoon and gave me the rundown. he said she was just starting to wake up from the anesthesia when he called and was snuggled up in bed.

apparently, due to the weird shape of the tumor, the incision had to be larger than they expected. nevertheless, the surgery was fine and they are fairly confident they removed the whole thing. to get the full biopsy done, it will have to be sent out of town and we should get news on monday about whether or not it is a higher grade and if they got it all. if it’s not a high grade and they got it all on the first try, then we should expect a full recovery!

in the meantime, loki can come home tomorrow and start recuperating. :) she’s only been gone for 11 hours and already it feels weird with her not being around (and it made me realize just how much food i drop on the floor that she cleans up for me) but… it’s a lot easier with the news of this afternoon.

also, this morning, the regular vet called to check up on her and i picked her brain for a bit. she told me that in her experience, about 90% of these tumors come back as a low grade (1 or 2) and there is no need for chemo. most of the time, it is over and done with after surgery. so those chances are even better than i had anticipated, and that puts me more at ease.

it makes me happy to know that i’m surrounded by so many genuinely nice people. between brett doing his best to cheer me up through all this, the doctors (they have been phenomenal), and the workplace, this experience has been far less painful than it could have been. i wasn’t sure what to expect with new doctors working on loki and i never realized how stressed i would become over it, but it really is like it’s YOUR CHILD. i didn’t eat anything but dinner and some m&ms yesterday, and couldn’t even finish my lunch this afternoon. still, i couldn’t have asked for a better situation given her condition.

looking forward to having my shadow back tomorrow. let’s just hope monday’s news is as good as today’s! :)