Unexpected Bad News

Virga and Cirrus went in for their four-month follow up visit with the vet yesterday. Just in the last few days M had noticed a small nodule on Virga's abdomen, so the timing of the appointment was perfect. There was good news - both Cirrus and Virga have returned to their normal weights. Cirrus is 88 grams, I think the most she has weighed, and Virga was at 92 grams. They both have been active, although Virga has slowed down some. The vet was concerned about the nodule, which seemed on her hip bone, and wanted to do an x-ray, ultrasound, and needle aspiration. So, our 9:00 a.m. appointment turned into a six-hour affair since the first opening for the ultrasound was at 1:00 p.m. We left Cirrus with Virga  to keep her company at the vet's and went to run some errands. About 2:00 the vet came out and brought us back to the examining room to show us the x-rays and ultrasound. She had several concerns, but cautioned us that the x-rays and ultrasound had yet to be seen by the radiologist. The nodule was subcutaneous, right below the skin, and to her it didn't feel like it was the type of lump to be concerned about. What was more troubling were two spots on her liver evident in the ultrasound, which may be just cell regeneration, and some clouding evident on the x-ray in Virga's lungs. These might mean her cancer has metastasized.

Our vet called tonight, but we were gone at the time. She left a message that she wanted to discuss the cytology report with us, and will call us on Monday. However, the message was disheartening for what it didn't say. If the pathology was negative, I assume the message would have been something along the lines of "Everything's negative and there's nothing to worry about now".

In addition to this, Virga has been having some sort of spasm or tremors when she wakes up in the pouch. As she's having one she makes an noise similar to the noise they make if they are annoyed with each other. The first couple of time we heard it we thought one of them was bothering someone and the one being bothered was expressing their displeasure. The strange thing about it is it stops as soon as she is out of the pouch, and we have never heard it at any other time.

It will be a long weekend.