Sandy's Mystery Sickness

In case nobody has ever seen my dog, Sandy before:  TA-DA!!! (see below)

Sandy will be turning 6 years old on July 18, 2011

He is epileptic and is on medication for seizures

This is him in his college dog sweater.

Sandy loves to sleep in the sun on our driveway.

This is his way of patrolling the yard without moving.

Sandy is currently enrolled in dog training with the 4-H Kids N' Dogs club.

This is him at the State Qualifier Dog Show in the obedience ring.

He's supposed to hold the dumbbell in his mouth until I call him.

This is Sandy at the State Qualifier Dog Show in the showmanship ring.

He's good at standing still and gaiting, but his free-stack needs work :)

This is us at the Montgomery County Fair Dog Show.

I'm doing a promotion on rescue dogs (which is why Sandy has a life-jacket on).

He's sooooo cute!!!

This is me, Sandy, my sister Mary, and her dog, Cali.

Cali is a recent addition to our family, lolz.

Cali is ALWAYS bugging Sandy to play tug with her.

That purple ribbon at the plaque means that we won champion in something.

I think I blew on his face and that's why he...uh...attacked me, :D

So now that you know a little bit about my dog, I will tell you what is so important.  Sunday morning, Sandy woke up limping on his front, right foot and looking quite sick.  He ate RELUCTANTLY...which is very unusual for him.  Suspecting pain in his leg, we gave him a slight sedative...which was a BIG MISTAKE.  Because the sedative lowered his blood pressure, his heart compensated for it by beating faster.  This meant that by the time we got Sandy to the 24-Emergency Vet Hospital, his pulse was around 180 beats per minute.  At that moment, I was soooo thankful that I could lean on my Savior in times of trouble :) 

They did a physical exam on Sandy and discovered three things.  1) Diagnosis was difficult due to the sedative.  2) The limping could be either a bone injury or a spinal cord injury.  3) There was a lump on Sandy's right shoulder that we hadn't noticed before.  Unfortunately, a simple blood pressure test at the 24-Emergency Vet Hospital was $75...no kidding.  Just imagine how much an overnight stay or x-ray would have been!  So we took Sandy home hoping that it wouldn't get worse overnight.

On Tuesday, we took Sandy to the Damascus Veterinary Clinic and had Dr. Skipton examine him.  The vet aspirated (took a sample of) the lump in Sandy's right shoulder and told us that it could either be 1) a harmless abscess, 2) a mast cell tumor, or 3) lymphoma.  Those were numbered best case scenario to worse case scenario.  Dr. Skipton sent the samples to a lab and we're waiting for results.

I don't know if this seems stupid or not, but please pray for my dog.  Praying for a pet may not catch God's eye as important, but we can always try.  I would appreciate it and will keep you guys posted once I get results.  I hope I don't sound too freaked out........

~Anna