Long time and much has happened since last time we wrote. The biggest thing is that Pancho was in a surgery last Thursday. Some weeks ago a bump appeared on his chest. First it looked like a pimple. Then it grew very fast. We took him to a vet to a skin and allergy specialist and she said that this is some sort of tumor/neoplasm (uudismuodostuma in Finnish). I’m just going to call it “the thing” since we don’t know yet for sure what it was. First she gave antibiotic-cortisone cream for it. She said that it might make it disappear or then not. For Pancho it didn’t help. So we had to take him for operation so that they removed “the thing”.
Panchos "thing" when it wasn't even on biggest state.
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I took the whole Thursday and Friday off from work so that I could be with him. On Thursday I took Pancho and Chili for a long walk before the surgery and then I took Pancho to the operation. Pauli also came from work to meet us at the vet. First time for long time Pancho behaved very well at the vet. He didn’t even growl. They gave him sedative injection and he fell asleep into my lap on the floor. Then the nurses came to carry him away. They said that it might take 2-3 hours before I can come to pick him up. I went to a shop next to the veterinarian station to buy a magazine so that I could spend my time in the car better. I didn’t want to go anywhere far away so that I could go back as soon as they would call me. I wanted to be there when he wakes up. It was less than an hour that they called me that the surgery is over and I can come there.
 
They took me to a back room of the station. He was there totally asleep his tongue out from his mouth. He was lying down on an electric mattress; which had a heating. He had his own blanket on him. He had a needle on his pawn giving him some fluids. I was sitting there with him for a long time; I think more than an hour. I have to give excellent feedback to the staff of that veterinarian station. One nurse was sitting there with me for a long time and explained everything about Panchos operation and what we have to do after that etc. Then she was trying to put collar on him so that he couldn’t lick the wound. That’s when Pancho woke up for the first time. He lifted his head and was totally out from this world. He looked scared and I let him smell my hand and said that I was there. Then he looked calmer and closed his eyes and fell asleep again. It looked like he was thinking that “great, there is someone else guarding so I can sleep”. I think that he heard my voice even though he was sleeping because I only once left the room to go and pay for his surgery and when I came back he was wake and trying to sit. Maybe he heard me leaving and tried to follow me.
 
He didn’t wake up totally so I had to carry him to our car. That nurse was so friendly that she carried all my stuff to the car. I drove home and made a safe nest for Pancho to sleep. We have a corner sofa so I put him on a corner and a pillow on the other side and sat my self on the other side. Two reason: so that he wouldn’t fall down and Chili. In the beginning it was hard to keep Chili away since he obviously wanted to smell what is wrong with Pancho. But then he understood that he wants to sleep now and let him be. Whole Thursday Pancho was sleeping. Very late in the evening he was walking a bit and then we went to sleep.

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Friday morning he seemed normal. We didn’t want him to wear that collar that nurse gave us but we agreed with her that we can just make him wear a t-shirt. That will also stop him from licking that wound and stop Chili from licking that. He was even a bit too normal.. We were told that for 10-14 days that he has stitches he shouldn’t run, climb or jump. It was a full time job to keep them from not running and jumping all the time… Also hiding his antibiotic tablet is a challenge.. He seems to smell it and then he spits it out. We have noticed that if we wrap it to a grilled chicken skin he will eat it.
 
When we first took the bandage off from his chest I was a bit shocked. I didn’t expect that wound to be that big. “The thing” was only 1-2cm wide and the wound with stitches is about 15cm. Vet asked us if we want them to send “the thing” to be checked so that we would know what it was and is it good or bad. She said that she would recommend us to give the permission since it looked quite nasty. That got me scared.. If a vet who has done that job for 20 years says that it looked quite nasty… Well, in 1½-2 weeks we should know the results. There is nothing else we can do except expect for the worse and hope for the best.

Pancho seems to be doing very well now. He doesn’t take pain medicine anymore and the wound doesn’t seem to be sore or painful. He wants to run and play the same way than always and he doesn’t even try to lick the wound. We can take the stitches away somewhere between dates 16-20.11 depending how it looks. We will first try to take them away ourselves and if it doesn’t work out then we will take him to a vet. That is what the vet recommended. I think Pauli will have to do that, I might start feeling sick.. I’m a bit sensitive for that kind of things..  -Jozanna