I know, I know, it's been weeks and weeks! I expected to be gone for a week in our Spring trip to Japan--actually I thought I might get to post at least once from there, but no, the internet was way too spotty for me to get anything online. But when we got home I took one look at Honeydog's face and freaked out... About two months ago we noticed a small spot on her face, could have been a bump, or a bruise, so I thought, well let's wait and see. Right before we left, it STILL hadn't gone away so I took her to a vet who looked at it and said tumor! I thought, really? Tumor, no test, no real look, just a glance and a poke. So we went on vacation, praying all the while that this lump would just go away. However, this is one time where my wait and see policy did NOT pay off. When we got back I could tell right away that this was not just going to disappear, and I began to worry, and visit vets. And worry, and visit vets.
Have you ever tried to find a vet in a country where you can't read internet posts, or phone books? Well, it's hard. For the past week I've been basically wandering around Wuhan with my smart phone, google maps, and my bus pass visiting vets. Here's the thing, they have vets here, but they are scary. Most of the time they are dirty; imagine dog paws and people shoes tracking mud and dust but only sweeping once a day. Add to that cigarette ash and people trash on a white linoleum floor (or what used to be white). Now picture steel trays as examination tables and dingy walls. Put all this in a room the size of a fast food bathroom and you will have most of the vets that I've visited. And the vets themselves; most of them had this haughty attitude and would only talk to you through an assistant. I never once saw anyone wash their hands, even when they went from examining an animal to eating their lunch. I was scared (I think it gave me another gray hair!) I couldn't leave Honeydog in the hands of these guys. I just couldn't.
Finally, with the help of DH and his co-workers we found a place that wasn't some dude and his assistant. It was still a dismally depressing place to go to, but it was clean (ish) and the vets themselves were clean, and most importantly it didn't smell bad. As with everything in China, there was no privacy. The doctors examined Honeydog in the waiting area, she got shots, an IV lead put in, and had her consultation without moving from where we first came in. Not that there was anywhere private.
Even when they took her in to operate (yes, they put her to sleep, and cut out a huge chunk of her face) people came and went from the operating room ALL THE TIME!
But she is home eating, drinking, and resting well. She has to wear the cone of shame for the next two weeks, but it's a small price to pay for our Honeydog to be ok.
