Loss for Words

Our beloved dog, Bailey isn't doing so well. You wouldn't know by looking at him, but apparently he is quite ill. He had his annual appointment last week and the vet discovered two masses. One was probable the other was definite. The probable one is on his jaw (I can't find or feel it--even with the vet's help) and the definite one is on his right quadricep muscle. Our first step was to find out if he is healthy enough to undergo a surgical procedure to biopsy the tissue. The other purpose was to see if these masses weren't secondary to a larger problem. Oh, how we prayed they were primary masses but apparently that wasn't the case. He was at the vet today and they did blood work, Xrays, urinalysis, etc. Everything checked out great except for the Xrays. They have found what they think is a mass on his heart or in his lung cavity. Originally they thought it was an aggressive form of cancer that would have originated in his spleen. The vet performed an abdominal ultrasound only to find out that this spleen and all of his organs are perfectly normal. We are being referred now to South Paws. Bailey's vet wants a vet radiologist to read his films for a second opinion. I saw the films and honestly it's a large mass. Probably softball size. My PT brain tells me with that he should be symptomatic. Bailey isn't. He is truly the same dog he was six months ago even a year ago. Maybe that is the blessing in this whole thing. It is mind boggling. Something should or would have shown up in his blood work, but there is nothing. They did do multiple xrays to rule out artifact (that means seeing something that's not really there) and it was still there on multiple views. I will keep everyone posted but if you don't mind I really don't want to talk about Bailey. It's too close to the surface right now and I am trying to keep it together. Also, hold all of the "great to have dogs" emails. Those just make me cry and I don't need to do anymore of that! Thanks for understanding and say a prayer for our fur baby.