Big Day

Today was a big day. Cody went for a CT scan.

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is a medical imaging method employing tomography created by computer processing.^[1] Digital geometry processing is used to generate a three-dimensional image of the inside of an object from a large series of two-dimensional X-ray images taken around a single axis of rotation.^[2]


Thank you Wikipedia.


A CT scan for an animal is a big deal. It means general anesthesia. It is not for long, but you want to know that your animal is being watched over by the best. That means you really want a board certified anesthesiologist (veterinary) in charge. Lucky for us Cody had that today. Not only did he have an anesthesiologist, but I know him personally. Nice. And I only had to drive about 10 minutes down the road from where I work to have this done today.

Cody sailed through with flying colors...he did well under anesthesia - blood pressure and heart rate all good. As of tonight I do not know much except that it appears that the mass (tumor) is close enough to the outside of the lung or close enough to the body wall that we should be able to obtain a fine needle aspirate (FNA) of the mass. Using an ultrasound guided technique it is possible to insert a needle into the mass and extract some cellular material. This small sample is sent to the lab for identification & hopefully a diagnosis.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll hear from the radiologist regarding the scan. The big question is.... is it only 1 mass or many? If there are many small tumors then we go looking for a primary tumor elsewhere in the body. If there appears to be only the 1 tumor in the lung then that means that it is probably the primary tumor. Not to get ahead of myself, but I am preparing for the sit-down I'll have to have with my budget and my dog regarding surgery to remove this thing.