The Beau Diddley Diaries

Did somebody say TREAT?!

A year later, and a Maggie scare

Happy new year, everyone. If you’re still reading here, I know you must be a Beau Diddley fan. Thank you for all your positive thoughts, prayers, and genuine aloha you’ve all sent here to Beau.

Beau had his week 3 treatment this week, but we had another scare as well. His sister Maggie was at South Paws today. I’ll explain...

Maggie has been on urised for quite some time now to help keep a chronic urinary tract infection under control. It’s been working just fine, but now is being taken off the market by the manufacturer. So, we contacted the dogs’ vet to come up with a new course of action. She requested a urine sample which we provided. But when she looked at it under the microscope, she saw something odd and asked me to come back into the office.

She saw some cells that were not normal. My heart stopped. She said that they *could* be pre-tumorous cells. My heart stopped again. She suggested getting an ultrasound on Maggie’s urinary tract to see if there’s anything odd there.

I made Maggie an appointment immediately with South Paws and took her there today. After getting her customary “Brazilian,” they invited me into the exam room to see the ultrasound in progress. The doctor showed me her bladder and surrounding areas.

Everything looked pretty normal. The only anomaly is that one side of her bladder wall was slightly thicker than the other (5 mm vs. 3 mm). This could indicate some mild irritation and UTI-like activity, but there was no indication of any tumor activity at all.

We all breathed an enormous sigh of relief and I brought Maggie home. Now on to figuring out her next course of treatment...

But back to the Beau front, his treatments are continuing normally. Dare I say “routine” even...

It was a year ago this month that Beau was diagnosed with lymphoma. Had it not been for the chemo, he wouldn’t have made it until the summer solstice, much less the winter solstice. And, since he continues to be happy and energetic, I have to say it’s been a great success for all of us. To be blessed with *any* more time with such a wonderful creature as Beau is one of life’s greatest treats. Here’s to the treatments continuing to be successful and Beau continuing to be happy and enthusiastic!

Cheers,

Ken
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