Well, just got back from Purdue. They found a 5 centimeter mass in his abdomen (spleen). Took an ultra sound (portable equipment?), he was not originally scheduled for an ultrasound so the fancy stuff with radiologist was not available, there was something there with holes in it. Vet said when it looked like that, there was a 50% chance it was benign and a 50% chance it was malignant. They wanted to operate on it today. I said no, I do not make split second decisions. I will wait to talk to my own vet and go from there. They believe they can remove the mass by his eye but they are not 100% sure what that is either. Purdue felt the lab report was incomplete and wanted to do another biopsy which I did not agree to. Why put Bourbon through more? Yesterday, light bulb went off, and they asked the lab up here to send them the slide which they used to come up with their results. If that lab says it's osteosarcoma, then I guess I'll have to believe it. If they do remove the mass and the surrounding bone and tissue, they may have to remove the eye as well. This just sounds like way too much for me. They let me take Bourbon to the motel Wednesday night rather than leaving him at Purdue and he was so good. He's never been in a motel and was the perfect dog. He is so happy and eats so well and acts like nothing is wrong. I hate to take this boy and subject him to all this surgery with no guarantees. Even if there were guarantees, I don't really feel comfortable doing it.

I spoke with my vet this morning and I am going to investigate holistic medicine. He is all for it and has put me in touch with a holistic vet. I also found a woman (through Debbie Martin) whose dog Sander had osteosarcoma in the roof of his mouth. The vets gave him 1-2 months. Surgery, chemo and radiation were not an option per her vet so she found a woman in Oregon who is very familiar with holistic for dogs with cancer. She put her on a treatment regimen and it has been 2-1/2 years. What a success story! I'm going to go that route too with both my vet and the holistic vet on board. I feel it will be the best for Bourbon who turns 13 in October. It won't be invasive and hopefully will give him the time he was supposed to have. We are also going to continue with the antibiotics since some infection is still present and also with 1 pred every other day to act as a chemo agent. I will also continue with the antihistamines twice a day. I feel comfortable with this decision and I hope for once I am putting what's best for Bourbon ahead of what's best for me which is trying to keep Bourbon with me forever, at whatever cost to him.