Dry Run and High Hopes

Melanie update: She has been doing better the past four days...eating most of her breakfast each day, only refused dinner one day, and has slept through the night every night since Wednesday - hallelujah.

Yesterday we took a dry run to the Veterinary Referral Center in Malvern, Pa. Look at the beautiful building...I expected an emergency/critical care center to look white and sterile and, well, depressing. This place is the exact opposite. Beautiful building, lovely piece of ground, welcoming foyer with marble and tile & such.

We have an appointment for Mellie for an ultrasound on February 21st (the first available time slot) and having never been there, we wanted to see where we were going and make all of our mistakes without a sick dog in the car. It was only 50 miles or so, and took about an hour and 15 minutes, so that's not too bad. (I'd drive straight through the the Mayo Clinic if they would take care of my sweet girl.) They are so nice there. They refer to Mellie by her name, not as "the dog" or "the animal", and they said that she would only be away from us for about 20 minutes while they do the ultrasound. It's non-invasive, will not hurt her in any way, and will give us some much needed, highly anticipated information. Can you tell I'm anxious? If the vet performing the ultrasound suspects "the c-word which I cannot even THINK about let alone speak of", we will be able to meet with an oncologist that same day. Also, to our great relief, within an hour of the ultrasound, our home Vet will have a full report. Ain't computers amazin'!