May 22, 2018. Twister’s stitches and cone were removed. During this time Twister had to take medications. One was a pill that he just didn’t like. Maybe it had a bitter taste. Anyway, he just didn’t want to take it even if we inserted the pill in a weiner or coated it with butter. But, my husband was smart. Fortunately, my husband knew dogs liked peanut butter. He knew about this from seeing a dog show where an object containing peanut butter entertained the dog while the owners were away. So, he lightly coated the pill with peanut butter and handed it to Twister who devoured the pill as though it was a dog treat..
Did you know that dogs like peanut butter? For sure, I didn’t know!
May 14, 2018. Twister’ s oncologist and surgeon called to tell us that the results of the biopsy had come in and that they showed no cancer, only fibrous tissue. . When my husband and I heard that they had not found any cancer, we were so relieved.
Twister finished taking his medication and antibiotics yesterday. He is in good spirits, The incision is healing properly, and the swelling on his leg is decreasing. He will wear his plastic cone for another week, then the oncologist will remove the stitches and give him another examination. As a precaution, the doctors will perform an ultrasound in about a month to make sure the tumor has no changes.We can only hope that everything will be fine. And again we ask all the animal lovers to pray for his complete recovery, and that he won’t need any further treatments.
The day Twister had his CT scan and biopsy, I pulled out the prayer book that my sister had given me so that I could pray to the Lord to help me recover from fibromyalgia.Inside the prayer book is a long ribbon, a relic from a saint, SAN Charbel. The evening before Twister had his surgery, I massaged Twister with the sacred ribbon. I remember looking at my husband’s face when I was doing this. He must’ve thought I was crazy but I did it anyway.
Also, there is a comment in the prayer book that says, “Every eighth day of the month at noon at the parish of Nuestra Senora de Libano a mass and a procession are celebrated for parishioners, dead or alive, and for anybody who needs the Saints help.” Since Twister’s surgery took place on May 8, I strongly believe San Charbel, prayers from animal lovers, and ours, played an important role in Twister’s recovery.Thank you for your prayers on behalf of us and Twister.
May 8, 2018, we took Twister at 8:30 AM for his biopsy. The surgery was supposed to take place at noon. That day I didn’t know what to do with my anxious self. Moreover, the fibromyalgia pain was having a fun time with my body. I wish the pain would tone down. It has been very intense these past few days, and I assume stress is playing a major role. To ignore the pain, I concentrated on things that had to do with writing, such as looking for a place to submit my short stories. The phone rang several times that day, but they were those blasted Robo calls. Finally, that afternoon we got a call from the emergency clinic telling us that we could pick up Twister.
When we saw Twister, he was his usual self, perky, and happy to see us. As he quickly and methodically inspected the doctor’s office, we noticed he had a bandage on his left hind leg, I suppose this is where blood was drawn, and his right foot was bandaged also. He was also wearing a large plastic cone to keep him from unwrapping his bandages and of course from pulling out his three stitches. We thanked the surgeon as we parted with Twister. He came home with medications and antibiotics.
As Bob took Twister to our car, a man stopped me and asked me about my experience with this clinic. I told him this was the first time that I had had to bring one of my pets to the clinic. The man told me that his dog who was 11 years old had glaucoma, and I sympathized with him. His dog was not with him, but I could tell that the man really loved his dog. He was pacing in the lobby.
I was using my Rollator and was trying to figure out how to open the doors to get out. The man pushed a button to open the doors. And then we both laughed when I said, “I was assuming the doors would open automatically.”
“If they did, it would be difficult to keep the dogs in the lobby, ” he commented smiling. He followed me outside. That’s when he asked me what I was doing at the clinic since the clinic only saw animals by referral.
I explained about what had happened to Twister and the very nice gentleman told me, “Tonight will be a prayer night for animals.”
“Thank you,” I answered almost in tears because the man was so gracious to pray for my dog and his. I walked to my car. thinking that if it was God’s will, Twister would be fine, but if it wasn’t, I prayed for strength because I really love Twister.. He was near death when we rescued him.( With tears in my eyes, I wrote a short story, “They Call Mr. Twister” of how Twister came into our lives. The story is written from his point of view. But, I must warn you, if you are an animal lover, the story might make you cry.)
A about 4 PM, we were on our way home with Twister, who behaved as though nothing had happened to him. He was his usual self, inspecting his surroundings and being playful in the car. Bob removed his bandages later that evening. Or was it the following day? I really don’t remember. What I remember is seeing the bandage on his right leg where the biopsy was performed. When we removed that bandage the following day, we noticed the three stitches where the biopsy was performed. We didn’t remove the cone. It keeps him from messing with his stitches.
And now we are waiting for the result from the biopsy which will be here tomorrow, Friday or next Monday. The waiting is killing me. It’s a good thing that I like to write. The activity keeps me busy and sometimes makes me forget that I physically hurt.
Twister finished taking his medication and antibiotics yesterday. He is in high spirits and the swelling on his leg is decreasing. He will wear his cone for another week, then the oncologist will remove the stitches and give him another examination. We hope that he will be fine. Again, I ask my readers, especially the animal lovers, for your prayers.
M. E. Murray 
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