about a hedgehog named hoggle
yesterday was rough. around one month ago i noticed hoggle's urine was pink-tinged. we monitored him after that and it didn't happen again. after much online research, i chalked it up to constipation. a couple days ago, it happened again and then two more times in 24 hours so i booked him an appointment at our vet in skokie yesterday. while sitting in the room with him i noticed that the right side of his face looked a little swollen, which i mentioned to the tech.
here is everything i know so far:
hoggle has a mass that is not supposed to be in his lower body.
the doctor showed me the x-ray and that is pushing his intestines towards his upper body they are not sure if it's his bladder just hugely expanded if he has a urinary tract infection or if it's a tumor.
the vet took a sample of the thing on his cheek and said it had abnormal cells, but that there was a chance it was his salivary glands or something she was not familiar with. she was going to confer with the other doctor, who is actually the hedgehog specialist.
since there is no harm in doing so, i got meds to combat the possibility of it being a UTI. i got three meds. two of them are to be given twice a day and one is only once a day.
i am hoping that this is just a uti that has caused his bladder to expand and not a tumor or the c-word. if it is only a uti, then the mass (which could be his bladder) should go down. if it doesn't go down with these meds, then there is something deeper going on.
the vet said that both the mass inside him and the thing on his cheek should be operable. hoggle's follow up appt is monday 3/9. the hedgehog specialist and this doc will be there at the same time, which is good.
nothing else is different. he's his usual crabby little hoggle self. he's eating, drinking water, pooping - all normal.
i had a terrible nightmare last night where i was running because the world was falling apart and a crazy rockslide was happening and we were trying to get to the highest point and when i was trying to alert everyone, a lot of people couldn't be bothered to come along because they were having sex and they wanted that to be the last thing they did before they died. my heart was racing in the dream because it had been on and off since i received this news yesterday. and it is now.
please think good thoughts for hoggle, or if you pray, please pray for him. he's our little baby and going through this is taking a toll on us. i've cried once so far today and teared up 3 times. i need to stop reading about worse case scenarios and just keep my chin up until i know more.
here is everything i know so far:
hoggle has a mass that is not supposed to be in his lower body.
the doctor showed me the x-ray and that is pushing his intestines towards his upper body they are not sure if it's his bladder just hugely expanded if he has a urinary tract infection or if it's a tumor.
the vet took a sample of the thing on his cheek and said it had abnormal cells, but that there was a chance it was his salivary glands or something she was not familiar with. she was going to confer with the other doctor, who is actually the hedgehog specialist.
since there is no harm in doing so, i got meds to combat the possibility of it being a UTI. i got three meds. two of them are to be given twice a day and one is only once a day.
i am hoping that this is just a uti that has caused his bladder to expand and not a tumor or the c-word. if it is only a uti, then the mass (which could be his bladder) should go down. if it doesn't go down with these meds, then there is something deeper going on.
the vet said that both the mass inside him and the thing on his cheek should be operable. hoggle's follow up appt is monday 3/9. the hedgehog specialist and this doc will be there at the same time, which is good.
nothing else is different. he's his usual crabby little hoggle self. he's eating, drinking water, pooping - all normal.
i had a terrible nightmare last night where i was running because the world was falling apart and a crazy rockslide was happening and we were trying to get to the highest point and when i was trying to alert everyone, a lot of people couldn't be bothered to come along because they were having sex and they wanted that to be the last thing they did before they died. my heart was racing in the dream because it had been on and off since i received this news yesterday. and it is now.
please think good thoughts for hoggle, or if you pray, please pray for him. he's our little baby and going through this is taking a toll on us. i've cried once so far today and teared up 3 times. i need to stop reading about worse case scenarios and just keep my chin up until i know more.