On 24 April, Maureen writes:

Well, Murphy the Wonder Dog is back from having his wartectomy. The good news is that all of the offending growth was removed so, if it happened to have evil leanings, there is little danger they will come to much now. The other piece of good news is that the vet refused to accept payment for his minor surgical job because I am involved in rescue.

It all goes downhill from here . . .

The bad news is that Murphy's wartectomy was located too far down his side to be covered properly by a T-shirt so he has been returned to me, fully encased in a surgical stocking -- only head, tail, limbs and naughty bits protruding. He looks like a perambulating sausage! He is VERY annoyed!!

The really, really bad news is that, Pawal, the vet, is convinced our boy has Cushings disease. The vet spent an hour in consult with us regarding this possibility a month ago after another round of blood chemistry had been examined. He was mostly sure that Cushings was a likelihood but, after seeing how thing poor Murphy's skin is, is now quite positive. Pawal believes that Murphy has likely had Cushings for the past five years. We have determined not to treat this ailment since the treatment would undoubtedly kill the Wonder Dog. We'll just let him potter along until it is clear he is uncomfortable and then we'll kiss him goodbye . . . .

Today is not a very good day . . . .

The next day, Maureen was a bit more optimistic:

He may hang around a bit longer. You never know, but he's terribly frail . . . . The surgical stocking outlines every bone in his body because it fits so snugly. His backbone looks like the Alps and it isn't that I don't feed him lots. He eats as much as Angie who weighs over 10 pounds more.

I'm a bit puzzled at the vet saying he thinks Murphy has had Cushings for five years or so. I don't know if he was warning me that Murphy could leave us soon because he's been suffering from this disease just too long or is he was indicating that the prognosis is hopeful because Murphy has learned to live with the disease. I'll ask next visit.

We've solved the issue of the surgical stocking. The vet did give me several but they look terrible and clearly won't stand up to even a feeble Airedale. They also shed little bits all over the rugs and floors, not that I'm house proud but still, shreds of surgical stocking aren't terribly decorative! I hit the mall yesterday, looking for something, anything, to protect Murphy's stitches and voila! the perfect solution presented itself. I was watching this chubby girl wearing a Brittney Spears sort of get-up which included a tube top (out of which she flowed copiously both top and bottom!) and the light dawned. Picked up a couple of black tube tops for the Old Man. They cover him nicely from leg to leg and don't seem to bunch up or move around. Much easier to get on & off and certainly look a lot better!