We saw the oncologist this morning at Dogwood (Sally, it was Dr. Waite and she was good). She was very optimistic about removal of the tumor when she saw it, particularly when he was having a breathing fit and I manually moved the tumor just a tad and he could get a good breath (her eyes almost popped out of her head); however, her surgeon did not feel the same way. The surgeon felt that the tumor may be too attached to his ribs and she didn't want to operate. It looks like the tumor has gone into the chest cavity but she felt that the main tumor was under the scapula at the amputation site. Until we have the CT scan we won't know for sure. Dr. Waite still felt he could be a candidate so she has referred us to their Northern Virginia Office at "The Oncology Service"  b/c they have radiation and an aggressive doctor (Dr. Gordon). Dr. Waite talked with him via phone today and he will have his team and the CT scan ready for us Wednesday morning at 9am. She also did the consult for him (saving us a bunch of money b/c his consult fee is apparently very expensive). He requested blood work and a tissue sample which they did today. She said that it is definitely presenting as a malignant soft tissue sarcoma, but we won't know for sure until the tissue sample is examined. 

I feel pretty confident that we are headed in the right direction. There is still a chance that they may feel surgery is not appropriate due to how it's placed but even if so it's possible they may try to shrink it and then remove it. We just don't know at this point. She also said she thinks he's a young dog, so there is also hope just in that alone. 

Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to pay for this. I'm still paying Jake's off