Aww, John, that's hard news about your pooch, but it sounds hopeful. Last year at this time my Blue Heeler was getting her stitches out following a pre-xmas surgery that tracked from her abdomen up above the second row of teats. She wore a cone for a couple of weeks and also a t-shirt to help keep her from scratching at itchy stitches (she would stand and lift her back leg to attack the stitches, the cone only kept her face away from them). The vet was delayed returning from an out-of-town trip and we had to accommodate for a second week by keeping her on antibiotics until the stitches were out. I finally said yes to sending in a biopsy sample and it turned out mastitis. Whew. Not cancer. I hope for a similar outcome for your guy.