Bladder surgery showed no cancer or stones.

I am sorry in advance this is a little long. I just wanted to get the right information to you.

I have a Shih Tzu mix that I adopted May 2010. Right before I adopted her, April 2010, she had bladder surgery and had bladder stones removed. Also, she was tested and no cancer was found. When I adopted her and took her to her first vet visit, I was told to expect bloody urine for some time. She also had an inflamed bladder and I was told to give her glucosamine daily.

Fast forward to now. The blood in her urine never fully stopped. It has actually gotten worse in the last month or so. Her urine is also awful smelling. I called the vet and came in Monday, December 27, 2010. He felt her belly and underside and stated he felt some sort of "mass" on her bladder. He recommended surgery to go in and see what was going on. He said he could do x-rays and all that, but it would just run up the bill and he would probably have to go in and look anyway. He said cancer was unlikely given that she recently tested negative, but it was a slim possibility. He felt that it was just a reoccurance of bladder stones. He ran no tests.

We agreed and she had surgery today. I just got a call and he found no mass or bladder stones. He took some of her "bladder wall" and sent it in for biopsy "to see if they find anything" that he did not find and ran a culture and sensitivity test. She is staying in the vet hospital until Thursday so he can make sure there is no bladder swelling.

So, here are my questions.

1) I have no idea what to even think now. What could be wrong? If it were cancer, would he have been able to spot it in surgery? Is cancer likely?

2) If no "mass" is even there, was surgery really the best option? Can it be something simple, like a bad infection?

3) Any advice whatsoever?

I am a bad WORRY wart. I have not slept in days. I have very bad luck with dogs and I am scared too death right now. Every dog I have ever had (I am 23 years old, so not too many) have died for some reason or another. Am I worrying for nothing?

Thank you SO much for any input.

Thank you so much, Dr. Marie!

I picked up Dazi, my Shih Tzu, yesterday. The surgery went well and biopsy/culture and sensitivity tests only revealed a Proteus infection. I am so happy!

Thank you again for your response. You relieved my mind. I need to stop worrying about things so much, but it is hard to when you fear the "unknown." :)