Not the worst news...

That was an expensive ear cleaning! I only say that because dark humor is my way of dealing with the anxiety of what's going on with Leo. Leo is now back from surgery, and I've spoken to the surgeon. More on that later.  Leo was a trooper through it all, and probably handled everything better than I did - although he was quite drooly and unstable when I picked him up.
The good news is that there are no clinical signs of disease - that is, they didn't find cancer.  (Yay!) Granted, there's a big grain of salt to be taken here - that just means that there's nothing they can see.  Then again, the surgeon did tell me that if he didn't know the dog's history, he'd be wondering why he was doing the exam. He did do a needle biopsy of his larynx, which was a little bit inflamed/swollen - again, the surgeon explained that he likely wouldn't have done so, but given his history, it seemed prudent.  The cells in the biopsy were all normal, so that's a bit of a relief.
Also, it turns out that our boy had a ruptured ear drum!  The surgeon, in his exam, noticed that there was impacted wax and debris in Leo's ear (the one he'd been shaking).  Lo and behold, it had ruptured the ear drum.  Now, that doesn't explain everything, but it certainly explains a lot (although the lack of appetite is still worrying me - although that seems to be mostly cleared up, now that his throat isn't as sore).  So, some antibiotics and a lot of ear cleaning is in the future.  The ear cleaning does not go over well - once he sees the bottle of cleaner, he runs, tail down, to someplace safe (corner of the couch, the bed).  It must REALLY bother him - this is a dog that loves baths, sits still for tick removal, and generally isn't bothered by anything (chemo, surgery, pokes and prods - just stay out of his face!), yet the ear cleaner sends him off.
Now the only thing I worry about is the followup.  First, I don't know how healthy it is to knock out a 10 year old dog twice in 2 weeks.  I'm going to have a serious conversation with Dr. K about this one.  And, not to sound crass - it's like paying another mortgage!  I'll probably just bit the bullet and do it, but still... Can Obamacare please cover the dog?