After the stitches came out

Sue, from the Portuguese Water Blog, added a comment on my last post saying that Penny's swelling was probably fluid. That's what our vet said, also. He said it would be mostly gone by yesterday - which it was. Aren't vets amazing? I would have said it would take another week for such a big swelling to go down.

Here's a picture of it yesterday, after our first proper walk in more than two weeks:

It's a little swollen, but basically gone. And, hooray, the stitches are out at last.

We had a lovely short walk at Clifton Hill, in the winter sunshine. We used to walk about an hour a day at least, briskly, but for this first outing we simply strolled around for half an hour.

swelling after lipoma surgery

I'm glad Penny is going back to the vet tomorrow morning, because the stitches around her lipoma surgery don't look too good. (If our vet were open on a Sunday, I'd have taken her there today.)

For a couple of days now we've thought the spot was swelling, but today it's more obvious than it was.

Penny lying on her back, the swelling obvious after her lipoma surgery.

The swelling after the lipoma surgery looks horrible when she's standing.

A couple of things are reassuring, and help us to keep the worry at bay (until tomorrow morning!). One is the fact that Penny seems fine. Here she has taken herself outside this morning to enjoy the winter sunshine, the first we've seen in days.

Secondly, a look around the internet seems to show that this kind of swelling is not unusual, in humans or in dogs, after a lipoma is removed.  Most sites say it will resolve, even if it takes a long time. (I sure hope hot.) One recommends hot compresses.

Here's a short clip of a similar swelling on a man's back. 

I got brave and watched a video of a lipoma surgery. I only gagged once! It was amazing to see the surgeon lift out the lipoma in its own little sack of skin. Now I understand what my vet meant when he said they got it all and it was intact. 

Here's another vet talking on YouTube about fatty lipomas. Very informative and interesting, but if you watch, be warned that suddenly you might be watching him standing with a huge ball of fat in his hand and cutting it off a dog!