terrifying lumps and worrying times

I haven't had the heart to blog recently, because we've been frightfully worried about a lump in Penny's neck. But we've just had good news. Well, sort of good...

When we noticed the lump, we thought it might be yet another lipoma. (She has three or more, now, but we don't intend to put her through the trauma of surgery unless necessary, so we're simply observing them.) There are lots of sites on the internet with information about how common lipomas are in older dogs. This is one site, and it suggests that all lumps need to be investigated before deciding on a watch-and-wait approach.

However, we - and the vet - thought this lump felt strange, so even though a needle aspiration seemed to indicate it was a cyst with some infection in it, he suggested surgery to remove it. We agreed.

Penny started on antibiotics to settle the infection and duly had her surgery. On the day, we waited for the phone call to say she was fine. But when the phone call came, the vet nurse suggested we make an appointment to talk to the vet as we collected her. Little alarm bells went off, so both her humans went together, to give each other moral support.

The long and the short of it was that the vet had found the lump sitting around a major blood vessel, so he stopped the surgery, having taken a piece off the lump. It was sent off for a biopsy and we waited...

We kept Penny beside us every moment of the first couple of days, to check she didn't scratch at the stitches, which pretty much she didn't.

She even got to sleep beside one of her humans, which doesn't normally happen. Like the Princess and the Pea, she reclined on a tower of soft mats.

Today we've learned that the part biopsied is a lipoma, and, to use the vet's words in the reassuring phone message he left for us, basically 'harmless' and 'benign'.

But it's still beside that blood vessel - the jugular - and it showed two different results in testing, lipoma and cyst.

I called in to discuss it with the vet, and was impressed with the amount of time he spent explaining to me what the situation is. We'll be keeping an eye on it, checking it every month to see if it is growing. I asked if it might grow inside where we can't check it, but the vet said it will grow out, if at all. He said not to check it more frequently than once a month, because we might become too accustomed to it and not notice a change.

Here's hoping all will be well.

two lipomas on Penny's shoulders

Good Friday - just the day to spend sitting in the waiting room of the Animal Emergency Centre. We certainly weren't complaining that we had to wait, because when families rushed in with unconscious dogs, or dogs who couldn't stand, we knew they had to go first.

It all began yesterday evening, when we noticed not one, but two, lumps on Penny's shoulders. We reacted the usual way, first shock, then the worried internet search, and the reassuring decision that they were - probably - lipomas.

What a terrifying word that is...probably.

We decided we just couldn't wait for the end of the Easter holidays and the opportunity to see our own vet. We would go to the Emergency Hospital straight away.

I rang to see whether it would be appropriate to come in with this problem, because we wondered if on Good Friday (when nothing is open in Australia, generally speaking), they might only deal with life threatening emergencies. But we were reassured that we would be seen.

So off we went, and the vet examined Penny carefully and gave us the good news that she would do a needle biopsy immediately, because otherwise we'd have to wait four days until our own vet clinic was open.

She asked us whether we thought Penny could be distracted while she inserted the needles into the two lumps. Since I had a packet of the little dried fish that Penny has come to love, the answer was a resounding 'yes!' I think Penny didn't even realise she had the two little procedures.

The vet then gave us the even better news that, yes, they were lipomas. Whew!

I've read that most older dogs have at least one lipoma.

Next week we'll go to our own vet to follow up, because sometimes it's better to take lipomas out, in case they distress the dog as they get bigger, or in case they do change into something more dangerous.

Thank goodness for modern medical procedures and good vet hospitals!

clipper causes skin rash after surgery for lipoma

I hope you'll forgive me for yet another post about Penny's surgery, but I thought our experience might be useful information for other people deciding whether to go for this option if their dog has a lump.

We visited the vet for a check-up today, four days after the surgery, and the wound looked swollen around the stitches, which the vet said was 'serum' around the wound. It might have been the result of Penny's activity since the operation. We'll take it even more quietly for a few days until the wound is not swollen-looking. On the other hand, Penny has mostly been resting and we only go out to toilet a few times a day, on lead.

The ghastly-looking redness around the wound was most likely a rash from the clippers used to remove her coat around the site for surgery. Here's the photo from a few days ago:

 and today it is much less sore-looking:

In this photo you can see that there is no stitch at one end of the cut. The vet said he left this open in case the wound needed to drain.

Whilst reading up  for this post, I've come across a really good article at The Kerry Blue Terrier Foundation, dealing with the question of whether or not to have surgery for a lipoma.

The article discusses the pros and  cons, gives lots of case studies, and talks about other possibilities than surgery, including:
watch and wait
no treatment
liposuction
injection of collagenaze
weight loss, diet and exercise
acupressure
herbal medicines
homeopathy (not much success reported)
aromatherapy

One thing I was glad to read was that modern anaesthesia means that it should be safe for even an older dog to undergo surgery for a lipoma. I must admit this was highest in my list of worries when  we opted for surgery.

Penny has a lump

It's a bad, bad moment when you're grooming your dog and you feel a lump. You say to yourself, 'No, I just imagined that.'

You call Human Number Two and she feels the spot and looks at you and says, 'Yes. I can feel it."

Just when you've had this scare, the grandmother of all thunderstorms rolls across the city.

I wouldn't have had a good night's sleep anyway, but the thought of Penny with a lump and the sight of her sitting frightened in the doorway of the bedroom led to her first night ever sleeping on the bed. In the past, she has occasionally been allowed to jump on the bed around dawn, but this was her first all-night sleepover.

First thing in the morning, we rang our vet (Saturday), but had to wait until today for an appointment.

What a worry!

He first tried to get some fluid out of the lump, with the thought that it would be a lipoma. When that did not work, we discussed the situation and he said we could simply wait a while and see what the lump did. But there's the drawback that it might grow quickly, which would be dangerous if it is a 'bad' lump. (Notice I'm a bit scared of writing the 'C' word.)

So tomorrow Penny won't have any breakfast and the vet will take off her lump. It's not the first lump our vet has removed from Penny's chest. I

I hope she will have a quick and full recovery and the lump will turn out to be something that is just a natural part of aging.