kaiser715
Doing hard time
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2006
- Location
- 7, Pocket, NC
Renee (my wife) took our dog Blaze (a 90# Belgian Waffle Hound) for a walk on Monday afternoon, May 11. When they came back inside he was very unsettled, wouldn't lay down, panting and drooling, was acting like he was overheating, wouldn't take a treat. Took him to our vet, he took xrays (nothing showed, thought it may have been a blockage), etc, and we watched him carefully overnight, then Tuesday a.m. went up at the Veterinary Surgical Hospital in Cary for more xrays and an ultrasound. Turns out he was bleeding internally.
Xrays there showed "something" but couldn't tell, ultrasound showed a mass on either his spleen or liver. Had a long discussion and decision about putting him down then and there. It was a hard process to say the least.
We were facing an 80 percent chance that the tumor would be cancerous, and that, at best, if he survived surgery, we would just have a few months with him.
In spite of the odds, we did elect for the surgery, procedure took 1.5 or so hours. Tumor was on spleen, which ruptured causing the internal bleeding. Removed spleen, also got biopsy sample from liver. He had approximately 2.5 liters of blood in his abdominal cavity from the internal bleeding. He did good during the surgery. According to ER doc, extremely well considering his acute condition when he got in there. He said we did good to notice signs early on, as most dogs go with this unnoticed until they collapse, then it almost too late.Good news, at least for now, the tumor was a single mass, not multiple (spreading) nodes. Lymph nodes looked good. But, we'd have to wait a week or so for the pathology report.
He had a heart arrhythmia show up, too, and was on anti-arrhythmia meds for a few days. Most likely caused by damage to the heart starving for oxygen due to his low blood volume from the internal bleeding. This was temporary, and normal heart rhythm has resumed.
Best news of all, we did finally get the pathology report...he beat the odds, and the tumor was benign. Although no cancer cells showed up in tumor, spleen, blood, and a biopsy from the liver, there is a very slight chance that this was triggered by hemorrhagic carcinoma, which, if so, can recur quickly and spread rapidly. He'll go in for bloodwork and an ultrasound followup at 3, 6, and 12 months.
I could have built a nice rig for what the vet hospital bill was, though. Surgery and tests, plus 4 days in ICU at about $700 a day.
Xrays there showed "something" but couldn't tell, ultrasound showed a mass on either his spleen or liver. Had a long discussion and decision about putting him down then and there. It was a hard process to say the least.
We were facing an 80 percent chance that the tumor would be cancerous, and that, at best, if he survived surgery, we would just have a few months with him.
In spite of the odds, we did elect for the surgery, procedure took 1.5 or so hours. Tumor was on spleen, which ruptured causing the internal bleeding. Removed spleen, also got biopsy sample from liver. He had approximately 2.5 liters of blood in his abdominal cavity from the internal bleeding. He did good during the surgery. According to ER doc, extremely well considering his acute condition when he got in there. He said we did good to notice signs early on, as most dogs go with this unnoticed until they collapse, then it almost too late.Good news, at least for now, the tumor was a single mass, not multiple (spreading) nodes. Lymph nodes looked good. But, we'd have to wait a week or so for the pathology report.
He had a heart arrhythmia show up, too, and was on anti-arrhythmia meds for a few days. Most likely caused by damage to the heart starving for oxygen due to his low blood volume from the internal bleeding. This was temporary, and normal heart rhythm has resumed.
Best news of all, we did finally get the pathology report...he beat the odds, and the tumor was benign. Although no cancer cells showed up in tumor, spleen, blood, and a biopsy from the liver, there is a very slight chance that this was triggered by hemorrhagic carcinoma, which, if so, can recur quickly and spread rapidly. He'll go in for bloodwork and an ultrasound followup at 3, 6, and 12 months.
I could have built a nice rig for what the vet hospital bill was, though. Surgery and tests, plus 4 days in ICU at about $700 a day.
Last edited:
