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Old 05-05-2018, 07:30 PM   #1
P Hudson
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: VA USA
Posts: 407
Default Large Abdominal Mass

I wasn't expecting this today. My nine-year-old yorkie Turner has been vomiting foam every once in a while for a while now, and recently it became more frequent and was pink, mostly in the mornings. Took him to the vet. The vet did blood work--the CA and Lip were a little elevated--she gave him Metronidazole, Cerenia, and probiotics for a week. The vomiting stopped completely--until the day after we stopped. I called the vet and they said I could put him back on Metronidazole for a few days. As soon as he was back on it, the vomiting stopped. Then the vomiting resumed the day after the Metronidazole was gone.

At this point the vet recommended an X-ray, two views, to rule out some obstruction. We did a more extensive blood work up, which showed him becoming slightly anemic. Specifically: Elevated MCH, Low lymphocites- stress response. Low normal- HCT/PCV- could be anemia from chronic disease.

Then she did the X-ray, and I knew when she called me to look at them that something looked amiss. She showed me that his stomach looked empty but the lining--or walls?--looked to be thickened. And his--I think it was--small intestines--was not where it should be. Too low or too high. She also pointed out that he had lots of gas in his GI tract.

We decided to to an ultrasound. She called me in and the look on her face told me it was going to be bad. She showed me the ultrasound which shows me nothing, but she said this was all a mass and said pit was probably--she through out a couple of cancer terms I'd heard before ending in oma. She shook her head and said that even radiation wouln't help. I assumed because of the size. I wasn't really hearing her completely; I was too stunned.

She said she tried to see if she could tell if it was connected to an organ but he was so uncomfortable that she just stopped, didn't want to put him through it.

At this point the waterworks started and she then told a story about a dog that had a large mass and they opened him up and it was a testicle that hadn't descended. (Turner's been neutered so that's not it.)

She said we could take him to a veterinary college not far from here and they can do an exploratory but if they find it's cancer they will not want to wake him up from surgery. Also, I think if it's a laparoscopy, that's not so bad, but if it's abdominal surgery, that's harder to recover from. (I've had both.)

He still plays. She said the ultrasound was causing him pain but I have not seen any indication of his being in pain.

I want to do what's best for him. It's just really hard to know. She also said, kind of thinking out loud, "Well, I don't have to worry about cost. I'm a vet so I could just open my dog up and look." So that sounds as if she was thinking that if it were her dog she'd do the exploratory.

Any thoughts? I'm going in circles.
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