[Dailydrool] Elsinore's tumor, part 2

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

The last item on my list was to check the lump on her rump. The lump appeared early this year and has been slowly growing. It's now the size of maybe my fist? (I have smallish hands.) I had the vet who did Elsinore's annual in March look at it, but she didn't aspirate it, and she called it another fatty cyst. The vet I prefer, the one I saw today, said it didn't feel like a fatty cyst. He aspirated it and said it's a tumor. 

Ohhhhkay. 

Now what? 

He's identified several approaches we can take.

1) Do nothing. Especially since it doesn't seem to be bothering her at all and its growth won't interfere with her rectal area (whew!). If we do nothing, it will get bigger and most likely start causing nerve pain because of where it's located. At some point we won't be able to control her pain anymore and will need to let her go.

2) X-ray her lungs to look for signs of cancer. Cancer in her lungs might explain the increase in panting we're seeing. But then again, she may just be feeling the summer heat more than she usually does because she's old (11 or 12, as far as we know). X-rays, however, will show only the cancer that's in them; they won't show cancer in her rump, if that's really what that lump there is. So just because a chest x-ray comes back clear, doesn't mean Elsinore's home free on the cancer thing.

3) Aspirate it, put it on a slide, and send it to some pathologists. They'll describe it but ultimately won't give us a definitive answer as to whether it's benign or malignant. They'd really prefer to work with actual slices of tissue, which wouldn't be possible unless we went with the next approach.

4) "Debulk" the tumor. The vet, or an oncologist, would go in and try to remove as much as possible but not strive for clean margins. The idea would be to buy Elsinore more time. However, this is an involved sort of surgery because the lump's placement puts it in close proximity to major nerves and nerve bundles. There's risk of a bleed out, paralysis of the leg the lump is on, incontinence, etc. The vet said the recovery period would take some time that probably couldn't be described as quality time. 

So now Ken and I have something to talk about over dinner tonight--what's the best thing to do for our Elsinore? I would have preferred for the vet to have given me a happier discussion topic, but we all have to die of something eventually, and Elsinore is at that age where these things are bound to happen. The goal is to make what's left of her life the best it can be. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions for things we should be asking the vet, please let me know. I greatly value Droolers' vast collective wisdom and experience.

Elsinore, by the way, stood and took the blood draw and aspiration like a trooper. She handled the EKG with similar aplomb. I was very proud of her for not putting up a struggle for any of it, or even yipping. And after I paid her bill, she rolled over on command in the waiting room to a round of surprised applause and a handful of treats. 

I normally make her ride in the back of the car, but this afternoon I let her sit in the front passenger seat where she could rest her head on my thigh. I'm starting to think of the things I'm going to miss about her when she's gone. I hope the tumor will be a slow-growing one and not feel the need to speed up.

Elizabeth