Thank you all very much for your well wishes. I've passed them along.
I'm scared to even update, because I don't want to jinx anything, but here goes:
The tumour does not show up on the x-ray--positive news. However, Wolfy's spleen is enlarged--this could be bad, and it could be nothing. The rest of his x-rays show clear lungs, kidneys, liver and heart--no secondary tumours. Now we wait for the results of the biopsy.
From the internet and from the vet: if it is a cancerous tumour it can be removed (best if it's just under the skin and hasn't spread which seems to be Wolfy's case). If the spleen is enlarged because of tumours it can also be removed and has known to increase the life of a dog by up to 2 years. In other cases, vets have removed tumours from a spleen because they're afraid they are cancerous and they turn out to be nothing. Bottom line is: the spleen can get ugly, enlarged and growthy in old age and it doesn't necessarily mean it's cancer. So for now we wait for the biopsy results and see what it tells us about the enlarged spleen.
He's not out of the woods yet, but it's not as bad as we thought.
What scares me is this type of cancer is known as the silent killer--no symptoms until the dog just dies or until it's too late. However, those dogs usually already have tumours elsewhere in the body or they're bleeding internally. I hope we've caught this early enough to let my dog live until Christmas.
Or at least until Oryx can finally meet him.
My heart is breaking.
I'm scared to even update, because I don't want to jinx anything, but here goes:
The tumour does not show up on the x-ray--positive news. However, Wolfy's spleen is enlarged--this could be bad, and it could be nothing. The rest of his x-rays show clear lungs, kidneys, liver and heart--no secondary tumours. Now we wait for the results of the biopsy.
From the internet and from the vet: if it is a cancerous tumour it can be removed (best if it's just under the skin and hasn't spread which seems to be Wolfy's case). If the spleen is enlarged because of tumours it can also be removed and has known to increase the life of a dog by up to 2 years. In other cases, vets have removed tumours from a spleen because they're afraid they are cancerous and they turn out to be nothing. Bottom line is: the spleen can get ugly, enlarged and growthy in old age and it doesn't necessarily mean it's cancer. So for now we wait for the biopsy results and see what it tells us about the enlarged spleen.
He's not out of the woods yet, but it's not as bad as we thought.
What scares me is this type of cancer is known as the silent killer--no symptoms until the dog just dies or until it's too late. However, those dogs usually already have tumours elsewhere in the body or they're bleeding internally. I hope we've caught this early enough to let my dog live until Christmas.
Or at least until Oryx can finally meet him.
My heart is breaking.
I can't even imagine what to say. I hope that things got caught early. I have a long personal history of literally miraculous bouncebacks from scary situations.
But I have two dogs myself. I can imagine how hard this must be for you.
I want to say SOMETHING, but I don't want to say anything stupid or trivial.
I really hope that your dog is okay and that you're okay. If I can do anything anything anything at all, you've got my vitals.
Can't imagine what that might be, but the offer's there.
[Edited on Oct 13, 2005 6:36PM]