[FLT]

Well I am back from dropping Drake off with the nice folks at Chesapeake Veterinary Referral Center. Dr. Prostredny expects to get to Drake's surgery sometime early this afternoon (maybe 1 or 2pm) depending on how the rest of the surgeries he has scheduled go and if there are any emergencies that come in.

We'd love your good thoughts for Drake today! They aren't entirely sure what they will be working with until they open up his paw - history and theories below (long). Dr. P expects to keep Drake overnight, but will call me with an update after Drake wakes up from surgery.

Drake has had a 3-year history of limping that started with unexplained, and very occasional limping The vet figured it was probably tendinitis or maybe that he had just stepped on a stone or something.

When Drake continued to have occasional limping I brought it back up at the vet and they continued to think tendinitis and we did some ice/heat therapy, with limiting activity for a bit. Drake got to come on vacation with us instead of staying at greyhound camp because of the timing of this. (slick, Drake, very slick).

Eventually when Drake had a bout of limping he would also have a very slight swollen area - rather like a pea in size on his paw behind the "big" pad. This swelling would go away after a day or four and Drake would seem fine again. (and it always went away when we went to the Vet's office - of course!) We continued to just limit activity when he was limping, and go on normally otherwise.

Continuing over time the swelling started coming more often, and we were actually able to get him to the vet during times when he had a lump on his paw. They X-rayed his paw in 2007, but found nothing wrong. 2nd vet consulted, but no diagnosis was made. Drake was given several rounds of antibiotics with the thought that maybe it was a foreign body and infection.

Eventually Drake's paw had at least a small pea-sized lump almost all the time.. and he limped more often than not. 3rd vet consulted, and also not sure what it was. X-rays taken. Metacam prescribed to help with swelling and pain. We buy the "big" bottle size online at this point.

Drake's paw got really swollen and stayed that way. We took Drake to the vet again, and insisted that they do a needle aspiration. Vet forgot to do it while he was under for his dental - but I was able to talk the 3rd vet into doing it while he was awake. The needle aspiration withdrew clotting blood, which was sent for testing. The blood appeared to be normal greyhound blood - as in, it was withdraw from a blood vessel rather than from in a cyst. The hole she punched with the needle allowed for a great deal of blood to drain, and the swelling went all the way down (for the first time in about 5 months!). The paw was compression wrapped to allow it to continue to drain until the hole clotted over.

After about a week, the swelling came back - and got even bigger. The 3rd vet theorized that maybe this is an aneurysm in his paw (a weakness in the blood vessel - that is swelling at the spot of the weakness). The 1st vet still thinks it's a cyst at this point. (the 2nd vet is no longer around).

I got my vet to give me a referral to CVRC after getting opinions and suggestions from my fellow Greytalkers (thank you again!).

Here are photos of Drake's paw..

This is the "bad" paw - note the swelling behind the big pad on his foot.


For comparison purposes here is his "good" paw


Here is a side view of the bad paw.. notice how the swollen area is deeper than (swollen beyond) the big pad.

[Batmom]

Be interested to hear what they find! Hope it is something easily fixable and this will be the end of Drake's weird bump.

[greyhound1]

[GreysAndMoreGreys]

I'm with Batmom on this one. Will be interested to hear what exactly it is, because I've never seen anything like it before.

Good thoughts for nothing bad, an easy surgery and a quick rehab

[mom2four]

Thinking of Drake today.

[trevdog]

Sending good thoughts...I too am curious to find out what it is.....

[4greyhounds]

[Burpdog]

Sending lots of prayers!

[Energy11]

Good thoughts and prayers here!

[FLT]

Update: Dr. P called me at around 1:15pm when they were just getting started and said that they had noticed a smaller mass on his back leg (which in retrospect I realized I should have mentioned to them - it appeared on Saturday when we were at an outdoor Preakness party and I thought he had just been bit by a bug to make a swelling appear there). He asked if I'd like them to go ahead and incise whatever that is while Drake is out and send that for biopsy as well.

Well I feel like a bad mommy - I didn't really conceptualize that the swelling appeared on Saturday and here it is Thursday already!!

Dr. P said that if a dog was brought in for exam on just that item he would adopt a "wait and see" attitude on it - but since Drake will already be out he wanted to give me the option.

I told him that if Drake isn't under anesthesia for so long that it is worrisome, to go ahead and take out whatever it is and biopsy it as well. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about - but now I've got one more set of fingers crossed (It has gotten hard to type with all the finger crossing going on). He was kind enough to point out that it adds another three or four hundred to the cost of the surgery with the biopsy and extra time - but as well all know, Greyhounds are rough on the credit cards - but they make up for it with their sweetness.

Thanks for all the good thoughts.. Will update after I hear back from Dr. P after surgery!

FL

[FLT]

Update: Drake has come out from surgery and is waking up just fine (whew!)

The doctor said that the mass in both legs looked similar to each other, and that they were not any discrete mass that could be removed intact, or with any sort of margins. Instead, it appeared to be a soft pervasive tissue that had grown around all of the structures in the paw - around the tendons and blood vessels and everything. (The rear was also around the structures - although not as many structures in that part of the leg).

Dr. P stripped the growth off all the structures and thinks he was able to clear it all out.

He said it would be unusual, but not impossible for a cancerous lesion to appear in both places looking like that - and of course the tissue will be sent for biopsy.

Dr. P said that what it actually reminded him of the most was a single case that presented on a Great Dane which was actually an infectious process that was highly resistant to antibiotics, and it looked very similar to what he found in Drake's paw and leg. In the Great Dane's case they had to treat him over the course of years, and with several surgeries along with heavy duty antibiotics to get it to clear up.

They are also sending tissue for culture to see what grows, if anything.

In the meanwhile he has put a gel form of heavy-duty antibiotic in both areas that will directly diffuse antibiotics into the healing area over a couple of weeks time. He is also going to send him home on oral antibiotics.

Both areas were opened up to the tune of a 2.5 to 3 inch incision each in order to access the areas, and they are sutured now and wrapped in pressure bandages.

I can call after 9am tomorrow to find out if Drake will be coming home on Friday, or staying an extra day. It will depend on how he appears to be feeling.

::fingers crossed:: - and a lot of positive thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

FL

This post has been edited by FLT: 21 May 2009 - 08:07 PM

[trevdog]

Sending lots of prayers for quick healing and a good outcome!

[Patsy]

Way to go, Drake! Now recover gently.

[MandysMom]

Lots of prayers for a rapid recovery for Drake.

[eaglflyt]

I'm praying that Drake is fully taken care of now and gets tocomme home soon.

[Batmom]

Whoa, that's weird, isn't it? Sounds like you have a good doc -- glad they were able to get both out. Hope pupper heals quickly and is home with you soonest.

[FLT]

I just checked in with the hospital and they said that Drake finished waking up just fine, and that he's in a nice large run with a couple of soft comforters to use as a bed. He is sleeping at the moment, but they said he has been a little anxious off and on, pacing around in his run and panting.

They haven't offered him food yet, but are expecting to do so around midnight - at which point they will also take him out for a walk.


Also, yes Batmom - very weird! I'm glad they are out, but now I'm fretting about the lab results (which will be extra delayed because of the holiday weekend - of course!).

I hope they'll let Drake come home tomorrow.. I know he'll rest better at here.

[foxysmom]

What a roller coaster for you all. Prayers for some quick and uneventful healing.

[dmswartzfager]

Huh. Keep us posted. Healing thoughts for Drake.

[FullMetalFrank]

Sending prayers for Drake that whatever the "things" were, they are benign, and that he heals up quickly.