Sam E Bammer... Miraculous Recovery?

[Guest kaotic1]

Hello, All,

 

Long time no post. Sam has been doing great since I last was on. His urinary infection and back have all been fine... until a week ago I notice a red splotch on his chest with what looked like a "mole" in the middle of it. I thought immediatley strawberry cyst he had on his leg, although, the middle part was dark, so I wasn't too worried. The reddish outside is about the size of a quarter and in internal dark middle was a raised bump about the size of a wart. It really reminded me of a human melanoma picture. I did take him to the vet and they took a sample of it (I guess it kind of exploded with blood when poked with the needle). Looking under the microscope the Vet thinks it might be a hermangiosarcoma but she definately feels there is some sort of cancer going on. We have him scheduled for surgery in two weeks.

 

Since this is on his skin I am hoping this is treatable, and not spread to the rest of his body. Internal hermangiosarcoma sounds pretty scary... almost as scary as Osteo. Any advice would be appreciated!!! I will try to get a picture of it tomorrow, althought it has shrunk considerably since the Vet put the needle in it.

 

 

Jenn

 

Update... today the growth looks much less red and the "bump" is much smaller. The vet said that it exploded with blood when she poked it so maybe that releived some of the "pressure" or something. She described it as being an "angry" red and now it looks more like a bruise. Hope this bodes well for the surgery.

 

 

 

Update... over the last couple of days the "growth" has continued to shrink and the redness went away. Yesterday the black nub thing just FELL OFF... It's completely gone!!! Less than a week!!! Guess he just needed it popped? I am soo happy my little boy doesn't need surgery!!! Good Job SAM!!!

Edited April 7, 2011 by kaotic1

[Guest cruzNhounds]

Oh Jenn Sorry to hear about Sam.

for good results in the coming weeks.

[dante2zoe]

My whippet has had two bouts of dermal hemangiosarcoma - the most recent being 2 weeks ago. He gets these raised blood blister-looking things. We keep an eye on them (he is 14 with other health issues, too) and when one grew rather quickly, it was removed. My vet is confident that he got clean margins. It took over 3 years to get this second tumor, so we are just leaving him alone. If I get 3 more years with him anyway, I would be stunned. My thoughts are with you. Good luck!

[Batmom]

Dermal hemangiosarcoma is often very treatable, as dante2zoe describes. Internal hemangio is actually worse than osteo, by far . Will keep fingers crossed that your sweet Sam has the former, or something even simpler!

[Guest BrianRke]

Im sorry to hear about your terrible ordeal. I hope everything turns out ok for Sam. My first greyhound went to the bridge on 8/31/06 after she was diagnosed with a heart based tumor. She had been at Virginia Tech Veterinary Hospital for almost 2 weeks. I was told the two most likely tumors in this region were chemodectoma or hemangiosarcoma. Neither of these tumors have been sucessfully treated. However I have heard that dermal hemangiosarcoma is highly treatable if caught in time.

 

Please keep us updated on his progress. Wishing you all the best.

[Charlies_Dad]

Sending good thoughts for Sam and you. I hope it's dermal hemangio and nothing more.

[Guest freightsmom]

Your picture looks exactly like Freigtliner's hemangios. We've been dealing with dermal hemangiosarcoma for almost 3 yrs now. He has a board certified dermatologist and we keep a close eye on anything that remotely looks like a hemangio. The key is to find them early, remove them and make sure you have clean margins. Here's a site that was helpful to me when he was first diagnosed My link

 

Sending lots of good wishes your way!

[Guest kaotic1]

Thanks for all the good thoughts. I think they worked... I updated in POST 1 but the darn thing has fallen off!! Weird huh?

[Remolacha]

Well, that's great!

[Guest mbfilby]

I didn;t see this post originally. Both our greys get something just like this. The dark park is basically a scab. I soak then with a hot cloth until the scab rubs off, which causes some bleeding. I treat the area with iodine and they usually disappear... until the next one shows up. If left alone the scab will usually fall off on it's own but will re-grow.

[greyhead]

great news! Thanks for the update!

[Guest freightsmom]

Thanks for all the good thoughts. I think they worked... I updated in POST 1 but the darn thing has fallen off!! Weird huh?

 

Hemangios will fall off on their own, they have on Freight. What you want to do is watch and make sure it does not come back in the same place. Also, you can have hemangiomas and hemangiosarcomas. I checked the first pathology report on Freight and of 5 samples, 2 were hemangiomas and 3 were hemangiosarcomas. Only a biopsy will give you a determination of which it is. Probably more info than you need at this point but I figure it's always good to know the enemy you are dealing with.

[Guest madredhare]

I have had this same thing happen with Sadie. They appear and then they miraculously go away. I was concerned for her because she had several places removed that contained mast cells. I did take her to the vet once after the disappearance and they suggested when something like that popped up, to circle it with magic marker, then they could look at the area after it went away. Last time we went in for one of the spots, they removed it and sent it off to pathology, but it was nothing. I lovingly refer to Sadie as "my million dollar baby"!