Swollen Wrist

[Saharasmom]

Just had the vet appointment that every greyhound owner dreads. Sahara started limping on Thursday, seemed better on Friday, then limped worse over the weekend. DH and I noticed this weekend that the bone abover her wrist is swollen as well. Two years ago, she broke & dislocated her wrist, so the joint has been larger than normal. The x-rays showed increased calcification in her wrist bones, but a degeneration of the bone above her wrist. The vet said it could either be a bone infection or the beginning stages of osteo. He did say that she was very stoic if she has osteo, as she didn't react when he palpated the lump. Other than the limp, she seems fine. She was very excited when I got her leash for the vet trip & chattered away when I went through the Starbucks drive-through. This was all before I got any pain meds from the vet.

 

Anyway, I left the vet with 10 day antibiotic and Deramaxx prescriptions. I'll take her back in 10 days (2 weeks? I should have written it down) for repeat x-rays. Has anyone on the board actually had a greyhound with a bone infection? I don't think she is at risk of Valley Fever, as she raced in FL then lived in NC. I read about swollen wrists on Greytalk this weekend and saw that she looked pretty similar to some other osteo cases.

 

The lump I'm worried about is above her wrist on the left.

 

And a picture of the pretty girl earlier this summer...

[Guest Smiley]

I'm so sorry you're going through this. We know the fear and dread of worrying about osteo. Years back Smiley had a very swollen toe that our vet ended up amputating because he feared cancer. As it turned out, it was a severe infection as indicated in the path report. I'm sorry I can't remember the details of what kind of infection and whether it involved the bone or just tissue, but my hope is that you're results will indicate an infection too. Hang in there and give Sahara a big hug!

[BauersMom]

Can you get your vet to send the X-rays to OSU for a consult?

 

We were in the same boat and were told to wait two weeks, repeat x-rays etc. But I was encouraged to get the x-rays to OSU sooner rather than later.

 

Fingers crossed for your girl.

[HopeForHounds]

I would ask for a fine needle aspiration of the suspicious area. The will tell you whether it is infection or not.

 

Praying that is what you are looking at and Sahara is back to normal soon.

[GeorgeofNE]

My dog Kramer (not a greyhound) had a bone infection. There was no lump. There was no pain. We only discovered it when he spiked a very high fever. He had surgery a year before that involved cutting a bone. That surgery took FOREVER to heal, and in retrospect, we should have been much more aggressive in trying to figure out why.

 

He had to have his surgical hardware removed, his joint drained, and he was on two different antibiotics for two months ($550 just for the pills).

 

Don't know if this helps at all--but I think if it were a bone infection, she's have some signs of it in blood work. I know mine did.

[tbhounds]

Ugh-truthfully it does look like osteo. You know the old saying if it looks like a duck...... I would sent the films to OSU and ask your vet about performing an aspirate to submit for a cytology. Remember no bone biopsy- you may fracture the limb doing so.

Fingers crossed it's not what we fear. Holding positive thoughts!

Edited to add- she's very pretty!

Edited September 12, 2011 by tbhounds

[Houndtime]

Good thoughts for your girl.

[Remolacha]

[racindog]

Goldie's looked like that from a snake bite. There was very small puncture wounds vet found and luckily snake wasn't seriously poison or didn't inject because he got well with minimal treatment.

[Burpdog]

At the very least, send the xrays to a radiologist for an opinion. In two weeks there might not be enough change to see anything. We xrayed Mahogany every 2 weeks for 6-8 weeks. With Pablo, I waited 3 weeks.

 

Sending prayers.

[Saharasmom]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

 

Sahara luckily did not require surgery when she broke her wrist and has no other hardware. Her temperature was normal at the exam. We will get the results of her CBC tomorrow, but I think the vet said either an infection or cancer could cause elevated WBC.

 

For a multitude of reasons, I think we would treat osteo with palliative care only. With that being the case, do you guys still think it would be worthwhile to get a consult with OSU and push my vet for the FNA?

 

Honestly, I think I'm just in denial and am hoping she will be back to normal by the end of the week.

[BauersMom]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

 

Sahara luckily did not require surgery when she broke her wrist and has no other hardware. Her temperature was normal at the exam. We will get the results of her CBC tomorrow, but I think the vet said either an infection or cancer could cause elevated WBC.

 

For a multitude of reasons, I think we would treat osteo with palliative care only. With that being the case, do you guys still think it would be worthwhile to get a consult with OSU and push my vet for the FNA?

 

Honestly, I think I'm just in denial and am hoping she will be back to normal by the end of the week.

 

I would have OSU look at the X-rays even with palliative care, but I would not do the FNA (I didn't and I went for the amp...). There certainly have been enough cases of mis-diagnosis for osteo in either direction, it's good to have the "experts" weigh in or at least have a second opinion done so you know what you're really facing.

 

And it was also helpful to talk to an oncologist to hear about treatment options and options for palliative care, once we had the diagnosis.

 

The submission form is here:

https://greyhound.osu.edu/consultationservice/

[Saharasmom]

Thanks, Bauersmom. I will ask the vet for digital copies of the x-rays tomorrow when we discuss the CBC results. Then I'll fill out the consult form for OSU. What did people do before Greytalk??

[HopeForHounds]

Thanks, Bauersmom. I will ask the vet for digital copies of the x-rays tomorrow when we discuss the CBC results. Then I'll fill out the consult form for OSU. What did people do before Greytalk??

 

I expect they felt very much alone.

[macoduck]

Does the bump feel feverish? Is it mushy or hard?

We got real lucky when Harold lump in the same location turned out to be a spider bite.

for Sahara..........

[TheFullHouse]

Sending good thoughts for your pretty girl.

[tbhounds]

Does the bump feel feverish? Is it mushy or hard?

We got real lucky when Harold lump in the same location turned out to be a spider bite.

for Sahara..........

Except this poor girl has a lytic lesion on the x-ray.

Too many hounds......

.

[EllenEveBaz]

Sending our best thoughts for your beautiful girl.

[TwiggysMom]

This is just too, too, familiar. 5 weeks ago, I posted almost the exact same thing (see "Fungal Bone Infection or Osteo?" on p.7 of H&M). 4 weeks ago, Twiggy's leg was amputated at OSU (b/c I didn't get my wish, and it was osteo).

 

I can't tell you how much I hope this turns out to be "just" a bone infection, but either way, I wouldn't wait 2 weeks to find out. While it sounds like you wouldn't do anything different if it is osteo, if it actually is a bone infection, it would probably be better to get a definitive dx and treatment as soon as possible.

 

My very best wishes to all of you.

[brindlehound]

Magic had a swollen wrist last spring and it turned out to be an infection which antibiotics took care of. Magic wasn't putting much weight on that leg. I was more concerned that he broke his wrist than osteo. The vet was concerned about osteo.

 

Also, sending good thoughts for Sahara.

[GeorgeofNE]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

 

Sahara luckily did not require surgery when she broke her wrist and has no other hardware. Her temperature was normal at the exam. We will get the results of her CBC tomorrow, but I think the vet said either an infection or cancer could cause elevated WBC.

 

For a multitude of reasons, I think we would treat osteo with palliative care only. With that being the case, do you guys still think it would be worthwhile to get a consult with OSU and push my vet for the FNA?

 

Honestly, I think I'm just in denial and am hoping she will be back to normal by the end of the week.

 

I would have OSU look at the X-rays even with palliative care, but I would not do the FNA (I didn't and I went for the amp...). There certainly have been enough cases of mis-diagnosis for osteo in either direction, it's good to have the "experts" weigh in or at least have a second opinion done so you know what you're really facing.

 

And it was also helpful to talk to an oncologist to hear about treatment options and options for palliative care, once we had the diagnosis.

 

The submission form is here:

https://greyhound.osu.edu/consultationservice/

 

Totally agree with this. What's the point of the FNA if the films make clear what you suspect? Since OSU will review the films for free, I would certainly do that.

[NeylasMom]

I agree with others, start by sending the films to OSU asap. They can often make the diagnosis based on radiographs when other vets weren't able to. Hoping that you're not dealing with osteo here.