Calcified Growth On Shoulder

[cleptogrey]

we have noticed an occasion yelp, scream (annie, my 7.5 year old is a screamer) concerning her left shoulder. we have watched it- the first incident was sudden lameness around a year ago- a round of metacam seemed to fix it. then in december- a yelp while putting on her pajamas- over the head- leg thru arm hole. so, we stopped using her P.J.s and used a light weight coat at night. then we stopped using the coat and just threw a blanket(we also have since our house is 58 at night) on annie. around 3 weeks ago she woke up screaming- i went in to check, static electricity. so, i sprayed everything w/ static guard the next day. the yelping subsided until.....our road trip to sarasota, florida.

 

she started in on our southern route w/ a couple of her screams of death- but no signs of limping when we walked them at pit stops. then one day at the beach she did one of the crazy greyhound jumps on lead when the beach umbrella toppled over. after that, it was screaming in a variety of positions. needless to say we headed north back to ny prematurely. i called my vet- he prescribed aspirins for 2 days and soft food thinking it was a neck injury- a logical diagnosis after my conversation.

 

barreling up rt 95- it took us 3 days since we just couldn't seem to drive for more than 12 hrs at a clip. traffic in the virginia/washington area was super slow! i contacted some other vets in my area,needless to say thru our rescue group's referral i ended up at our local speciality center/er center w/ an excellent orthopedic surgeon(my vet does not have an x-ray machine and is semi-retired, he's not there in the afternoon or fridays- we returned mid-thursday). the digital X-ray reveal no tumors or fractures just a strange calcification at the site where the tendon/ligament joins in the front. the ortho. specialist has never seen this before and sent the rads over for a second opinion- they both haven't seen this. manipulation to the joint show pain- but he was not sure of the level since she is a screamer(god forbid you step on her toe!) the calcified points are not tender to the touch. there are some signs of maybe a sprain but nothing has popped out of place- rads show excellent joint placement. neck looks good as well.

 

so, anyone ever deal w/ this? we are trying rest(at least one to two months), gabapentin, tramadol and metacam. i do not have the funds for a CAT scan or MRI, that was his next suggestion. we are not looking into a tic borne disease yet- she did show an exposure to erilichia(sp) and one tic has been removed last fall. that my personal vet can test for or treat.the surgeon was very understanding of our financial limitations and is being conservative. he even called places to get me the best prices on the med- a real Menche(good hearted person). he did mention orthoscopic surgery at the site(that's what the 2nd opinion also agreed on), but that's way-way down the road.

 

i'll be checking in w/ the ortho vet is a week- or before if she is not progressing. right now, there has been a marked improvement- annie slept the night, she is not screaming when she moves or get up. i thought the police were going to be knocking on our hotel room(at la quinta- very clean and nice) as we traveled north- every couple of hrs she was screeching!! annie greeted me at the door when i returned after helping w/ a haul. she even picked up her 36" monkey toy today!

 

thanks for your input-

andrea and screaming annie!

[macoduck]

My Gracie had a calcification near her shoulder. Although she had on/off limping, she did not yelp like your girl.

 

Working in xray I agreed with what my vet said - when a tendon gets a tear or overly stretched, the body tries to heal itself. It's similar to getting heal spurs and knee spurs (both of which I have).

 

We used tramadol occasionally when Gracie's limp worsened.

 

I hope you can find relief for your girl.

[cleptogrey]

thank you!!