Mass in Casey James's neck is back :( - Page 2

Good luck Marj & CJ; deep calming breaths & I will send you positive energy & prayers. Maybe it is just scar tissue forming over where his surgery was....! jackie harris

Marjorie, it was just food in the stomach!  See this thread here: http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/forum.read?mnr=798586-good-thoughts-desired

.....she has had two emergency foreign obstruction surgeries plus having her stomach tacked four years ago) thus the mass the vets found had been the last section full of food and fluid and the stomach may well have tried to flip.

Oh dear Majorie, my prayers and thoughts are with you and CJ. Are you in an area of the country that has foxtails? When my Remy was 7. her neck blew up about triple size and the ultraound and mri showed a mass surrounding the jugular. The specialty vet went in (18 inch incision) and found what appeared to be a massive infection in the muscle and tissue - vaccumed it out and cleaned it but could not find any obvious cause. We discussedd training injury(possible), snake bites ( very unlikely she would have killed the snake), foxtails (always posible  because we tracked but I always tried to be super careful). spider bites ( much more likely and CA has some nasty spiders) etc. Thought we were good until 3 months later a hole opened up in her neck discharging pus. Specialty vet's answer was to come back for another $3000 operation - which I could not afford. (arrgh!!)

Went to a local older very pragmatic experienced vet. His working theory was she had swallowed a foxtail and it had taken a right turn into the neck which apparently is not uncommon. Problem is they are next to impossible to find because the neck is underlayed with a mass of tubules - like a subway system neckwork and small irritants can slide away into another tube with just a turn of the neck. He suggested treating with antibiotics to control the infection and calm the inflamation and then he could go in and follow the track back to where ever the foxtail was lodged. It ended up not quite working that way what we found a year later when in operated was whatever it was had pierced the chest wall and was floating around inside her with no way to detect it or retireve it until it did damage. We maintained her on antibiotics for another two years and then took the chance of slowly taking her off of them.

In the end it was hemangio that took her at 11 - always too soon - not whatever the mystery neck mass was or was caused by.

blessings, beth

Marjorie-sent you a PM, Deb

No foxtails around here in NY surburbia.. Its definitely a calcification from an injury that wasnt tended to, before he got to me... The specialist said it tried to heal itself so it threw layers of calcium around the injury, as it tried to heal itself. I am back in Missie T mode- taking one day at a time until we see the specialist...   It has set me back, just as I was making progress... CJ is sensitive, though, so I have to muster up the exterior bravado, for his sake... Its just a place I didnt wan tto go back to, so soon.....

Tig, there is just no good way to lose a fur kid... NOT ONE! :( They all suck...

brought cj to the specialist today. he needs a CT scan, whichthey will do this afternoon. They said its the only way to get a 3 dimensional view which will allow them to place it over the original CT scan to see if it is the same place and if it has grown back to the same size or if it is actively growing and to what extent. Nightmare.....

Here is a photo of his CT scan.. You can see the calcification on the right side of the photo. It is  1 1/2" x 1". It is smaller than the original one. There are also smaller calcifications above the larger one by the vertebrae bones in his neck  on the right side as well. The specialist said we will watch it for a year, if I do not see it growing any larger, as it is not big enough to harm him. He doesnt feel CJ needs surgery at this point, thank God....

So glad surgery is not needed at this time,hopefully it will not enlarge

Deb

Hurrah that surgery is not needed! Will keep both of you in my thoughts and prayers. Beth