Spleen cancer?? - Page 1

Hi, I have read a couple of posts regarding this but just wanted some more feedback. I am soo confused as to what to do. Please all comments are appreciated.
So, Just over a week ago i took my GSD sadie for her annual check up. She is 11.5 yrs old. Her blood work, urine test, stool test basically everything came back normal except her X-rays showed a mass around her spleen and in her lung. the Vet suggested to get an ultrasound done so 4 days ago i took her to an oncologist. The ultra sound revealed No mass around her spleen but showed her spleen was twice its normal size and had turned over itself?? or Flopped over as the vet said... and some lesions on her liver. Her abdominal cavatiy was normal (no bleeding), her kidneys looked excellet, her lympnodes normal and there were No bloodclots present anywhere. She also took some sample fluid from her spleen thinking that it might be lymphoma but under the microscope she said that the cells didnt look like "typical lymphoma cells".
My dog is showing NO signs of any discomfort or pain, she is eating/drinking fine, and still wants to play with her ball.
The Vet is suggesting surgery but i personally dont think she will handle that well (she also has hip dysplasia, so she supports most of her weight on her front)
The docs basically dont even know exactly what is going on with her?? i just felt that none of my questions were being answered and they they just want to experiment on my dog.
Does anybody have any experience with this? Please help me! Just want to know how long i have with my girl till her quality of life is effected??

At risk of sounding hard hearted, I have to say that I would not do spleen surgery on an 11.5 year old dog. They never do spring back to normal the way younger dogs do. I will never do it again. When that situation arises, the dog will eat filet mignon and quail until it dies, and that's as much action as I will take.

double post AGAIN!

Check you PM Box i mailed you.. i have lost 3 dogs to this.

Jackie

I doubt very much that anyone wants to "experiment" on your dog. If you did not feel your questions were answered, that is another issue. A start would be to get a second opinion.

Did you ask the vets about a tumor called hemangiosarcoma? This is a common tumor in large dogs, including GSDs. It will spread, and the bad news about this type of tumor is that they can rupture very suddenly causing the dog to bleed out in minutes. 

As for surgery, this is something you will have to decide, but in such an old dog, I would personally not consider it. It will be expensive, and especially if it is a tumor, it has likely metastasized already. The surgery alone, regardless of reason, will be very hard on such an older dog.

The good news is that, according to you, the dog is not in pain and is eating and drinking and happy. That is worth a lot. So if there is a reason for surgery you may have to make a decision about whether to allow the dog to live for now, until she shows definite signs of discomfort (she may or maynot), or you can elect surgery and hope for the best recovery and more time with her. 

The bottom line is that you should be discussing this with a vet you can talk to and one you trust.

Good luck.

Nisha, I am so sorry you are going thru this. You said there is a mass in the lungs already, enlarged spleen with mass on the liver. I am in agreement with hodie on this also. Your dog is very happy at this time and I am sure since you went to an onco specialist that they are helping you weigh out the options.  May I suggest you write down your questions and be very frank with them, then sit down with the specialist and do a time line on what to expect. This is such a sucky stuff to deal with and again I am sorry.

Always,
Cee

I guess in this situation you have to remember the vet(s) are taught to try to save the animals.  Sometimes the offer to do things which they absolutely KNOW they will not have any control over.  If your girl was between 5- 7 years old;  I MIGHT, and I say might try the surgery;  however,  at 11.5 years old and showing no signs, eating and drinking OK, absolutely I would not do a thing..  And no one can really say how long you will have with your girl, including the vets;  as long as the quality of her life is good, that is all you can hope for.

I would treat every day with her as it  was her last and she will let  you know when the time comes to say good bye, but actually none of us  know when that time will be;  but they usually have their special ways of letting us know.  I would not change anything with her;  just keep watch over her and enjoy every minute with her. 

I have very recently been through this.  In fact, today is one week from my dogs' spleen removal surgery.  He is 11.5 years old.  He had a complete physical in August, including full bloodwork, urine and fecal test, and x-rays of his chest and abdomen.  Everything was normal and appeared normal on the x-rays.  About a month ago, his abdomen looked distended to me - I noticed it and kept an eye on it.   When it didn't change, I took him to the vet.   X-rays showed very little - fluid in the abdomen hid a lot - but vet was pretty sure there was a mass on his spleen.  One vet recommended non-invasive CT scan to see if the tumor had spread or not - "if it's spread no surgery, no spreading then surgery".  Unfortunately I couldn't afford the extra $1000 for the CT scan.  After a couple days of really hard thinking, weighing his age against the fact that I knew he was feeling great, had never had health problems, was still energetic and bright and looking forward to his daily life which was still very active - normal eating, normal pooping, normal everything.  I decided on exploratory surgery - and discussed with the vet the different scenarios that would happen.  If the vet found hemangiosarcoma, or obvious spreading of cancer to his major organs - he would be euthanized on the table.  If not, then the spleen would be removed.

I decided to do this despite his age, because he has been 100% healthy and active with no health problems other than normal slowing down due to age and some spondylosis that causes him to lose flexibility in his spine, though no obvious pain.  in fact this video was made of him one month before the surgery - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxH2fECHrwg     The checkup I had done in August also reinforced my decision in knowing that he was healthy and everything working properly.    In other words,  his quality of life was still good, he was strong and I believed him to be strong enough to survive the surgery itself, depending on what they found once they opened him up.  I decided to go ahead with the surgery sooner rather than later, because I was afraid that later he may become weak due to the mass, and less able to withstand surgery then - so I made the decision within a couple of days and went with it.  I am very happy with my decision.  IF it had been hemangio, or spreading cancer - I would have been grieving for the loss of my dog, but not devastated in knowing he had died while sleeping, pain-free, and never knowing a minute of pain in his life.  He would have died with me trying to help him as best I could.  And if he lived, then he would be with me a little longer, his old happy healthy self still trucking along for - several more months?  Even another year or two was possible.  IF he had had other health problems, or was no longer active or had the quality of life he had before this spenic tumor appeared - then my decision would have been different.

So he went through the surgery, and the vet removed the spleen.  The spleen did not have a mass in it - it was however very large.  A couple lymph nodes in the area of the spleen were also  large, and vet removed one of them for biopsy.  He noted that there was no obvious spreading, no spots on any of the other organs that he could see, and the lymph nodes in other areas were also normal. 

Eagle recovered from his surgery very quickly and in fact the day after (when I took him home) he was already getting up off his bed to chase after the cats, and he got his orbee ball out of the toy basket and squished it for the rest of the day.  He had no problems with

Eagle recovered from his surgery very quickly and in fact the day after (when I took him home) he was already getting up off his bed to chase after the cats, and he got his orbee ball out of the toy basket and squished it for the rest of the day. He had no problems with recovery at all. I am very happy I made the decision to go through with this surgery - I feel it was the right decision to make in this situation, with my dog.

I wish you the best in making your own decision weighing the pros and cons with your own dog and her situation.

molly

I do want to note that from what my vet told me in preparing to make decisions about Eagle - if the mass (could be ON or IN the spleen) is hemangiosarcoma - the chances that it has spread are great.  Normally hemangio spreads to the liver, and sometimes to the heart.  Hemangio is a very fast-growing deadly cancer.  There is no cure - even when the spleen is removed, the spreading can't be avoided with hemangio.  It would be a small chance that the hemangio (if that's what it is) would be contained in/on the spleen - if it were, then there would be a small chance that removing the spleen right away could cure the problem.  You have said there is evidence of possible spreading to her lung, liver...... This is not a good sign - if it were me, I would consider a CT scan to "see" if in fact the cancer had spread to these major organs - if not then proceed with the surgery to remove the spleen and look around at the other organs - if so, then consider holding off and making the remaining days, weeks, possibly months of your dogs' life as good as you can make them.  Or as I did, exploratory surgery to see for sure - euthanasia on the table if the cancer has spread to the point that your dogs' quality of life will very shortly be compromised by the cancer.  If the ultrasounds have already shown spreading to the liver and lung, then your decision may already be clear to you.



molly