Difficult Decision

[Jennicat]

I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to go through with surgery on Cecilie.

She had a rather large lump removed in November that was an adenocarcinoma. Our vet assured me that the lumps would be back, and fast. Sure enough, before she even managed to heal from the last surgery, another lump had appeared. Over the past couple of months, two more have shown up, but no other new ones have appeared in around a month.

So now Cecilie has one underneath her neck, one underneath her armpit, and one on her side.

Our vet had initially suggested not removing them, because they would likely just come back, and she's nearly 2 years old. But now her lumps are starting to impede her mobility. I know she's an older rat, but she's still so plump and sassy. I feel like maybe it would be denying her a chance for an even longer life. I'm just afraid that it's a fairly major surgery and I'd feel terrible if she died during surgery when she may have had more painfree months ahead.

Thoughts?

 

[lilspaz68]

Are they deep or more surface? Is it possible that these are just benign mammary tumours instead of more carcinomas? If her health is really good, and they look more cutaneous than anything, I would go for it

 

[Jennicat]

The one on her neck is probably the deepest, and the one on her side is skin level. Given their placement I would say they're probably not mammary tumors (the last one she had out was under the OTHER armpit, so two of the new ones are within a 1 inch axis of the last one) and they have the same distinctive feel as the last tumor. (Almost like a coral? Not contained, but webbing and branched to an extent). The one on her side may be a mammary tumor as it is rather large and round and doesn't seem to be displaying the webbing characteristics of the other two.

The vet is least concerned about the biggest lump on her side, as it is very close to the surface and unlikely to cause issues with removal. (It's roughly the size of a big marble)

He is of medium concern about the armpit tumor -- the last one did not have any vascularization and was easy to remove, but she took a long time to heal because that area has a lot of stretch and movement to it, especially for a hyper pudge like her. (It's about the size of a normal marble)

He is most concerned about the one on her throat. He feels like there is a very likely chance that is had a lot of blood vessels to be tangled up in there, and (of course) it's a small area full of arteries and her windpipe where he may not have the most wiggle room. It is also likely to start choking her if it decides to grow and probably the one we need to focus on removing the most. (It's around the size of a pea).