Jane - trying a steriod re red blood cells

[SQ]

Jane will be 2 years old in Feb.
Her brother Zachary died unexpectedly on Christmas morning at about 10 months and her sister Judy was recently pts re huge heart giving little room for her lungs to expand + tumour in her abdomen.
Jane was being medicated for a respir infection but was better and meds were ended a few weeks ago.
She is smaller then her siblings as was her sister Judy.
Recently Jane has been getting eye drops each evening re porphrin in one eye.
Tonight Jane had porpherin around both eyes and when I put eye drops into her eyes I discovered a large lump on the base of her throat. In one place, it feels attached.

Started her on clavamox but think I will switch to metronidazole.
Tried to apply a warm cloth to the lump but it bothered her and she became agitated and her breathing became noisy.
So ... abscess, inoperable fast growing tumour, or mammary tumour ...

Will do whatever it takes to get Jane in to see the vet on Monday ....
My experience has been that lumps on the face and neck have been tumours or abscesses associated with fast growing inoperatable tumours that have lead to death in less then a week after discovery.

Neelde biopsy showed normal looking cells with high level of protien therefore likely thyroid tumour
I am very afraid.
Any suggestions?

 

[jorats]

:sad3:
You've got everything covered. I'd give Clavamox a bit longer though. Recently, I tried metro on a spay abscess and it did absolutely nothing.

 

[SQ]

ok thanks Jorats

 

[Joanne]

Keeping my fingers crossed that she just has an abscess...

 

[SQ]

Thanks
Vet apt at 12 noon as it was the soonest they could get me in when I phoned at 8 am yesterday.
Jane's lump seems a bit larger to me.
She must be feeling awful ... the porphrin around her eyes is frightening.
Jane is a pink eyed white girl and her face looks absolutely terrifying due to the way her eyes look.
The medicated eye drops from the vet are not helping her eyes (nor are they helping her brother Matthew's eye).

Hoping the lump is just an uncomplicated abscess not associated with a tumour ...
or that it is a nonmaliganant tumoir that can be easily removed ...

On a positive note, Jane enjoys her meds (baytril + clavamox)
and comes running for them whenever she sees me.

(Moses (chf & lump & deterioating breathing, and possible pt), Benjamin (on metacam for horribly swollen foot),
Alberta May (obese, hed), and Miriam (on met for inner ear infection) may be coming along)

 

[SQ]

The news isn't very good re Jane's lump on her throat.
It is not an abscess.
It appears to be a thyroid tumour that is attached.
Since I tend to be aware of any physical changes in my rats and only noticed the lump on Saturday, we suspect that the tumour is likely growing rapidly.
A slide is being sent off to the lab today to see if the tumour is malignant.

The tumour is in an extremely dangerous place re removal as it is against the carotid artery, making survival of any surgery unlikely.
Jane looks like the tumour is really stressing her.

:sad3:

 

[lilspaz68]

Flower at 29 months old has a tumour on her throat as well, I noticed it 3 days ago. Even if it grows fast it won't matter unless its interfering with her breathing inside, so I watch and wait. Its' not bothering her yet. I am sorry, these types of things suck.

 

[SQ]

Flower at 29 months old has a tumour on her throat as well, I noticed it 3 days ago. Even if it grows fast it won't matter unless its interfering with her breathing inside, so I watch and wait. Its' not bothering her yet. I am sorry, these types of things suck.

Yeah ..... and Jane is so young, not even two yet ...

Initially I thought it might be interfering with her breathing,
and there is some concern re this tumour and the condition of Jane's esophagus ....
.... and Jane isn't eating much, aklthough she is eager to grab onto her treats after meds are given ....

 

[SQ]

Jane's lump is growing very fast.
In a week it has grown from barely visiable to quite large ... 5xs as large?

The vet has expressed concerns as to her future breathing, etc
I am considering surgery (apt on Wed.), but I don't know what do do ...
I want whatever is best for Jane ...
and surgery is a very huge risk ... good chance it will kill her,
or if the vet can not get it all because of placement, then Jane will be in pain, healing from the surgery, likely for the remainder of her life ....
Jane will be 2 years old in February

Any ideas?
What have you done in similar situations?

 

[Godmother]

Poor sweetie. If the vet is not optimistic it might be kinder to let her go before she gets any worse. I'd be concerned about breathing and pain, both of which could change fast.

 

[mamarat]

I agree with Godmother, I'm so sorry SQ.

 

[SQ]

Actually, I think the vet would like to do the surgery .... he just wants me to know the risks,
But he will not give his opinion ....
However he did suggest I make the surgery appointment for tommorw and said he would xray Jane's mama Miriam at the same time as it looks like Mirriam may have chf.

At present Jane has been having lots of porphrin in both eyes for a few weeks.
I have been giving her medicated eye drops which haven't helped.
I wonder if the growing lump is causing her pain.
I started giving her medicam last week but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I had started giving Jane clavamox & baytril last week when I thought it might be an abscess.
I continued as in my experience rats with facial and neck tumours develop associated abscesses,
but I mainly continued the abs because when I enter the room, Jane runs to the age door to greet me.
She eagerly takes her meds and looks at me like she is confident that I will make it all better.

 

[mamarat]

I know if my vet was willing to try then I would go for it. I must have misread your earlier post, I thought he was not confident enough to do it. Fingers crossed for your sweeties.

 

[SQ]

Thanks mamarat.
I thought the same but when I spoke to him yeasterday he clarified that he just wanted me to know that it was high risk.
I'm just trying to figure out what would be best for Jane.
This is breaking my heart.

I really appreciate your comments.

 

[Dahlas]

Very hard decision...I am not sure what I would do....I think I would try it and if she died during surgery I would know I tried....

 

[SQ]

It is difficult to get pictures of Jane as she is a pink eyed white

here are a few I took last night ....

Jane and her daddy Benjamin

and Jane with her brother Craig

As you can see, the lump isn't too big yet, although it is growing rapidly.
So Jane hopefully still has some good time left ....
But if Jane is going to have surgery, sooner is better then later ....

 

[jorats]

Sooner rather than later is definitely better. I too like mamarat would trust my vet and let her do the surgery if she felt good about it.

 

[Godmother]

If Scott is ready to try it, then it would not only be helpful for Jane; it would give the vet another experience to add to his rat knowledge base.

 

[SQ]

Jane had surgery this morning , Dr Stewart thinks he may have gotten it all, and Jane is doing well.

I am so very happy!!
Afraid at how close I came at not having the surgery.

 

[mamarat]

:joy: That's fantastic!