OK, the good news. The xrays showed no problems with any of Spencer’s remaining legs. All clear there. No tumors around there either. The limping is probably due to some sort of soft tissue injury, so he is on an NSAID and rest for a week.
And for the worrisome news… Since they were doing x-rays anyway (which apparently Spencer was great for), I asked if they would go ahead and also take a look at his lungs. Good news, his lungs are all clear. Bad news, they saw 3 masses – one about the size of a quarter, 2 about the size of dimes. They are inside the chest cavity (I think), in an area where it COULD just be swollen lymph nodes. Maybe still from the surgery? But it could be something problematic. He is e-mailing the x-rays to Spencer’s oncologist and will find out tomorrow if the oncologist is even in the office this week. I sure hope he is. Our family vet does know that these 3 spots were NOT there the day of Spencer’s amputation because they did x-rays the day before (digital) to make sure the lungs were clear (remember, we moved fast – from seeing the tumor to amputation was a week, so we didn’t take a lot of time for additional tests). There was no hint of these spots on those X-rays from August 23.
Possible next steps… we get him in with the oncologist for an ultrasound to get a better idea of what is there. We also do a needle aspirate of them to try to find out what they are. Our family doctor said that they are in a location that they can be surgically removed; but we would want a good surgeon. One hope that we do have is that possibly the Cardiologist MIGHT have gotten a view of this same area when she did Spencer’s cardio workup about a month after the amputation. If she did, then we can have an idea of if these were there then.
For now… I’m not sure what to do. I can’t really make plans until the oncologist looks at things. There is a good chance that I will go ahead and fly back early from our ski trip so that I can get him to the oncologist next week. That is just too much to ask the pet sitter to do. 🙁
If you wouldn’t mind keeping him in your thoughts and prayers, we sure would appreciate it.