Annagain
Well-Known Member
Not even sure why I'm writing this, just to get it out, I think.
My 11-12ish year old rescue dog has developed two lumps in her throat area. They popped up pretty much overnight. She's riddled with lipomas so I assumed that's what they were but as they were close to her wind pipe I thought it best to check them out in case they were going to interfere with her breathing. We went to the vet last night and he's concerned -due to the location more than anything - that they might be an "enlarged thyroid".
He never mentioned tumours but having googled (I know, I know) it seems that the main (if not only) cause of an enlarged thyroid is tumours and 90% of the tumours that develop to a detectable size are malignant. The fact that there's one on each side also seems suspect to me - with hindsight, the chances of two lipomas in that area at the same time seems like a huge coincidence. I never thought it was anything other than lipomas but thinking about it, the thyroid makes so much more sense.
He took a fine needle aspirate to send for histology. Having done that he was more hopeful that they are lipomas as the matter he removed was very clear and looked quite oily/fatty to him. He said thyroid tumours often have a lot more blood in them so the matter would normally be pinkish rather than clear, but obviously that's not always the case. We should know by the end of the week. She has no other symptoms is eating and drinking normally, isn't snoring any more than she always has and is her usual bright and bouncy self.
I'm terrified it could be cancer and if so, how long she'll have. I don't want to put her through extensive surgery at her age, although she's very fit other than a bit of arthritis and doesn't act her age at all. From an entirely selfish point of view, my biggest fear at the moment is that it could be weeks rather than months. My OH and I are going on the Lions tour in 4 weeks for a month. We've saved for 10 years for this trip. M will be staying with my parents as she always does when we go away and I don't want them to have to deal with any of this or have to make any decision while we're away. They already do enough for me and I could never ask them to take that responsibility. If that's likely, I'd rather call it a day before we go but the thought of only having a few weeks left with her is heartbreaking. The only info I can find about prognosis is if they have successful surgery.
My 11-12ish year old rescue dog has developed two lumps in her throat area. They popped up pretty much overnight. She's riddled with lipomas so I assumed that's what they were but as they were close to her wind pipe I thought it best to check them out in case they were going to interfere with her breathing. We went to the vet last night and he's concerned -due to the location more than anything - that they might be an "enlarged thyroid".
He never mentioned tumours but having googled (I know, I know) it seems that the main (if not only) cause of an enlarged thyroid is tumours and 90% of the tumours that develop to a detectable size are malignant. The fact that there's one on each side also seems suspect to me - with hindsight, the chances of two lipomas in that area at the same time seems like a huge coincidence. I never thought it was anything other than lipomas but thinking about it, the thyroid makes so much more sense.
He took a fine needle aspirate to send for histology. Having done that he was more hopeful that they are lipomas as the matter he removed was very clear and looked quite oily/fatty to him. He said thyroid tumours often have a lot more blood in them so the matter would normally be pinkish rather than clear, but obviously that's not always the case. We should know by the end of the week. She has no other symptoms is eating and drinking normally, isn't snoring any more than she always has and is her usual bright and bouncy self.
I'm terrified it could be cancer and if so, how long she'll have. I don't want to put her through extensive surgery at her age, although she's very fit other than a bit of arthritis and doesn't act her age at all. From an entirely selfish point of view, my biggest fear at the moment is that it could be weeks rather than months. My OH and I are going on the Lions tour in 4 weeks for a month. We've saved for 10 years for this trip. M will be staying with my parents as she always does when we go away and I don't want them to have to deal with any of this or have to make any decision while we're away. They already do enough for me and I could never ask them to take that responsibility. If that's likely, I'd rather call it a day before we go but the thought of only having a few weeks left with her is heartbreaking. The only info I can find about prognosis is if they have successful surgery.
