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Update On Ruby After Splenectomy - Cancer


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As per my other (cruciate ligament) thread, Ruby's just had a major operation to remove her spleen and a tumour. The specialist surgeon can't be sure of what we're dealing with until the pathology comes back some time next week ( ;) ) but Ruby seems to have come out of the surgery okay.

We never expected this; it was a complete and utter surprise and not the phone call you want to get when you've sent your dog in for cruciate surgery. That surgery will likely never proceed, depending on her prognosis post-tumour removal.

We hope she will be well enough to come home late tomorrow.

Please join me in hoping it's benign...OH would be completely devastated if it's malignant.

This dog has to be one of the luckiest or unluckiest dogs I've ever known, depending on how you view it: she went in to repair a bung knee and instead will come home minus one organ and a cancerous mass.

Edited by lillysmum
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Hopefully the prognosis is good and the knee surgery can go ahead still... after all she may have many healthy years ahead of her and will need a good knee :)

Stay positive. Sometimes we can get the worst news, but there are times it doesn't turn out half as bad as we (in our understandable worry) make it out to be. We all adapt and cope, none better than the little furries. I'm sure Ruby will take this in her stride - and hopefully the results come back as benign, and there is every possibility that can happen.

Will stay tuned to hear some more positive updates ;)

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Well, poor Ruby is still in hospital. She's been vomiting this morning so they're keeping her in for observation again tonight. She's had nothing to eat since Tuesday evening and they're now giving her some anti-nausea drugs. The vet thinks she's reacting to the pain medication. All being well they intend to feed her this evening and see how she goes...we hope she can keep down whatever they give her.

On the positive side, she's brightened up and has been very vocal and wagging her tail this morning. We take any good news we can get ATM. ;)

She might come home tomorrow...I'm hoping so. It's far too quiet without her here. :D

I still can't believe what's happened. :(

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I'm trying so hard not to worry. :p

The giant crate is in the lounge room waiting for her to come home. OH will sleep downstairs if necessary rather than carrying her upstairs to our room each night, until she's feeling better. We don't know how big her wound is, or what exactly we're dealing with...so it's a horrible waiting game...

Thanks for your well-wishes and please keep them coming! I don't want to think about her not making it. :D

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Thanks Jodie...we're hoping it's benign...but with the holidays, the path results will take a bit longer. The surgeon didn't give us any indication of whether it looked benign or not. I think if he thought it looked bad, he would have told us. He doesn't seem the type of vet to hold back any details.

Poor Ruby goes in for a blown cruciate and they discover a tumour instead...just her rotten luck.

The surgeon did mention chemotherapy but we've already decided (if it's the worst news) not to go down that road. I know it works wonders for a lot of dogs, Ollie especially springs to mind, but we wouldn't want to put ourselves or Ruby through it. She's had a lot of medical issues and it wouldn't be fair to put her through anything else.

Trying to stay positive...trying to stay positive...trying to stay positive.

We both had a "bad feeling" when she went in on Tuesday, but we hope the feeling was related to the finding of the tumour and nothing more. :D

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  lillysmum said:
Poor Ruby goes in for a blown cruciate and they discover a tumour instead...just her rotten luck.

LM ..... I know this is cold comfort, but try to look at things this way, at least for now. If Ruby had not blown her cruciate, the tumour would not have been detected. And maybe later down the track the tumour might not have been operable. At least, for the time being, there's a chance.

I know that's not enough to have you celebrating, but it might be a different angle to look at it, to shift the weight of bad luck. If even only by a teensy bit.

I'm sorry - this sounds lame even as I type it and I know it will not alleviate one ounce of worry on your minds.

Edited by Erny
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  Erny said:
LM ..... I know this is cold comfort, but try to look at things this way, at least for now. If Ruby had not blown her cruciate, the tumour would not have been detected. And maybe later down the track the tumour might not have been operable. At least, for the time being, there's a chance.

I know that's not enough to have you celebrating, but it might be a different angle to look at it, to shift the weight of bad luck. If even only by a teensy bit.

I'm sorry - this sounds lame even as I type it and I know it will not alleviate one ounce of worry on your minds.

Actually, I think you're absolutely right Erny... if not for the cruciate issues who knows how long this tumour could have been wreaking havoc before it was detected, or before obvious symptoms were observed.

It's awful news, no doubt, but catching it earlier than normal may be just what is needed to give Ruby her chance.

Thinking of you all.

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Our "little brown dog" finally came home yesterday! :o

She's a bit of a mess I'm afraid to say...they had prepped her for the cruciate surgery so the affected leg is shaved down. Plus she's had an IV in place so her opposite front leg is shaved down. Then there's the "zipper" down her middle...the white dressing which covers her relatively large wound. Her abdomen and sides are also shaved down. And she's lost even more weight (she was losing weight due to the elimination diet)...so she's really scrawny around the back end now due to a combination of not using the sore leg, lying around in hospital and the restricted diet.

She was very dopey yesterday so she pretty much slept all day. She's a bit brighter today and wants out of the crate! So OH has her in his study just now, resting in one of the big dog beds. She's super-happy to be home! :)

She's a bit unhappy about being kept quiet...if you know Ruby you know she's just a ball of energy. So this is not making her happy at all. We take her outside only to toilet and she's obviously on lead (which she isn't very impressed about)...but she'll thank us one day I'm sure.

Once the results are in, I'll post up the news. I'm hoping it's benign...my instincts tell me it is. :)

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