Lab Said She Had Cancer, Had An Op

[Staranais]

It is still terribly bad luck for you guys, though. Even though there are lots of ways an incident like this can happen without being anyone's "fault", it's still a huge PITA for you and your poor dog. I hope her recovery is smooth and uneventful!

[Mila's Mum]

If a lab is unable to 100% confirm a diagnosis surely it's more appropriate for the result to be 'inconclusive' than going 'well it kinda could be cancer, and the dogs had a cancer before so let's just say it's cancer'

My vet did say she was going to query the initial result with the lab bec they were so specific with the diagnosis - she said normally if they aren't sure, they will return an open finding, but they didn't in this case. My girl goes back on Friday to have the stitches out so hopefully I will find out more. She's been displaying a couple of moments of odd behaviour, so I'm hoping it's just the effects of the anaesthetic wearing off

[Everythings Shiny]

Mila's Mum - I had a similar scare when my boy D got incredibly sick. I rushed him to my work and we ran every test under the sun and two lots of lab tests said he has severe lymphoma and another blood cancer (having a mind blank atm of the name). I then had to make the decision of whether to start treatment, or let him go. My boss was not convinced that was the cause, so he asked for more tests. All came back fine, just mild anemia, we were all stumped, so we sent more bloods, and again came back clear. Do I blame anyone? No, do we know what happened? Another big no.

Either way, everyone in the veterinary industry are human, mistakes will happen and I think people need to remember that.

Wasn't it fortunate that your boy only had to undergo blood tests for you to find out the initial diagnosis was incorrect. Maybe if he'd had to undergo something more radical, you might want some answers as well.

I still want answers, don't worry. D was days away from starting chemo as no operation could save him if it was what was initially diagnosed.

If your able to, find out which lab it was sent to and do some checking around to see if there was other complaints about their results. Might be a way to see if something is going on there.

ETA - Hopefully everything is going to be alright in the end

Edited October 31, 2010 by Everythings Shiny