by the way, I did put on the surgery schedule for Friday but I am having second thoughts.......obviously 
Advice for Mammary Surgery
Hi All, not sure if you recall but I posted a couple weeks ago regarding my newly adopted girl and the vet finding a breast mass. I was planning on getting her a second look at another vet but in the meantime last week I found another much more scary feeling hard mass in the opposite side. I took her in for eval. on Friday for which they recommended surgery. From reading up on the subject of mammary cancer, it tends to spread to the lungs so I requested a chest xray be done pre-op (this was not suggested by the vet). Her labwork was OK other than a mildly elevated white count but she has a nodule on her chest xray. The vet suggested she was not sure it could be metastatic disease but that her lungs look "old". The nodule appeared to be fairly good size (although the images were digital and blown up a bit). I researched online and found one page which mentioned metastatic mammary cancer can present as a solitary nodule or a reticular (lacy) appearance to the lungs. So I am feeling a bit lost at the moment. I feel like the vet still encourages surgery (am I the only person who feels jaded that of course they want to operate as it makes money??) It's not the cost of surgery that bothers me but the possibility of putting my sweet girl through a major surgery (spay plus near removal of both mammary chains) and all the risks it entails when her time may be limited to begin with. The shelter estimated her age to be 6 but the vet feels she is really more like in the 8 to 10 yr range. She is such a sweet girl and really acts pretty spunky, though I have thought at times she seems a little short of breath. Ahh, decisions.....decisions. So I vent and ask for some opinions here. Thanks for listening.
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Aww, so sorry, Ms. Annie... well, my first feeling is that often it is difficult to get a definitive diagnosis by xray. usually like to confirm by tissue diagnosis reviewed by a Pathologist. ie. a lung nodule could be a number of things. you can make a best guess based on what's on radiograph, but there are often other things it can be...
second is a question-- is there a less invasive/less drastic/less expensive way of finding out if cancer is involved? ie. like biopsy or FNA (fine-needle aspiration). then at least you might be able to get a preliminary answer... (though still might need surgery/open biopsy if they don't get a definitive answer)
third-- re: quality of life issues. If (but paws crossed that it's not...) it is the worst-case scenario you imagine, ie. cancer, would a major surgery like the one your vet is suggesting improve 1. quality of life she has left 2. the odds of prolonging her life... if yes to one or both, then might be good to consider the surgery, even if it is more invasive...
those are my thoughts about your situation. Worm & I sending healing thoughts your way...
ps. also occurs to us that you recently had to deal w/Bentley's cancer one way of looking at it is that if I were Annie and for some reason had cancer, I'd be grateful to be with someone like you, who cares about me and takes care of me, even in my last days... and tries to make me as happy and comfortable as possible..
second is a question-- is there a less invasive/less drastic/less expensive way of finding out if cancer is involved? ie. like biopsy or FNA (fine-needle aspiration). then at least you might be able to get a preliminary answer... (though still might need surgery/open biopsy if they don't get a definitive answer)
third-- re: quality of life issues. If (but paws crossed that it's not...) it is the worst-case scenario you imagine, ie. cancer, would a major surgery like the one your vet is suggesting improve 1. quality of life she has left 2. the odds of prolonging her life... if yes to one or both, then might be good to consider the surgery, even if it is more invasive...
those are my thoughts about your situation. Worm & I sending healing thoughts your way...
ps. also occurs to us that you recently had to deal w/Bentley's cancer
one way of looking at it is that if I were Annie and for some reason had cancer, I'd be grateful to be with someone like you, who cares about me and takes care of me, even in my last days... and tries to make me as happy and comfortable as possible..
I love that. Brought tears to my eyes. Annie is in such good hands
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