Some Good News

I just spoke with the veterinary cardiologist, who is absolutely incredible, and got the good news that the fluid from Maggie's pericardium did not test positive for lymphoma.  Now, lymphomas do not tend to exfoliate that much, which means that there are not as many cells to detect in samples, so this is not a guarantee that it is not a lymphoma, but it is a good start.  It also doesn't guarantee that it is not a sarcoma or a carcinoma, but we won't know until the surgery is performed, which will be tomorrow.

The surgery itself is major and I am pretty nervous about that.  The mass is too big (10 cm - about 4 inches!) to remove through thorascopy, so the next step would be to scan her and use a rib spreader to clear enough space to remove the mass.  The most involved would be to actually open her rib cage, but that is pretty drastic.  Unfortunately, there is no way to know until tomorrow.  Amidst my anxiety, I cannot help but marvel that surgery this complex has now become almost commonplace for veterinary medicine.

So, two major hurdles remain.  First, the successful completion of the surgery.  I will let everybody know how that goes tomorrow afternoon.  It is definitely scary.  It is not possible to tell before getting into the chest whether the entire mass can be removed, so we won't know for sure that they can take every bit out until it is done.

Second, the post-surgical biopsy will tell us if the mass is cancer or not.  If it is, then she'll need to take some anti-cancer drugs for some time post surgery.  If it is not, well, assuming no complications, we've reached the best of all worlds.  According to the doctor, removal of the pericardium doesn't have a negative effect on lifespan for the dog.  So there is hope for a very good outcome and I am just going to concentrate on that to get me through the next 24 hours.

Updates to follow, but first a thank you to all of you who have sent me such kind words.  Dog people are really good people and, thankfully, my friends are also really good people.