Swollen Lymph Node-Lymphoma?

[Zportiss]

My husband noticed a lump right under the jaw, by the ear on my 5 year old baby girl Kaya about 2 weeks ago. She is my sweet little girl and I am so scared...the vet drew some fluid or cells? out and said it looked normal. This was not a biopsy, but some other type of test...She prescribed an antibiotic, saying about 80% of the time this is usually just an infection and that it is her lymph node. She has been on the antibiotic for 10 days and the swelling has not gone down. I think it may actually have gotten bigger, but I honestly don't trust my own judgement because I am so freaked out right now. I am so scared she has lymphoma. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow, and I just wanted to plead for any advice from anyone who can recommend what the next step is. I am pretty sure my doctor is going to recommend surgery, and last time we had a lump removed from my other dog is was $1,100! One of my friends had a lump on her dog removed for $375. My vet is a surgery specialist, and I don't want to be cheap, but its such a huge price difference. What kind of qualifications should I look for in a vet for surgery like this?

Can you actually determine whether its cancer without having to cut or take a biopsy with like an x-ray or ultrasound? Can you determine whether its cancer with any sort of blood work or less invasive test? She just had her annual exam and all of her blood work came back normal.

For cancer treatment, with lymphoma what is the best option? From what I have read, surgery and then chemo, but since lymphoma is such an aggressive form of cancer, is chemo a good idea if it is just delaying the inevitable, and making the dog feel worse in what time she has left?

Please help. I have an 11 year old boxer mix too who is weakening, and have been trying to prepare myself for losing him, which saddens me, but losing my 5 year old when she is so young and vibrant is unthinkable and would be devastating to me.
Thank you for any advice you can offer.

 

[darwinsmom]

I have no experience with lymphoma but I do know that chemotherapy for dogs is not like chemo for people. The goal with dogs is to send the disease into remission and make the dog feel better. In humans the goal is to cure the disease and being able to give consent and understand what is happening, people will endure medications that will make them sick for the chance of a long term remission or cure. For dogs the doses are much lower and will be discontinued if the dog responds poorly. Lymphoma actually has pretty good outcomes for a canine cancer. 6 months to a year is a long time for a dog. Best of luck, I hope it isn't lymphoma.

 

[TwoDogs]

Take a breath and calm down. There is no need to think that it is cancer just because it didn't respond to the antibiotic. Perhaps the infection is resistant to that antibiotic. Or perhaps the infection is viral or fungal in which case antibiotics wouldn't have an effect anyway.

They probably did a fine-needle aspiration. It is good that it came back negative. While it isn't completely conclusive (you only get a sample of the tissue in the region they insert the needle) it does give good information about the lymph node.

Wait and see what the vet says before you worry too much.

 

[shindig]

My 7 year old boxer Bandit has lymphoma and the first sign was a small lump on his jaw...very solid feeling lump. They did a needle aspiration and it came back inconclusive so I scheduled him for a tissue biopsy and unfortunately it came back as lymphoma. This was last November, so about 8 months ago. Bandit is still going through chemo. He was on the CHOP protocol (Wisconsin) for about 5 months but went out of remission. He is now just on a single agent protocol using doxuribicin (sp?). He is currently back in remission and has been for 2 months.

I hope for you and Kaya it's not lymphoma because it is very costly if you start treatment. I've spent over $6k on Bandit's treatment to date. I don't want to stop since he is responding well, except for a few setbacks, but money does become a concern.

Positive vibes to you and your girl.

Kevin

 

[Zportiss]

Getting ready to go into the office

Thanks so much for all of your replies. I am keeping my fingers crossed and will keep all of your information in mind when I go in. Trying to stay positive! Thanks again

 

[MomtoMaggie]

It sounds like your vet aspirated the fluid that was in the lump. They do this and look at it under a microscope to see if it looks normal. A lot of the aspirates I've had done on Maggie I have had sent out for a cytology. Let us know what the vet says.

With surgery, you want to do blood work and urinalysis beforehand and I would never ever ever consider doing a surgery WITHOUT the vet administering fluids before, during and after. Some vets recommend these things but make them optional. It does add to the cost, but these are not things you really want to skimp on.

Boxer hugs and kisses,

Heather, mom to
Maggie/boxer/63 lbs/11 yrs/ CKD, chronic pancreatitis, hypothyroidism, arthritis and newly diagnosed with adult onset epilepsy and likely IBD.
&
Gabby/boxer/44 lbs/ 5 ½ mos/CaOx crystals and crazy puppy syndrome
Orange County, CA

 

[Zportiss]

Kaya Update

The vet said she wants to try another antibiotic, Doxycycline Hyclate - 150 mg twice a day. She is confounded as to the source of the infection, but after a second aspirate (now I know what its called ) she still feels confident that it is a reactive lymph node, although she says the firmness of the node is concerning. She is also sending the initial and 2nd aspirate to a pathologist to see if they have any additional insights as to the cause of the infection. The vet said that she is not suspicious it is lymphoma because it almost always affects more than just one lymph node, and Kaya's other nodes are all normal. She was off of her flea and tick prevention (long story) so there is a possibility this is a tick borne illness. She HATES having her mouth and ears messed with, so she would barely let the vet examine her to see if there is an oral or ear issue. The vet said we may have to sedate her and do a very thorough exam of her mouth (funny, she said that their tongues are very long - as if I didn't know and that it is very hard to examine the part of her tongue that is not in her mouth but that goes down her throat. Sooo, we wait for cytology on the aspirates and cross our fingers that the size goes down with or without the help of the new antibiotic. Thanks so much for all of your advice and kind words I will keep you posted!