The Big C
I couldn't bring myself to post until I had all the information. First, thank you to everyone who commented about Griffon. I was too depressed to reply back, but your kind words were appreciated.
Gah! I just reread the above, so let me say, Griffon's still alive and kicking ... for 3-12 months. Yes, the ultrasound revealed a huge mass (vet thought at the time it was the size of a grapefruit, turned out to be more like a cantaloupe) attached to his spleen. The problem with a growth on the spleen is that the spleen recycles blood. It has a gazillion blood vessels coming in and out of it. This type of tumor isn't normally discovered until the tumor ruptures the spleen and the dog dies of internal bleeding.
Guess you could call us lucky in that regard.
Bill and I talked it over. Neither one of us wanted to deliver Griffon a death sentence by doing nothing. We scraped our money together (a total of $1600 when all was said and done for both the ultrasound and the surgery) for the operation. Griffon was under the knife for 3 hours. The tumor was so large that the vet had trouble removing it through the incision. Once it (and the spleen) were out, he had a chance to look around. Good news was that, as suspected, nothing was wrong with his bladder or kidneys (the bleeding remains a mystery, but if not for that, there'd have been no X-rays and no discovery of the tumor) or heart. He found a tumor about the size of a nickle on the outside of Griffon's liver, which he was able to remove for biopsy. Upon closer examination, he found another one, about dime-sized within the liver, which he did not want to deal with because the liver is such a vital organ.
I did quite a bit of reading about the possible type of tumor Griffon had before his operation. It's the most common form in German shepherds and golden retrievers. It's also more prevalent in male dogs.
Credited to Vet Corner: Hemangiosarcoma is a malignant cancer that comes from hemangio meaning blood vessels or blood and sarcoma meaning malignant cancer of the supporting structures of the body. This type of cancer tries to build blood vessels in a haphazard fashion which essentially makes blood blisters and disrupts normal organ function. These blood blisters also rupture easily causing bleeding from the cancer sites.
SIxty-five percent of splenic tumors in dogs are hemangiosarcomas. Because it spreads via blood vessels, tumor removal doesn't mean the cancer can't spread. There could be millions of cancer seeds within the body. Because of that, survival rate for dogs having had this surgery is 3 months to a year.
Today, we received news of the biopsy. As expected, it was cancerous. And, as expected, the tumor removed from Griffon's liver was also malignant. We talked it over last night and decided we did not want to try chemotherapy because the survival rate is so low even with it and we do not want to make Griffon's last days miserable.
The good news is, Griffon's goofy and sassy and every bit as puppyish as he always been--even the vet can't believe he's 13. He must have been in a great deal of pain, yet never complained. What a guy.
And if you've read this far, you get a gold star! Hugs to you all.
And maybe I can stop being so depressed and get some writing done at last.
Warning:: Do not look below this point if you get grossed out by pictures of innards!
