| HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Respiratory System » Discussions on Respiratory System not covered by the above » |
| Discussion on Small lump by face/neck | |
| Author | Message |
| Member: joann |
|
| Member: mitch316 |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: pattyb |
|
| Member: joann |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: pattyb |
Posted on Tuesday, Mar 3, 2009 - 11:03 am: I'm sitting here hemming and hawing, wondering if I should post this story or not....because I don't want to scare anyone. Joann....my story is by no means the norm but I feel compelled to share it since the discussion seems to be drifting towards the thyroid: When my Arabian/Saddlebred cross was around 14, she developed a knot in that area on her left side that turned out to be a thyroid tumor. The initial consensus was to watch it, some enlarge to a point, others keep getting bigger. With my horse, it kept getting bigger. There came a point after about a year that I made the decision to have it removed, total cost of surgery back then was $600. Once the vet opened her up, he showed me a thyroid about the size of a large walnut. At that point, he decided to biopsy it instead of removing it and would only charge me $400. If he had to go back in at a later date, the fee would be the $200 difference. Not knowing any better, I went along with his plan. The biopsy was negative and my instructions were to just keep an eye on it. About a year later, I realized that it was continuing to enlarge so, I wanted it removed. When I called the vet to arrange the surgery, he told me that he no longer treated horses and that I should take it up with the doctor who bought that part of the practise. When I called him, the price jumped to $700...but that was the least of my worries. Each year, when the new vet came out for Spring shots, he would palpate the area and tell me that it wasn't worth the risk of surgery "at this time." And each year, it got bigger and bigger. Sadly, it took me several years to realize something was not right so I took her to a surgery clinic to have someone else take it out. Long story short, after being on the table almost 3 hours, the surgeon came out and said that he couldn't get it out....because the original biopsy site sprouted blood vessels that wrapped around her carotid artery. He gave her 6 months before the sheer size of it would start cutting off her air. I left her and her stablemate there for the night and went home sick. When we went back the next day, the surgeon offered to take her on, free of charge, as a research project to see if he could find some way to stop it from growing. I had nothing to lose at that point so for two years, we experimented...but sadly, nothing worked long term. At the end of two years, the doctor suggested that he try one more time to remove it, giving her a 50/50 chance...but we already knew where we would be if we didn't try. On Dec. 29th, 1998 she went back into surgery, 24 years old by this point. She survived the surgery but it involved cutting her carotid artery completely in half so he could peel the mass of blood vessels off of it. She almost died later in post op but we were able to bring her home on the 5th day...with a tracheotomy that stayed in place for almost a month (with round the clock monitoring). The ordeal in the end cost me $3000 and that was 10 years ago. The mass when he showed it to me....was the size of a child's football and took two hands to hold. My reason for telling this story is so that everyone can learn from my mistake.....I should have listened to my gut and had it taken out once it was obvious that it was going to just get bigger and bigger. If it's going to come out, sooner and smaller is much safer than larger given it's location to the carotid artery. The other mistake that was made, and I didn't know this until the night before we brought her home, was that it never should have been biopsied in the first place. The surgeon actually got red in the face and blasted the one who did.....and you'll never, ever see a vet question the work of another so I knew he really meant it. He said that the biopsy created a raw spot that stuck to the surrounding tissue when he closed her back up....and the situation just exploded from that point on. After what happened to me, I would suggest watching it very closely. Have your vet check it and maybe thyroid levels the next time you have him out. If at any time you decide it's getting bigger, keep in mind that the sooner it comes out, the safer the surgery is. There are two halves to the thyroid, only the left side had to come out and she went on a low dose supplement that was extremely inexpensive. Banner's story was 10 years in the making and once we had her well again, my local paper did a one third page story on her. We all went thru hell(o) to save her but thru the entire ordeal...she was a real trooper and she knew we were trying to help her. She hung in there, never waivered, never complained....and she went on to live almost 10 more years, losing her just this past August at the age of 33. I truly hesitated to tell this story here but would have felt worse if something went wrong that my story could have prevented. In the right hands, removing it early, once it has proven to be getting larger, is not alll that complicated but the bigger it gets, the more complicated it becomes. The test is----> Is it growing or stable? If it's stable, that's great.....if it isn't...remember my story.
|
| Member: joann |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: pattyb |
Posted on Tuesday, Mar 3, 2009 - 9:38 pm: You're quite welcome Joann. I forgot to mention something about the surgery..... The doctor who had to cut her carotid artery completely in half, then sew it back together, because of what happened after the biopsy, is a former professor from Auburn State and his specialty was vascular surgery. In most cases, if that artery is accidently nicked, it's over...it takes a specialist to handle something like that and God was looking over us when we found him by accident. In normal circumstances, a thyroid tumor is not that difficult to remove until it gets too big that close to that artery. Feel free to share my story with your vet. If the mass appears to continue growing, your concerns are justified. Good luck, I'm very interested in following your experience with this, especially if your vet is also thinking thyroid after he sees your horse. |
| Member: joann |
|
| Member: joann |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: pattyb |
Posted on Wednesday, Mar 4, 2009 - 10:02 am: Gee DrO...I lost sleep over the mere thought of causing Joann any unnecessary worry..sorry if I did so, it was not my intention. During the fiasco with my horse, it was the board certified veterinary surgeon that said to me "Although all surgeries carry risk, the removal of a benign thyroid tumor is relatively safe in the hands of a competent surgeon when done early in the process." My situation was rare and the results of a botched surgery in the beginning. And my heart sank when he removed the endoscope and told me it was already so large it was pressing in on her airway. I can still hear the surgeon's words though, as if he said them yesterday, when I asked him why he would take her on as a research project, free of charge on his part------->"It's an interesting case and....I'd like to restore your faith in veterinarians." After what we went thru to save her, I thank God all the time for DrOpping us in his lap when He did. If I knew then what I know now, the second I realized the situation was getting worse and more dangerous, she would have been on her way to a surgeon and I would have saved myself two years of literal &#!! Joann...my sincerest apologies if I caused you to worry, it was not my intention, I just wanted to share my story with you....honest. |
| Member: joann |
|
