Its Not Cancer

Just got a brief rundown of the biopsy results. Dr. L is out of town for the weekend, so we've been doing this via email and a call from one of his techs.

The histopath diagnosis: Chronic ulcerative fibrosing pyogranulomatous dermatitis/panniculitis. (Whatever the heck that is.)

The pathologist's opinion: Inflammation of this type could be initiated by infectious, foreign body, traumatic or idiopathic pathogeneses. There was, however, no evidence of predisposing factors such as visible infectious agents or embedded foreign debris discernible in the sections examined.

Dr. L's comments on the pathologist's opinion: Which in my mind backs up the likelihood of a foreign body penetration (stick/twig/sharp piece of something) causing damage with resultant ulceration/necrosis. Why it did not heal well with conservative therapy is anybody's guess, but I do wonder if I flushed out some material when I opened up the tract during surgery. If she heals well, that is the best answer of all. I will be holding my breath for the next few weeks as the tissues mend.

In simple terms - its NOT cancer.

They didn't find any microscopic particles of anything, but they aren't yet ruling out foreign body trauma. They have ruled out bacteria, fungus and other infectious agents. Now it basically comes down to how she heals. If Dr. L got rid of all traces of whatever object caused the damage (if it is foreign body trauma), she should heal nicely. If the infection comes back now that she's done with her antibiotics, then its back to the vet we go.

Sooooo happy its not cancer. Now that we’ve settled that, I’m not so worried about the other options. Reyna is feeling really great with that mass off her belly and the infection out of her system. Even one of the neighbors commented that she looks a lot peppier than she did before the surgery. The only downside is that she’s feeling well enough to be a total brat about her activity restrictions. She’s not at all happy that she has to be quiet for at least another 5 days. With luck, Dr. L will take out the staples and take her off restrictions when we hit day 10 or 11, rather than making us wait until day 14. Of course, that all depends on how her incision looks.

A couple of shots of her incision, taken this afternoon. No redness, no oozing. Paws crossed it stays that way. She's been really good about not licking, and I've been really good about jumping all over her if she looks like she's even thinking about licking.

Kodiak is still freaked out by Reyna when she's wearing her cone, which is generally when she's in her crate, and Duncan is clearly stressed out by all the drama....