Post-Op Pup

We all headed out early yesterday morning to get Reyna to the vet's office for her surgery. After dropping her off, the boys and I went to Suzie's for some distraction and then to Mary's to get comforters for Reyna's crate. While we were there, Dr. Lapham called to tell me Reyna was out of surgery. He gave me a rundown of everything he found (and didn't find) during the surgery. I sent him an email last night to verify that what I heard was what he actually said, and thankfully, he called again today to go over the information a second time.

He started the surgery following the duct, since that's where the infection was coming out. Dr. L said that now he thinks that wasn't actually a duct, rather it was a draining tract. He thinks this because it went into and under the mammary gland and then towards the inguinal canal, which isn't normal for ducts. The damaged area went deep into the tissue away from the nipple, and mammary cancer typically occurs closer to the nipple. He did do a mastectomy and removed that mammary gland, along with the lymph node, because the tissue in and around it was necrotic. He wasn't able to get all of the draining tract and surrounding tissue because it was too close to the femoral artery, but he feels confident that he got most of it.

Dr. L said that he's bumping cancer a bit lower on the list because the damaged tissue didn't have the typical appearance of cancer, but he's not ruling it out. He was hoping to find a twig or some other obvious foreign body, but no such luck. However, he thinks its possible that something got into Reyna's belly, created the draining tract and damaged the tissue and then worked its way back out, leaving microscopic particles behind that have prevented the healing of the wound. He's also leaving fungus on the list of possibilities. He's still saying pretty much anything is possible - after all, this is Reyna we're talking about. At this point, its really coming down to the biopsy results of the sample he sent to the pathology lab. He said further treatment will depend on the results and how Reyna heals from the surgery. He did mention that he's a bit concerned about her weight loss over the last several weeks, but without any other indication of problems he's going to attribute it to her immune system working over time. If she heals up and there's nothing left to treat, then she should get back to her normal weight. If not, we'll deal with it. He's still leaning towards Friday for the biopsy results, but it depends on the lab.

I was able to get Reyna yesterday around 5pm. The poor girl was still groggy from the drugs and had quite a bit of trouble walking. I couldn't help it, I just had to laugh. Here's Reyna in the exam room, waiting for the vet tech to go over the post-op instructions.

Crashed out in the crate after getting home.

And passed out on her bed later in the evening. I love how her tongue sticks out when she doped up like this. She's doing better today - her tongue's been in her mouth all day.

Here's a shot of her surgical site. There are more staples that you can't see from this angle, going down to the left along the curve of the darker area. I have to say it looks a lot better than the open wound did.

Reyna didn't want any food last night, but she's been eating, drinking, peeing and pooing normally today. She clearly feels fine, because she's been arguing with me all afternoon about needing to stay calm and quiet. I'm thinking its going to be a long 14 days....