- Joined
- Sep 14, 2018
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I had to have my beautiful boy, Tavi, put sleep this week. Beforehand the vet did an ultrasound and exam. When he was explaining how progressed his abdominal lymphoma was, he mentioned something about the abscess on Tavi’s head being another concern. I was taken aback, as he had told me several months ago, after an inconclusive fine needle aspiration, that the lump was most likely an aggressive tumor. He was put on steroids and it doubled in size within 6 months (became wider/longer). It was at the 6-month mark when Tavi was diagnosed with multiple abdominal tumors via ultrasound (most likely lymphoma). I was too grief-stricken to ask him why he called it an abscess in the moment and just told him we thought it was a tumor. He just nodded his head and said okay. I’m assuming he misspoke and didn’t read his chart, or simply forgot Tavi’s case. Or maybe looking at it again after 6 months of changes, it suddenly looked more like an abscess to him?
Does anybody with knowledge of abscesses or tumors know whether or not an abscess could stay firm and painless for over 6 months, with no fever or behavioral changes? And could the needle aspiration of an abscess produce no puss and be inconclusive? It didn’t bother him whatsoever, as I would touch it daily to check on it. This particular vet hadn’t seen him for the head tumor in 8 months, but did do his abdominal ultrasound 2 months ago and told me over the phone that it may have been the head tumor metastasizing. The other vet that did his 6 month check up thought that the head tumor was in the wrong place for lymph node cancer and that it may have been unrelated to the abdominal lymphoma. I’m starting to wonder if they had needlessly put him on 6 months of prednisolone. I wasn’t able to afford anything more than a needle biopsy, so the steroids were the only option. I’m going to ask about this when I bring my other cat in for her bloodwork in 2 weeks. I can’t bear to talk to a vet right now. I’m so heartbroken. In the meantime, the word abscess has been rolling around in my head while I’m trying to grieve. It was one more what-if that I didn’t really need right now.
Does anybody with knowledge of abscesses or tumors know whether or not an abscess could stay firm and painless for over 6 months, with no fever or behavioral changes? And could the needle aspiration of an abscess produce no puss and be inconclusive? It didn’t bother him whatsoever, as I would touch it daily to check on it. This particular vet hadn’t seen him for the head tumor in 8 months, but did do his abdominal ultrasound 2 months ago and told me over the phone that it may have been the head tumor metastasizing. The other vet that did his 6 month check up thought that the head tumor was in the wrong place for lymph node cancer and that it may have been unrelated to the abdominal lymphoma. I’m starting to wonder if they had needlessly put him on 6 months of prednisolone. I wasn’t able to afford anything more than a needle biopsy, so the steroids were the only option. I’m going to ask about this when I bring my other cat in for her bloodwork in 2 weeks. I can’t bear to talk to a vet right now. I’m so heartbroken. In the meantime, the word abscess has been rolling around in my head while I’m trying to grieve. It was one more what-if that I didn’t really need right now.