Hi all - We have a very happy 10 year old golden who developed a lump on the back of his neck. It's about 3 cm large at this point. We had it aspirated and it's an aggressive cancer. The vet told us that we should either do nothing at all, or go 100% all in with cat scan, surgery and chemo, which she said would cost $10-$15k and would require us to travel to a different city.
As hard as it is to say this, I just can't see us going down the route. Maybe if Wally was much younger, we would go for it. But at 10, it's a tough decision because it's a bit unknown how much time we'd buy if we went all in on it.
That being said, the tumor is large, and it is splitting open his skin in the back of his neck slightly, so it is bleeding. Wally doesn't seem to mind it at all, and doesn't look to be in any sort of pain, but I also know how stoic dogs can be when it comes to pain tolerance.
Another option is for us to do a "general debulk", which would basically be removing the lump without doing any sort of cat scan. The vet said they wouldn't know where the margin is, so it would likely just continue to grow back.
If we don't go down the debulk route, I have no idea what will be in store for us while this tumor continues to grow and break through the skin. It doesn't seem like the do nothing approach is sustainable with the tumor already breaking the skin.
I'm hoping for general advice? I'm tempted to just do the debulk to save Wally the discomfort of the tumor breaking open the skin. But it could just grow back and do it all over again? We also have no idea if it spread much, so maybe debulking will give us more time with Wally.
We need to make a decision fast. The vet said it's imperative we decide right now.
This is a tough time for our little family, so any advice on what you would do in this situation would be helpful. Thanks
As hard as it is to say this, I just can't see us going down the route. Maybe if Wally was much younger, we would go for it. But at 10, it's a tough decision because it's a bit unknown how much time we'd buy if we went all in on it.
That being said, the tumor is large, and it is splitting open his skin in the back of his neck slightly, so it is bleeding. Wally doesn't seem to mind it at all, and doesn't look to be in any sort of pain, but I also know how stoic dogs can be when it comes to pain tolerance.
Another option is for us to do a "general debulk", which would basically be removing the lump without doing any sort of cat scan. The vet said they wouldn't know where the margin is, so it would likely just continue to grow back.
If we don't go down the debulk route, I have no idea what will be in store for us while this tumor continues to grow and break through the skin. It doesn't seem like the do nothing approach is sustainable with the tumor already breaking the skin.
I'm hoping for general advice? I'm tempted to just do the debulk to save Wally the discomfort of the tumor breaking open the skin. But it could just grow back and do it all over again? We also have no idea if it spread much, so maybe debulking will give us more time with Wally.
We need to make a decision fast. The vet said it's imperative we decide right now.
This is a tough time for our little family, so any advice on what you would do in this situation would be helpful. Thanks
