Emily went to OSU for her chemo and I just want to tell  you that they are the most absolute nicest people you will ever meet.  Indy will be loved and taken care of  like she is the only dog in the world.  I would recommend them to anyone.  I know you will be happy.  What oncologist are you meeting with?  

Debra & Angel Emily

Anyone have experience with seroma re-occurring two weeks in? The seroma oozing started three days post-op, was really bad for about a week before it started to taper off to just a small bit of spotting and drips. Then about three days ago (the two-week post-op mark), it got really bad again.

I *think* it coincided with when she we took her off codeine (and cephalexin). Since then, she's been more active and walks around more, especially when she wants food or water (she'll act like a big brat if she doesn't get it right away, which is equally endearing and annoying). She's also been on regular 5-minute walks since then.

Also, she had a few days where she laid on her stump when she slept. She had trouble figuring out how to get up from that side and would sometimes thrash about until she figured it out.

We've reverted back to putting the diaper pad under her while she sleeps. Just gauging it, today seems to be less than yesterday, and it looked like it actually stopped for a little bit this afternoon until I aggravated the area while cleaning it.

I don't see any puss and there's no foul smells coming from there. The skin is a little more pink than usual (could just be stained fur) and I can't tell if there's swelling or not. The upper hip is totally normal but there's a little bit of cushiness at the bottom of the stump surrounding the incisions. It could just be her leftover muscle/fat or it could be collected seroma that still needs to be absorbed or it could be swelling? I dunno.

I suppose the only real concern (other than the fact that it increased) is that this seroma is darker than when it first started. It's still thin and cleans really easily, and sometimes when it drips it looks like fruit punch rather than blood. My bigger concern is that it is actually blood mixed in with seroma and we're not able to really tell.

Thoughts? Our vet told us that if it didn't stop in a week, check in with him. Since we're seeing the oncologist on Wednesday, we figure he can give us a look.

Good luck at the oncologist tomorrow.  I really don't know anything about seromas.  Emily didn't ooze or anything.  I didn't know that might happen so I would have really freaked!  Indy is in my prayers.

Debra

You know, if this whole thing was simply about Indy living life on three legs, it'd be simple: she's mobile, fast, and happy. Case closed. This whole cancer thing just mucks it all up.

We went to the oncologist today and the first thing he noted was the volume of oozing I noted above was indeed abnormal for this late in. He said it looks like part of the incision still hasn't healed right, and that's part of the reason why the seroma is still oozing.

He felt around her stump and noted that the front part of it felt hard and looked swollen. I'd suspected something a few days ago but it was hard to judge because we didn't really touch or manipulate her stump in the first two weeks post surgery, so we didn't have a good gauge for what was or wasn't normal. They did an ultrasound on it and it revealed a solid mass in that front part. They aspirated and are awaiting test results, probably Friday or Monday. They also are running blood work just to get a sense of what's going on.

We did discuss chemo options but it really depends more on what's going on with this first. He said the oozing has to resolve first and we need to know what's going on with the stump mass. He said it could be an aggressive tumor re-occurrence, a blood clot, or maybe things just healing weird with scar tissue and other tissue. He is pretty sure there is some level of infection, so she's back on antibiotics (this time it's clavamox instead of cephalexin), and that will hopefully help with the healing process of at least the incision. He said depending on what it actually turns out to be, we have a wide range of options, including doing nothing and letting it resolve on its own or additional surgery. I guess we just have to wait and see.

As for the chemo…now everything is up in the air. Suddenly, we've gone from the possibility of treatment with chemo to give us another good 6-9 months to a potential tumor re-occurrence with who knows how much time.

Not a good way to kick off the holiday weekend, but you can bet Indy will be getting some Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

I am late getting in on this forum.  I love greyhounds, I've had three ex-racers.  God Bless Indy for livng a long full life!

My Rottie Raven is going into his 5th week post-amp.  I am not a vet, but can share our experiences with you anecdotally.  He battled with seroma nearly into the 4th week.  Read raven.tripawds.com 

It did surge and worsen in the 2nd/3rd week.  My vet took it as just a phase in healing as far as the odd timing.  His other leg did blow up too.  That is because gravity and proximity to the surgery site caused the fluid to fill there.  My vet said a way to tell it's a seroma swelling in that limb was to press into it with a finger and when you remove it, there will be a dent of your fingerprint for a bit.  It's sort of like playdough.

The draining would come out the bottom of the incision, which impeded healing since it couldn't dry out and scab. The top stitches look wonderful after the first week.  Then the skin started deteriorating from not being able to heal and having the constant moisture, the stitches started tearing through the mushy skin.  We needed to put in some stitches that reached further out to better skin and butterfly tape.

We ended up having to put a drain into the bottom of the incision to give the fluid a way out.  And also had to use Lasix pills, which are a diarretic (a last resort because we don't want to dehydrate them when they are trying to heal), in addition to the pressure bandaging, that finally did the trick.

We actually removed the top half of the stitches the 2nd week, on time.  But the bottom ones didn't come out until recently after the draining stopped and the skin could finally start to heal.  That also caused Raven to need to stay on antibiotics for nearly a month, however long the stitches were in.

The antibiotics will cause diarrhea.  They not only destroy the bad bacteria, they inadvertantly destroy the good bacteria in the gut that aid digestion.  So, probiotic powder (or yogurt with live cultures) was given to Raven (and all my animals whenever they are on antibiotics).  This helped keep his BM's solid.  And his tummy from feeling upset. You asked if the drugs ruined Indy's sense of taste.  I believe she was just nauseated and food isn't appealing when you have an upset tummy.  Feed the yogurt/probiotics midday, at a different time away from when she gets her antibiotics, or else they just cancel each other out in the stomach.

I hope some of this helps!  I will look forward to reading more about Indy.  She sounds like a lovely girl!

Dawn and Raven