Yesterday afternoon, we brought Macy to the Veterinary Surgeon’s office and he examined her. Dr. Staatz suggested that the best course was to take another biopsy: an incisional biopsy. Apparently, a needle aspiration biopsy (like Macy had done last weekend) is able to show that there are mast cells in the area, but the cytology report provided isn’t able to show the severity or layout of the cells. Dr. Staatz explained that if this tumor were somewhere in a more “fleshy” area of the body, he would suggest to remove the tumor completely plus remove an inch (or greater) margin around the tumor. There would be no incisional biopsy needed and he could just send the entire thing to the lab once it was removed.
In Macy’s case, with the tumor between her toes, there is no extra “margin” to remove around the tumor. Therefore, if this were to be a higher grade tumor, we might have to make a decision about removing more around the tumor, i.e. a toe or maybe more. Now, if it is a grade 1 tumor, then they can just excise the tumor as they see it and not worry about anything further.
So, we decided to go with Dr. Staatz’s suggestion. I dropped Macy off this morning for an incisional biopsy. Not so surprisingly, she was pissed with me. She thought that we were going for a fun ride in the car and then we showed up at the vet’s. Anyhow, she went in and I left. When I returned to pick her up in the afternoon, she was dopey but happy to see me. We are supposed to know more on Tuesday. Apparently, pathologists take the weekend off.
She came home with three stitches in the foot to close up the incision from the biopsy. In order to keep it closed up and tight, they thought it best to wrap it up tight. So, in addition to three stitches, Macy has a big honkin’ bandage on her foot keeping her little toes together. (There are a few photos on flickr that show it.) It should be entertaining to see how long that all stays together.
Here she is, sleeping soundly once she was safe on the couch:
