Removed
Like a poster above, I’m sort of mystified that you didn’t know ultrasound results immediately.
My boy, TC, had suspect X-rays after waking up one morning in horrible distress. X-rays showed possible mass on spleen or pancreas. Ultrasound the next day showed that everything was perfectly fine with the exception of some inflammation around his pancreas (but no masses). He simply had a bout of acute pancreatitis. I was in the room with the veterinarian while he did the ultrasound and showed me everything he was seeing.
That said, lots of healing energy and jingles your pup’s way.
Ultrasound will not tell you pathology. A hematoma, benign mass and cancer may all look the same.
I had a chow/GSD mix (8-10 years old at the time) who was fine when I got home from work one day, and a couple hours later acting like he was in pain. Took him to ER vet, they thought it was back pain but found a mass on the spleen in an x-ray.
They gave the the 90% chance it’s malignant with 3 - 6 months to live stats. Got him stable and took him home, spoke to my primary care vet the next morning and opted for surgery.
I was on pins and needles waiting for the pathology report after the surgery. Turned out to be a benign mass. Took longer for the pathology because they had to test more of the tissue than if they found malignancy on the first try. They did find a tumor on his liver, suggested we just watch that since the type of tumor it was often doesn’t grow quickly or metastasize.
The liver tumor never ended up bothering him; he did pass away two years later from melanoma.
Timely thread, I just removed my dog’s spleen yesterday. He’s a 9-10 year old island mix who has a history of cutaneous hemangiomas with one hemangiosarcoma. His signs were not quite the same as the typical presentation. He’s always had a large spleen, but no mass. He had a UTI with increased billirubin in his urine. I ran a full blood panel and found a very slight elevations in a liver enzyme and very slight anemia. On recheck at 2 weeks, he UTI pesisted, his chemistry was normal, but his anemia was worse. I ran PCR panel for all tick bourne diseases. No signs of bone marrow regenerating. Repeat 2 weeks later, still UTI(ugg), anemia at 18% still not regenerating and slight increase in liver enzyme. So, I start immunosuppression with prednisone for an autoimmune disease. Almost a week later, he has a collapse episode as you all describe, but has melena aka a GI bleed. So onto all the Gi protectants and omeprazole, while starting to taper the pred. I CTed him that day which I send to a radiologist to be read along with his “baseline” CT from October 2015. While waiting impatiently for the results, his anemia becomes regenerative, but his liver enzymes are climbing(likely pred administration playing a role).
Finally, CT report comes back, mass in the spleen(which I saw on quick scan through), plus suspected liver masses(which most areas were present in october but have increased in size). CT showed no mets in the lung. I went back and forth about what to do. He was feeling better and more himself so do I put him through surgery to confirm the likelihood of hemangiosarc or do I spoil him and let him live his short life happy as can be. My boss and I discuss and I decided to go ahead with surgery. So, yesterday with my boss’ assistance, the spleen came out. We didn’t biospy the liver as truthfully if he’s got cancer in there and its not the same as in the spleen well then he is really just shit out of luck plus livers love to bleed and hey lets not waste an RBC in a anemic dog.
Intraop, we find the omentum tightly adhered to the suspect mass, which I believe means he likely had a bleeding episode from there which could of been the start of the anemia that I’ve been chasing. He never got bloated and had a hemoabdomen. (I checked via US) He could of had a slow bleed that the omentum finally got clogged up and the GI stopped bleeding which lead to his rapid increase in PCV from 15% to 30% preop yesterday. So, in a way that makes me feel better about putting him through surgery. I’m hopeful that the mass is benign but I’m not holding my breath on that one.
So, he is about 36 hours post op and doing okay. He has some pain which tramadol is doing a crap job of controlling, but I can’t use an NSAID due to him being on the pred which I am continuing to taper. He is eating, drinking, and using the bathroom well. I hate seeing him in pain and truthfully I’m still not sure it was worth it. My boss wants to give him chemo and then CT him weekly to see if we can detect the “masses” in the liver shrinking. I’m on the fence about that one.
I did find some buprenorphine that I had stashed from a dental on my cat, so he is sleeping peacefully with that. However, I’m constantly paranoid that one of my ligatures will slip and he will bleed out from that, so yay for no sleep for me!
So the point of my long drawn out post is that I feel you. I’m going through the samething. I don’t believe much in chemo and oncology for pets as I just don’t, but of course I always offer consult and would treat as my clients want. I’m hoping I don’t regret taking my dog to surgery. I’m on the fence right now. I feel better knowing that his spleen will not rupture and bleed out while I’m not home, but in all reality surgery alone doesn’t prolong life much if it is hemangio and esp since it is likely already in his liver. Although masses on CT are not similar in appearance which means little I know.
My husband is very upset by the whole thing. He isn’t happy that I did surgery because of how pitiful he looks right now. I try to explain that lots of animals look pitiful after surgery and truthfully, he is doing much better than some inpatient that I’ve had post op for a less invasive surgery. I try to explain that his breathing rate and character have returned to normal as has his heart rate which are all good signs. (I’m repeating this to myself too and kicking myself for not bringing the US home as I’d love to check for free fluid in the abdomen if I’m being paranoid.)
Hope the FNA from your dog finds nothing serious! Good Luck, it is never an easy decision as you can see from my above rambling.
Thank you all for sharing. The ultrasound and needle biopsy ( not sure if this is the right term - they were able to take some of the mass out through a needle and test it) came back on Thursday and confirmed it was hemangiosarcoma. My vet took additional x-rays to see if it had spread to the lungs. It hadn’t, so surgery was an option. I was able to get a surgical consult that night.
I decided against surgery. We believed the mass to have clotted, as my dog was feeling slightly perkier. But it would start bleeding again without warning and cause pain. He was put down today.
This came on incredibly fast. If you are ever in this position, no judgement on your choices. You’ve got to do what’s right for you and your pet.
Oh man. Big hugs. That’s awful. And the horrible thing about this diagnosis…it hits hard, fast, and dirty. 
Curly- so sorry about your dog. and agree… no judgement. I did a splenectomy on an otherwise healthy dog- and she lived for quite awhile after. But my circumstances were different, I worked in a vet clinic, had a great discount, she was somewhat younger than some of the stories above… I wouldn’t necessarily recommend my personal course of action for other’s dogs. Anyway. So sorry to hear the news. Yellowbritches- yes fast hard and dirty. No one course is the right one. Thanks to Squish for chiming in also.
Curlykarot, I’m so, so sorry to hear this. Big cyber hugs.
I’m so sorry.
I’m sorry…
{{{hugs}}}
So sorry to hear that
Thoughts and prayers and tears for the family he leaves behind ~
RIP ~ Beloved Gentleman ~ knowing you will always be loved and remembered ~
I’m sorry ~ sending ((hugs)) laced with comfort and peace for your broken heart ~
I’m so sorry for your loss.
Jingles to all.
Sorry to hear about your dog. Hugs to you.
I’m so sorry, curlykarot. Unfortunately there are a lot of us who know what you had to go through. 
Sorry for your loss. A peaceful humane euthanasia is far better than bleeding out. Hemangiosarcoma is a nasty cancer.
I’m very sorry for your loss.
