rainas tumor popped

[dubchick]

so i go say good morning to the girls. give them breakie... and i notice raina seems off.. i go to pet her.. and she feels different... and is acting different... i pick her up..and theres blood all over her belly and mouth.. i panic... omg.. her tumor popped and linds is gone to ontario for 2 weeks.. shes my rock. omg.. what do i do..
well i got a clean cloth and try to clean it off a little.. and call linds.. she got me to try pouring lukwarm water over it.. and even use a syringe to get any puss out of the hole if i have to ... and try to squeeze any infection out.. i tried that.. the suringe didnt work she was too squirmey.. and im freaking out cause i dont want to hurt her. the cloth seemed to make her more uncomfortable too .. so i just let the warm water pour over the hole and surrounding area.. i tried squeezing it a little. but nothing but a little blood came out.. and it seemed to hurt her... so i stopped.. i gave her the last drop (literally one droplet. of medicam and gave her some baytril. ) i dried her off and put her in her own cage with lots of clean fleece blankies , water .. lab blocks and a bowl of ensure.
then i felt horrible cause i had to go to work.. i couldnt take a day off.. ugh..
so sitting at work feeling like puking from worrying myself sick.. my friend anne said she could go get check on her after she gets off.. omg.. i felt like crying..
so i gave anne my keys.. she brought raina home with her.. cleaned her off some more.. fed her and gave her some tlc... and her husband paul picked me up after work to bring me and raina home ...
i just feel so bad.. i have no way to get to the vet right now while linds is away. is there anything other than rat meds i can give her for the pain? it sucks this happend... the tumor removal apointment is almost here... ugh.. why did this have to happen.
anyway.i have her wrapped like a donair right now to keep her warm.. and shes resting(uncomfortably). im gonna try pouring more warm water in the hole later and give her a little more baytril just incase there is an infection inside the hole i cant see .
in the mean time.. any one have any tips for me? im sooo inexperienced with stuff like this.. how long you think before shes feeling a little better? will the hole heal up quickly where its on the tumor? i just feel like crying.. im not good with stress.

 

[mamarat]

If it's a tumor and not an abcess I would not flush it. When is she going to the vet for removal?

 

[dubchick]

oct 8. its the first opening dr dunnett has.

 

[jorats]

Oh dear... that must have been frightening. I would ring up the vet and let them know that her tumour opened and you are not sure what you should do because her removal is scheduled for Oct.
You can stop the flushing. Doing it the one time didn't hurt her though, you got it cleaned out so that's good too.

 

[lilspaz68]

How was it determined that it was a tumour not an abscess? Even the most experienced of us get fooled sometimes. Has the mass deflated, was it full of pus and is now a big empty crater?

 

[dubchick]

no.. its definately a tumor.. i just was guessing there might have been an absess in the tumor... the tumor is still the same size.. its very hard and large. theres just a bit of a hole in it. ome of it moved around her cage but really, she didnt eat anything
also shes not eating. gave her some lab blocks, ensure banana and kraft diner, i noticed
shes in pain tho.. and i cant get to a vet right yet... is there anything at all i can give her wehre im out of medicam? her sides are sunken in and her breathing is somewhat labored.. tho not as bad as i would expect. (not really sure what to expect tho?)
anne and paul are gonna come and get her after they are done work this week around 7 or so to check on her and take care of her while im at work till 11. man they are good friends.
just sucks.. its still bleeding a little... like when i have her on my shirt. there are blood spots from the hole. im just a little worried about her blood loss. im trying to keep her warm. she has extra fleece in her cage n stuff.. and when im home ill have her cuddled up against me. i noticed she is licking it cause she has a fair amount of blood on the fur around her face. i havet seen her licking it.. but is there anything i can do to get her to leave it alone? prolly not since she pulled out her stitches twice last time i had her tumor removed
should i have one of her sisters in there with her?.. they seem really worried about her.
how often should i clean it.. i want it clean.. but dont want to hurt her. every time i try to move her.. it seems to hurt her. i know some of these questions seem stupid and i feel i should know them.. but i just kinda freeze up in bad situations... lindsay is my rock... this just sucks! :cry3: :cry3: :cry3: :cry3: :cry3: :cry3:

 

[dubchick]

oh.. and i havent seen any puss at all.

 

[lilspaz68]

She won't make it to October, this is now emergency surgery, not elective. Call your vet and tell him the tumour has ruptured and she needs to come in.!!!

I put a link for anyone squeamish..this is Hestia after..
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/r ... crosis.jpg

 

[dubchick]

called the vet just now.. they are going to call me right back... ill keep you posted

 

[lilspaz68]

fingers crossed!!!

 

[mamarat]

Poor sweetie, good luck.

 

[dubchick]

so i can get her in tomorrow at 3:30, it is the first opening available. there is another vet in now but she said that vet isnt very familiar with rats.. so id rather see someone who knows about what they are doing with rats..... it wont be a tumor removal surgery. but at least its something. and can get some pain medication , a proper bandage.. something..
dont know how im gonna get the day off.. its such short notice for an approved day off without pay. i so hope someone will trade with me because im at my limit for days off..
:gaah: :gaah: :gaah: ugh.. why does this need to happen now. :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: i feel bad telling lindsay all this crap while shes away.. shes supposed to be having a good time with her nana.. relaxing..
i feel bad for the other rats... who i feel are kinda getting neglected (as far as attention goes) while im tending to raina. and they are obviously worried about their sister
and i feel the worse for raina.. who has to go thru this .... poor girl.
:cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4:

 

[Fidget]

I notice you asked twice about pain meds and got no answer yet, I'm sorry, I don't know what would be safe with her bleeding, hopefully someone can suggest something safe.

Meantime, I'll say a prayer for Raina, and for you. I know you're afraid for her and feel this is beyond you, but honestly, you will do as good by her as anyone else can, we all have situations where we're out of our depth, and 'the best we can' is all we gotta do. You're doing all you can by reaching out here and getting her into to vet soon as you can.
I think it's important to keep her warm. Do you haven any Ensure? that usually goes down pretty easy. I wouldn't put her with her sisters right now (just my opinion) and I wouldn't worry about her sisters right now, ok? They'll be ok, you just do your best for Raina and trust in you. Hugs.

 

[lilspaz68]

I used metacam but I would only use it if she has stopped bleeding in her case.

 

[SQ]

Would the vet put some medicam in a cab and send it to you?
Or is there anyone that would go pick up some from the vet for you?

I don't know what else would be good to use ... I guess the vet didn't have any ideas?

I do have some info about dosages for over the counter pain meds but they prolong bleeding or decrease blood clotting.

 

[Godmother]

Debbie Ducommun's book, I think, has info about how to use household pain meds like Acetominophen, Ibuprofen, etc. Have you put her back in with her buddies yet? That would help her deal with the stress better.

Good luck tomorrow. We're all pulling for her.

 

[dubchick]

thank you guys.
your being here for me means more than you know..
so raina wasnt eating.. but i got her to eat a little bit of baby food for me :joy: ... she got a little fussy and didnt want anymore.. so ill give her a little break.. ill try to give her some more later.. or some ensure... i put leia in the cage with her(leia is very gentle) so she has another rat body to help keep her warmer.. ill see if it goes well...
i told my work what was happening.. and my manager tried to help me find someone to trade shifts with me for tomorrow .. but it was too short notice... and the call center was at our limit for approved time off without pay. i told them i would have to call in sick... and they understood, they said sorry they werent able to do more for me.. i told my manager i would try to make it in during the second half of my shift.
wow.. i dont know how people do it .. having pets on their own with no one to help them (when stuff like this happens).. its hard.. i cant even imagine how single parents (of the human child kind ) do it.. its so much easier to share on the responsibilites.
anyway.. the hole doesnt appear to be bleeding currently. tho she was picking at it today some more cause she has lots of dried blood on her face. i cleaned her face up best i could too.. tho shes being very squirmey for me. at least got the blood off her nose poor girl.
man the vet apointment cant come soon enough. ill just try to keep her warm and comfortable as possible in the mean time.
thanks again guys for just being here for me.. it means more than you could imagine. it just really sucks to feel so helpless.

 

[dubchick]

hi. so here are some pics. dont look if you are squeemish.
sorry about the quality, they were taken on the cell phone. somehow the pics just dont do the actual thing justice.

first picture. yesterday. after our "little" discovery.. you can sorta see the hole in the middle.. the dark spot

second picture yesterday after i got home at 11pm.

third and fourth. today after cleaning it the best i could. the dark lines on the mass is dried blood. plus a small hole

 

[jorats]

That does look nasty.
Keeping my fingers crossed that this gets resolved fast.

 

[dubchick]

(takes a deep breath)
so i brought raina to the vet. it wasnt a good visit. due to her extreme weight loss for not eating for 3 days (except for a couple licks of baby food when i was bugging her to eat, she took a few licks just to make me happy im sure) , she was no longer a candidate for her tumor removal . her tumor was also starting to smell (dr dunnitt said it was rotting tissue in there). she said the tumor grew extremely and suprisingly fast since the last time she saw her. it was growing so fast it couldnt hold the extra blood in there so it burst. she bled for 2 days.. and the hole was still leaking. she said at this point meds probably wouldnt work. we went thru a few scenarios and things i could try with her... but nothing was a possible option. there was one option we both felt was the right choice, and i had to make that decision without linds... which altho i know she would trust any decision i make, is still hard. the vet and i both felt that the one best choice for her was to have her euthanized.
i keep asking myself. why did we wait to have it removed??? and then i think, because she was still full of spunk and seemed fine. she went downhill FAST after gloria was pts. i wonder if thats the reason ??. gloria and raina were best buddies. and raina seemed to take it hardest. so where raina was already sick, she maybe got depressed and stopped fighting the tumor? i just keep feeling like crying. it sucks linds is gone for another week and a half. it sucks i have to give her this news over the phone. it sucks i couldnt let her be a part of the decision. it just plain SUCKS!! :cry4: :cry4: :cry4: :cry4:
i showed the girls rainas body so they could say their goodbyes. mischa seemed really upset and got the hickups.
i cant loose anymore girls for a while.. i dont deal with stress well :cry3: :cry3: everyone better stay good and healthy.
dr dunnitt said if i have another emergency . call and ask to speak to her in person and she would make special arangements. the ladies at reception are great but they probably arent aware how fast rats can go down hill. and dunnitt will make things happen fast for us. i was glad she told us that.. i hope i wont need to see her for a while .. but it still good to know she cares