Squamous Cell Surgery

[thistlesmom]

Hey,

So I went with the surgery to remove the cancer lump on Thistle's head. Her lab results showed that she did not have a recurrence of the dreaded mrsa so that helped that decision.

While the tumour was apparently removed successfully, it was not attached to anything, muscle or bone or organ, her heart stopped during surgery and they had to do cpr and take measures to get her back. She is almost 5 years old so I'm really surprised she made it. I'm picking her up later today. I hope she comes throught his alright...any experiences with difficult surgeries? Anything I should watch for or do?

How tough is she? 3 legs, mrsa, head tumour removed, heart stops beating...keeps going...

 

[Kalandra]

Tough old gal.

Ask doc to provide you with pain medication, antibiotics, a can or two of hills a/d and feeding syringes. The latter two are just in case she decides to not eat.

Also monitor that she is staying warm enough. Some need more warmth when they are healing than they normally do.

I've never had one that had their heart stopped, so definitely ask doc for things to watch out for there.

Otherwise, provide her with a lot of quiet time to heal. I don't know about yours, but I have found several of mine to be a bit more clingy after a surgery. They seemed to love to lay on you and sleep. I think they like the extra warmth.

Good luck with her, she will be in my thoughts, so please keep us updated.

 

[thistlesmom]

She's already on antibiotics and will be for the next 2.5 weeks so I've got that covered. She's a bit of an old hat at surgery since all of her leg surgeries and eventual amputation last year so I hope that she's ok this time around too. The vet figured her recovery would be easier than her amputation but now who knows...I will keep her warm and as happy as possible.

Thanks for the advice and happy thoughts!

 

[Nancy]

What a tough old gal she is. I'm glad she came through the surgery okay. What a grand lady she is.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Many hugs to Thistle. What a strong girl - making it through all those surgeries.

I hope you have wonderful snuggles after you pick her up.

 

[thistlesmom]

I have her home now and have a few questions for those of you who have dealt with surgery before.

She is missing a large chunk of quills around the surgery site. They grow back right?

The tumour was behind her ear in her quills and the vet had to use some of her extra rolling up skin to sew up the wound. Have you ever dealt with surgery on their bodies and the unique issues that come with their weird rolly up bodies? It seems she can't spike up as well?

She looks so sad

 

[smhufflepuff]

I have only a little experience with missing quills due to surgery dating back a couple years. Satin had ongoing skin problems that took the better part of a year to resolve. To troubleshoot, her vet did a skin biopsy that took a bit of skin in the quill area. From that site, the quills mostly grew back... but it's not perfect. You can definitely tell something happened there, but it's not too obvious unless you're really studying her appearance.

I'm not so sure about the rolling/spiking up issue - with any luck, she's just feeling tender right after the surgery and not wanting to roll or spike up for now. I'm hoping that it will resolve itself.

Give her some extra love!!

 

[lauralynne]

You and Thistle are in my thoughts!

 

[Nancy]

Sometimes quills grow back, sometimes they don't or sometimes they only partially grow back.

I agree with Melissa that the rolling/spiking issue may resolve itself in the days or weeks to come. She may not feel like doing it right now or perhaps the surgery site is inhibiting that area from being able to.

I agree on the extra love. She's been through so much in her life. Such a doll.

 

[Kalandra]

Keep in mind that skin is a pretty amazing thing in its ability to stretch out. Also keep in mind that the surgical site is most likely already retaining fluid/swelling and once that fluid is reabsorbed the skin will be less stretched.

If you look at the early images of Rose's last tumor removal, you will see that the skin looks stretched. It almost looks like she had a face lift. Once the swelling started to go down the skin loosened back up. Today that side of her face looks mostly normal.

Lots of love and cuddles for her, she is quite a trooper.

 

[thistlesmom]

She did look like she had a mini face lift! She already is moving it more today.

I'm a bit concerned as she hasn't peed yet, she has pooped once. I can't remember if this is normal after surgery? She's still eating and drinking.

 

[charlie]

Did she pee yet?

Some of them are a tad dehydrated after surgery but keep an eye on it. If she is drinking lots, and is not dehydrated (rest of her skin seems normal and doesn't stay in place if you gather it, like a pinch that won't go away), she should be peeing.

 

[thistlesmom]

No pee yet, at least that I can tell. I feel like a crazy person right now. She is acting pretty normal, still eating and drinking. Only one poop so far too. When should I start panicking?

She is on 2 pain meds (one is more of an anti inflammatory) and antibiotics.

 

[Kalandra]

Call your vet and ask if anything that was given to her that would cause her to not pee. And to alert him to the situation, to ask when you should be bringing her back in.

Also do a dehydration check. As mentioned, pinch a little bit of skin and pull up. Normal skin should snap back into place quickly, dehydrated hedgehogs will take longer.

Cooper had surgery yesterday to remove a tumor and he peed within 15 minutes after waking from his surgery. The only time I had a problem with a hedgehog not peeing was with Riley. Riley only went to the bathroom on his wheel. Because I had pulled his wheel, he wouldn't go. After figuring out what the problem was, I offered him his wheel back only to go to the bathroom on, within 5 steps he had urinated and defecated. I had to "walk the hedgehog" several times a day while he healed.

 

[thistlesmom]

I think I may love you. I just took your suggestion and "walked her". She can't wheel due to her 3 legs and what not but I just put her in her play pen with a tube and the first thing she did was pee. No tubing but I guess she is too lady like to pee in her house.
Thank you thank you thank you!

 

[Kalandra]

That is great. These little guys can be so funny about their bathroom routines. I bet she feels better now too.

 

[thistlesmom]

Here she is 3 days after surgery.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Wow. That's quite the surgical site. How's she doing today?

 

[Kalandra]

Poor girl, bless her.

Yes how is she doing? Her weight holding well? Its hard to tell from the image, but it looks pretty good to me. Is there much swelling or bruising around the surgical site?

 

[thistlesmom]

She seems to be doing very well, eating and drinking normally, starting to move around more, she already has prickle stubble away from the incision. The swelling has gone way down and the redness has decreased. I think she's getting a little sick of me obsessively checking in on her!