Our 10.5 year old greyhound has subcutaneous haemangiosarcoma. He had a small (maybe an inch across) lump on his side in mid Jan, which grew to a large maybe 9cm lump by the time it was surgically removed in mid Feb. The vet who removed it said it was a very nasty op as the mass ruptured, and it was not possible to get good margins as it went behind his ribs a little. They had to remove some muscle. He didn't have chemo as that vet said there wasn't a good protocol for it.
He recovered fairly well from the first one. He was almost normal after 2 or 3 weeks then normal after about 1 month.
His lump has returned in the same place as of mid April (2 months after removal). The original vet said she wouldn't be comfortable removing it again and referred us to an oncologist specialist to discuss options.
Spoke to oncologist and he reckons he can remove the lump, but would have to remove two ribs and reposition his diaphragm, and would need to remove a lot of muscle so would have to take a flap of it from nearby. With chemo after, the vet is fairly optimistic, cautiously saying numbers even up to a year of health after (obviously not guaranteed), but ultimately it's a disease dogs tend to die from eventually. Another factor is the surgery is at least 1.5 hour drive away, so we worry about getting him back safely after.
Now, of my husband and I, one of us thinks we should go ahead and the other thinks we shouldn't. Both have his best interests at heart, but just differ on what we think is the right choice.
Can I ask if anyone has had any experience of similar, or what you would do in our position? We are both so upset and it's hard to think rationally. Thank you