u/chiotchae

my sweet 8 1/2 yr old basset girl, bisou, who i love with all my heart (i feel like i gave birth to her literally), was just diagnosed with a mast cell tumor and i am absolutely shattered.
she has always been a lumpy girl, and i’ve already had a couple of her lumps removed in the past, all of which came back benign. when i used to work at a general practice vet, there was one lump in particular that i remember being so worried and restless about because the fna came back suspicious. thankfully, the biopsy results ultimately ended up being a lipoma and was just a little aggravated from all the poking we had done. (because this mass was potentially suspicious, the doctor had taken big and deep margins then which she still has a scar from)
i eventually got busy with school and stopped working so when another lump formed on bisou (around december of 2025), i honestly thought it was just another lipoma. it was small, soft, movable, and under the skin, just like her other lumps. i decided to just monitor it and not have her go through another invasive surgery. months went by, and i eventually noticed that it had gotten bigger (gradually not sudden).
i recently started working at an emergency and specialty vet hospital, so i took her in today for a surgery consultation to have the lump removed. the surgeon took one look at it and immediately became concerned that it could be a mast cell tumor. my heart sank because i went into the appointment thinking it was just another lipoma.
he took fna samples, and he confirmed that it is an mct.
the mass is about 12 cm, so he wants to shrink it before surgery next week. she was started on prednisone, famotidine, and benadryl in the meantime. he said that once we send the mass out for biopsy after surgery, we’ll finally know what grade it is, but i am SO incredibly anxious waiting for that answer.
her lump is large, but it isn’t hard or irritated. its on her mid right side (as shown in the picture). she has great energy, a great appetite, and no gi issues. she has always been an itchy, allergy-prone girl, but otherwise she is acting completely like herself.
i’m just really beating myself up over this. i keep thinking maybe it has already spread and that i should have gotten it removed sooner. i wonder if i had managed her allergies better, maybe she wouldn’t have developed an mct in the first place (which i know is not the reason mcts form but im just overthinking it). i know i can’t go back and change anything, but the guilt is still eating me alive. 😞
bisou is my absolute baby. i call her my soul dog, and i genuinely cannot imagine my life without her. i’m trying to stay hopeful and take this one step at a time, praying, and manifesting good thoughts. if anyone is willing to share their stories, experiences, any advice, or thoughts, i would really appreciate it. thank u for listening 🤍