Eriathwens piggies

I’m so sorry to hear that, a situation like that gives no time for any of you to get your head around it (not that you really can, but you know what I mean) and can really leave people reeling. I hope he and you found some comfort in you being there for his final moments. He sounds like a very special person who meant a lot to many people. Take care of yourself as grieve.
 
I'm sorry to hear your news @Eriathwen
He sounds a special man and I’m glad you could be with him at the end
Take care of yourself as you grieve
 
So very sorry to hear that your dad passed away. Such a sad time for you and your family. Sending big hugs. xx
 
Thankyou all, day to day is becoming more livable and we have a date for the funeral which has helped.
Annoyingly, I did take my eye off the ball a bit with the guinea pigs, I'm trying to give myself a bit of grace about it but struggling due to the nature of things. I haven't been going to bed until late because I just can't sleep..anyway at about 5am I can hear banging in the pigs room and that usually means someone's getting bullied so I get up and poor Cherry is stuck in a corner.

I pick her up and she's got a very snotty nose. Great. So I set her back down and get the nebuliser set up so I can do something more than nothing. As I pick her back up to put her in the carrier for her nebuliser I can see her neck is swollen. She has got 2 big lumps sitting there, a grape sized lump under her chin and one that's gotta be between 2 and 3 inches inside her dewlap. Where they're sat is apparently bang on for her lymph nodes so I'm really, really hoping they're lymph node abscesses rather than tumours.

I should have kept a closer eye on her after her sister Pearl passed away. But between visiting my bonus dad at home and then when he went in to hospital as well, on top of dealing with my own grief of him passing as well as the mutual friends I had been keeping updated, and just trying to keep afloat dealing with that, I just didn't. However in spite of their size, they must have come up quickly, she's been acting fine up until now so I can't see me not noticing if they've been there a while, I'd at the very least felt them.

So..fingers crossed I can get her into the vet quickly tomorrow, I know my usual vet doesn't work Fridays but I'm hoping I can at least get antibiotics and a game plan, if she has to have surgery I won't let anyone but my usual vet do it if I can help it so I hope they're not needing to be done same day. Of course it's Friday 13th, I just realised. Ugh. For now she's settled in a carrier where she can't be bullied, had some critical care and emeprid, and she's got some tasty treats and apple slices to hopefully tempt her to nibble while I get a couple of hours sleep.

I hope everyone else's Friday 13th is less eventful than mine! Wish Cherry luck if you wouldn't mind, I feel like we're going to need it.
 
Ah dear Cherry 🥰 I hope you get some meds for her and a diagnosis asap
Don’t beat yourself up …you would have noticed sooner and with so much going on it’s another thing to deal with.
Look after yourself too
 
Thanks guys, this vet thinks it's cancer.. I'm not convinced. No diagnostics were done, luckily her nose has cleared up with the nebuliser but as her lungs were clear he didn't even want to do antibiotics. But without aspirating it with a needle then I'm not convinced they're not abscesses..maybe it's just wishful thinking, I dont know. But I've booked in for a recheck Monday with my regular vet. Normally when my piggies get cancer they rapidly lose body condition and currently, she is still nice and hefty and, while I know those lumps will carry a little weight, she is still 1kg. If I could just get her comfy enough to eat.. I also can't put her back in the group as she's being so badly bullied while unwell, which is also not helping things! She's currently in a hospital cage in my bedroom but I'm hoping when I've got the energy I can build her a pen inside her normal cage.

What didn't help either was, as we got into the car park we realised the funeral home is next door so my poor bonus Dad was laying in a fridge somewhere in there 🤦‍♀️ which was a bit distracting tbh.
 
Oh I forgot to say as well, her 2 neck lumps that I'd found, turned out to actually be at least 8, I found one in each armpit and one in her groin by the time she went to her appointment, the vet found those 5, plus one on the other side of her groin, and just now during her feed, I've also found another 2 on her side near the first groin lump I found. I dont know if its because she's uncomfortable having them felt that we're missing them and just finding them a few at a time, or if they're popping up out of nowhere rapidly. I'm very worried how she will do over the weekend if theyre genuinely cropping up this quickly, because these are just the surface ones we can feel, I dont know what's happening internally.

In good news though, she's started to show interest in food. She's picking at grass and hay with some encouragement so fingers crossed we can get her to Monday without too much stress.

You can see in the first picture just how large one of her neck lumps is!

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Eriathwen said:
Oh I forgot to say as well, her 2 neck lumps that I'd found, turned out to actually be at least 8, I found one in each armpit and one in her groin by the time she went to her appointment, the vet found those 5, plus one on the other side of her groin, and just now during her feed, I've also found another 2 on her side near the first groin lump I found. I dont know if its because she's uncomfortable having them felt that we're missing them and just finding them a few at a time, or if they're popping up out of nowhere rapidly. I'm very worried how she will do over the weekend if theyre genuinely cropping up this quickly, because these are just the surface ones we can feel, I dont know what's happening internally.

In good news though, she's started to show interest in food. She's picking at grass and hay with some encouragement so fingers crossed we can get her to Monday without too much stress.

You can see in the first picture just how large one of her neck lumps is!

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Click to expand...
Poor piggy, I hope the lumps can be treated 🙏❤️
 
Oh bless her, and poor you. You’ll look after her with great love and care, whatever lies ahead for her. I hope she rallies. Sending lots of healing vibes your way. You must be shattered too, take care.
 
Sending healing vibes to gorgeous Cherry.

Good luck with your usual vet. ❤️
 
I'm almost certain these are abscesses, the armpit ones are a little bigger today and the biggest one in her neck is a little smaller. I'm pretty sure cancerous tumours don't shrink?
Hopefully we can get her sorted Monday, although I've a feeling lots of flushing and wound packing is going to be in my future again. Preferable to cancer though.

She still isn't eating well but there's poops again which is something, not good poops but its a start, better than nothing. She's certainly full of attitude, she's absolutely not cooperative with syringe feeding, and she's strong as anything. But she's finding swallowing easier at least. Hopefully she will regain her appetite once her neck is more comfortable.

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