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Location: Never in one place long | I sold a horse to a girl about 5 years ago. 7 years ago, we found out through a biopsy that she had subcuteaneous lymphoma which the vet said was benign? Anyways, there were varying opinions from vets about how it would affect her, horse long she would live etc. one vet said between 3-7yrs, one said she it wouldn't affect her.
Anyways, the past few months, she'd been getting nosebleeds, dex helped to stop these. she stocked up on and off quite frequently but the last few days, she'd had a really swollen knee that seemed to have no cause and lameness on and off.
Yesterday the girl found her laying down with THREE broken legs (bone protruding through skin) and she had to be put down. They were thinking it was severe bone cancer?? Is this even possible and does anyone have any explaination or insight on this? I am just shocked as I've NEVER heard of anything even remotely like this. She was 15yrs old.
Our hearts are broken for this sweet girl and I wish she hadn't have had to go through that. |
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  Warmblood with Wings
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Location: Florida.. | are they sure there wasnt another reason like blunt trauma? thats odd they pretruded thru skin like that.. |
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Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | What?!?! That doesn't even seem possible! Three broken legs and they were all protruding through the skin? That is crazy! are they positive on the cause? |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Lymphoma is never benign.
There is a good possibility that the lymphoma spread to her bones and those were pathologic fractures.
If you think about it, lymphoma and leukemia are both cancers of white blood cells. Lymphoma is a cancer of lymphocytes, usually in tissues like lymph node, or other organs. Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells that comes from the bone marrow. Or, if she had been fighting this cancer for a long time, her bone marrow could have been worn out, she could have had aplastic anemia... People with multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow, have pathologic fractures too. A lot of times thats when they get diagnosed, when their femur breaks out of nowhere.
Edited by casualdust07 2015-11-19 8:45 AM
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Location: Never in one place long | Bibliafarm - 2015-11-19 8:13 AM
are they sure there wasnt another reason like blunt trauma? thats odd they pretruded thru skin like that..
They're not positive on anything as they aren't doing an autopsy but her cancer was getting worse in the vets opinikon, she had bumps all over her and they were getting big. |
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Location: Never in one place long | casualdust07 - 2015-11-19 8:39 AM
Lymphoma is never benign.
There is a good possibility that the lymphoma spread to her bones and those were pathologic fractures.
If you think about it, lymphoma and leukemia are both cancers of white blood cells. Lymphoma is a cancer of lymphocytes, usually in tissues like lymph node, or other organs. Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells that comes from the bone marrow. Or, if she had been fighting this cancer for a long time, her bone marrow could have been worn out, she could have had aplastic anemia... People with multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow, have pathologic fractures too. A lot of times thats when they get diagnosed, when their femur breaks out of nowhere.
That is very interesting... so it IS possible that that could have happened. Would that explain the swelling and lameness? Just seems flat out crazy that she could have broken THREE legs at once. :( |
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You get what you give
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Location: Texas | DLV - 2015-11-19 8:53 AM
casualdust07 - 2015-11-19 8:39 AM
Lymphoma is never benign.
There is a good possibility that the lymphoma spread to her bones and those were pathologic fractures.
If you think about it, lymphoma and leukemia are both cancers of white blood cells. Lymphoma is a cancer of lymphocytes, usually in tissues like lymph node, or other organs. Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells that comes from the bone marrow. Or, if she had been fighting this cancer for a long time, her bone marrow could have been worn out, she could have had aplastic anemia... People with multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow, have pathologic fractures too. A lot of times thats when they get diagnosed, when their femur breaks out of nowhere.
That is very interesting... so it IS possible that that could have happened. Would that explain the swelling and lameness? Just seems flat out crazy that she could have broken THREE legs at once. : (
yeah it would. and the fact that three broke at the same time- classic for a pathologic fracture. Pathologic fractures are fractures due to diseased bone, not trauma. Odds are, a horse with a traumatic event would not break three legs unless someone maliciously beat him with a metal object.. but it makes a lot of sense if this animal has had cancer and his bones now have cancer that they are all weak and they gave out. |
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Location: Never in one place long | casualdust07 - 2015-11-19 9:06 AM
DLV - 2015-11-19 8:53 AM
casualdust07 - 2015-11-19 8:39 AM
Lymphoma is never benign.
There is a good possibility that the lymphoma spread to her bones and those were pathologic fractures.
If you think about it, lymphoma and leukemia are both cancers of white blood cells. Lymphoma is a cancer of lymphocytes, usually in tissues like lymph node, or other organs. Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells that comes from the bone marrow. Or, if she had been fighting this cancer for a long time, her bone marrow could have been worn out, she could have had aplastic anemia... People with multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow, have pathologic fractures too. A lot of times thats when they get diagnosed, when their femur breaks out of nowhere.
That is very interesting... so it IS possible that that could have happened. Would that explain the swelling and lameness? Just seems flat out crazy that she could have broken THREE legs at once. : (
yeah it would. and the fact that three broke at the same time- classic for a pathologic fracture. Pathologic fractures are fractures due to diseased bone, not trauma. Odds are, a horse with a traumatic event would not break three legs unless someone maliciously beat him with a metal object.. but it makes a lot of sense if this animal has had cancer and his bones now have cancer that they are all weak and they gave out.
Thank you SO much for this insight! We are just trying to understand. Of course the girl is blaming herself that this happened, I'm trying to assure her there was nothing that really could have been done, she'd had the vet out multiple times to try and keep her comfortable, I guess we just didn't know it was affecting her bones that way and I had no clue that could EVER happen! |
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Warmblood with Wings
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Location: Florida.. | That makes sense.. Did not know the horse was showing signs.. of being sick or anything.. if it got that far then I assume he was in extreme pain..Bone cancer is one of the most painful cancers..
Edited by Bibliafarm 2015-11-19 9:27 AM
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Location: White Mountains of AZ | That would be so awful to go out to see :( But I'd think the horse would have had to show some sort of pain symptoms before bones breaking?... |
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You get what you give
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Location: Texas | I'm just more surprised one vet told them it was benign. We learned 2nd year of vet school lymphoma is *never* benign. |
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You get what you give
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Location: Texas | QH<3er - 2015-11-19 10:14 AM
That would be so awful to go out to see :( But I'd think the horse would have had to show some sort of pain symptoms before bones breaking?...
I'm sure the horse probably didnt feel well because it's sick, but its like old people that break bones easily due to osteoporosis. its just easy for weak bones to break. and they did say the horse had a swelling and lameness on one leg..
Edited by casualdust07 2015-11-19 10:55 AM
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
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Location: Bastrop, Texas | This is an excellent explanation. |
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BHW Resident Surgeon
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Location: Bastrop, Texas | casualdust07 - 2015-11-19 8:39 AM
Lymphoma is never benign.
There is a good possibility that the lymphoma spread to her bones and those were pathologic fractures.
If you think about it, lymphoma and leukemia are both cancers of white blood cells. Lymphoma is a cancer of lymphocytes, usually in tissues like lymph node, or other organs. Leukemia is a cancer of blood cells that comes from the bone marrow. Or, if she had been fighting this cancer for a long time, her bone marrow could have been worn out, she could have had aplastic anemia... People with multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow, have pathologic fractures too. A lot of times thats when they get diagnosed, when their femur breaks out of nowhere.
This is an excellent explanation. |
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Location: Never in one place long | casualdust07 - 2015-11-19 10:54 AM
QH<3er - 2015-11-19 10:14 AM
That would be so awful to go out to see :( But I'd think the horse would have had to show some sort of pain symptoms before bones breaking?...
I'm sure the horse probably didnt feel well because it's sick, but its like old people that break bones easily due to osteoporosis. its just easy for weak bones to break. and they did say the horse had a swelling and lameness on one leg..
yes, she did have swelling and lameness but otherwise seemed to eat fine and not be in a ton of pain. They did everything the vet recommened to keep her comfortable... they just didn't kow the cancer had spread to her bones.... Can anyone explain the nosebleeds and how they relate to cancer?? |
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| Ugh prayers for her and you all. Hopefully she frolicked over rainbow bridge healthy and strong  |
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Warmblood with Wings
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Location: Florida.. | Oh I am sure they did prayers to them.. It must have been horrible to see.. so sorry.. and thanks for explaining that..as well |
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Location: North Dakota | Nose bleeds as related to cancer in my simplistic brain:
Cancer of the blood/bone marrow depletes the body of a lot of the "normal" features of the blood including the clotting capability therefore people with leukemia will have nose bleeds because the cancer has destroyed the portion of the blood that promotes blood clotting. Cancer destroys or harms almost all parts of the useful function of the blood/bonemarrow. |
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Location: Gainesville, TX | Was the mare grey or light skinned? |
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| My old stud had nose bleeds for several months and it was believed to be from cancer. He was happy to eat and even felt pretty good until his last day. He had no other real symptoms other than he would no longer keep his weight up. Sorry about the horse that had to be a terrible thing to find. |
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