Our 13 year old kitty boy, Theo, recently developed lumps on his left jaw/neck area. Ten days ago we took him to Dr. Johnson to be evaluated. Dr. Johnson said that we had a few options, from biopsying... Read More
Our 13 year old kitty boy, Theo, recently developed lumps on his left jaw/neck area. Ten days ago we took him to Dr. Johnson to be evaluated. Dr. Johnson said that we had a few options, from biopsying it to get an idea what we were dealing with (though he thought there was a 90% chance it would come back malignant), to going ahead with an excision or just leaving it be since it wasn't hurting or hindering him. He told us there were no wrong answers. After thinking it over, we decided to go for the excision and hope for the best. This morning we dropped our boy off. However, around noon we received a call from Dr. Johnson, who explained that during his pre-op examination he noticed that the area had grown in the last 10 days and there was an additional nodule that hadn't been there before. He recommended that we NOT do the surgery since, in his opinion, it wouldn't be in Theo's best interest. He was now 95% certain that the area was malignant and that the cancer would grow back within weeks, even before he was fully recovered. Dr. Johnson did NOT have to tell us this. There would have been no way for us to have known that the cancer might grow back quickly, or even that the lumps had grown to a discernible degree in the last 10 days and just gone ahead with the scheduled surgery. Instead, he wanted to save us $800 (which included all pain meds, antibiotics and a full dental cleaning) and unnecessary pain and discomfort for our old boy. He also did not charge us for today's visit, even though Theo was there all day before I could pick him up. We have been referred to a veterinary oncologist should we decide to pursue a different course. I am grateful for Dr. Johnson's honesty and integrity. I highly recommend him, his ultra-clean facility and his kind and capable staff. drjohnson.com Read Less