Update on Bailey

Bailey had a bone biopsy done on his jaw mass. It is definitely "reactive bone" (which means bone that appears normal, but due to its inappropriate size and positioning is basically reacting to something else). Bone cancer is notoriously hard to diagnose. Cancer cells can be deep inside the bone mass and the body reacts by layering normal bone over the cancerous middle, thus creating the mass.

Anyway, since a fracture is not likely given the x-ray showed nothing of that sort, and it is definitely not a soft tissue problem like an abscess, and an issue with teeth has been ruled out. It is most likely cancer. It is not reassuring to have to diagnose something by ruling other things out, but it appears that this may be what has to be done here. Bailey's vet has said that some bone cancers are not properly diagnosed until after the horse has passed and a necropsy is done.

Right now, Bailey is on a course of strong antibiotics in the event that there is an infection deep in the bone. We are doing this to cover all bases, but an infection of that sort is not likely due to the fact that Bailey has not been running a high temperature, nor has he been off his feed. An infection like that should make a horse pretty sick.

After the antibiotics, there is the option of x-raying again to see if we can find a pattern of less dense bone in the center of the mass which will indicate that cancer has progressed to eating away at the bone. Perhaps we caught it early and that is why the x-ray did not show the tell-tale shadowing in the center areas of the mass that would indicate cancer.

Unfortunately, if we did catch a cancer early... it won't be helpful to Bailey like it would be to a person. Some equine bone cancers metastasize to other organs very quickly and once they are visible, they have already moved on. And even if this cancer is localized in his jaw... it is where the bit goes, and removal of the mass in it's entirety would be necessary and would disrupt the jaw structure so much that I am not sure it would be wise to attempt for the sake of Bailey's quality of life after such drastic surgery.

So that is where we are. I am giving Bailey time so that his body can decide what it is going to do, and so that we get some clearer indications before making any decisions. For now he is eating well, and the one day we had sunny weather, he was bucking and playing, and driving his pasture mates crazy just like the old Bailey.

P~