Lump on Tortoise Head/Tumor? Cyst? Abscess?

Nellie Rose

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Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
168
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
Brief update- Hermann is well. He is looking great from my view, seems to be healing well, and is still eating/drinking/acting completely fine.
I can't wait for him to be all fixed up so he can start going outside in the summer, it's so good for him.
No word on the biopsy. I'll call next week since they did say it could take up to 2 weeks, but I am not worried. We already know it likely is not cancerous, the CT showed no malignancy anyway, and I believe if there were bacteria or fungal infections hiding away in there i likely would have seen some signs by now.

You can see from the photo the swelling is down from when he was discharged, and the tissue is starting to heal up.
He'll have his sutures removed on May 30th and a recheck appointment to make sure all is well.
20260415_205312.jpg
 

COmtnLady

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Tortoise Club
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Feb 16, 2020
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It looks so much better! :)
Has it healed like that without the edge-guard/bumper you'd created? (That was brilliant, BTW.)

You said they remove stitches on "May 30th" , did you mean April 30th? May seems forever away!



Keep us in the loop, please.




.
 

Nellie Rose

Active Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
168
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
It looks so much better! :)
Has it healed like that without the edge-guard/bumper you'd created? (That was brilliant, BTW.)

You said they remove stitches on "May 30th" , did you mean April 30th? May seems forever away!



Keep us in the loop, please.




.
Yes it has. Trauma from his shell wasn't a problem once the mass was removed. It has only been 12 days since the surgery though so I am keeping a close eye out. I need to mist him daily since I can't soak him as much right now, and i didn't want to put him through the stress of changing it every day and I wouldn't want water to be trapped under it.
 

Nellie Rose

Active Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
168
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
It looks so much better! :)
Has it healed like that without the edge-guard/bumper you'd created? (That was brilliant, BTW.)

You said they remove stitches on "May 30th" , did you mean April 30th? May seems forever away!



Keep us in the loop, please.




.
But the recheck date is due to my schedule conflicting with the doctors. It is within the acceptable timeframe though, i made sure of it.
 

Nellie Rose

Active Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
168
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
Got the full pathology report today.
The mass is a confirmed granuloma, which formed around micobacterium.
The doctor said since there is nothing systemically, they suspect the micobacterium was introduced to a small wound or scrape, and the body protected itself by forming the granuloma around it, which originally presented similarly to an abscess.
They said as long as hermann is not symptomatic, maintaining his weight, and the incision continues to heal well, we shouldn't need to treat with antibiotics again since he was already treated systemically. The next step would be Enrofloxacin if he doesn't continue to improve or if there are signs of infection.

So all good news. Pathologist confirms complete excision so we shouldn't need to worry about it coming back unless there is further infection.
 

Nellie Rose

Active Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2021
Messages
168
Location (City and/or State)
Maryland
Just wanted to show you guys how Hermann is doing. He is healing well from my perspective.
He was irritated and rubbing the incision the first two weeks or so, but that has stopped. A portion of the incision opened but we expected it to, and it has since healed up beautifully on its own.
Hermann is still well, eating ravenously and drinking normally. I've started soaking him again regularly since the surgery and today moved him back onto a bioactive substrate mix to maintain better humidity. I can't wait to get him back into his big enclosure, and then hopefully outside for the summer.
 

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