Just back this evening after having left Wilf in Cambridge (I can't see him so I may aswell try to get on with some work).
The picture re Wilf is very odd. They gave him a thorough work up today (history, physical exam, blood tests, ultrasound and X-ray). As far as they can see we're only looking at the lump on his ear and the lymph node (which is the biggest worry), as he hasn't got any other abnormalities anywhere else. While the picture looks towards malignant histiocytoma they are worried about the cells that they obtain tomorrow may not be good enough to give a clear picture, and so we could be left with a vague diagnosis without conclusion (sadly any conclusions may just be based on elimination rather than anything as clear-cut as positive or negative—a bit of deja vu for me after having had 2 FIP cats whereby the diagnosis is usually by process of elimination and only definite when autopsied).
The positives are that its an extremely rare form of cancer in the 1st place (none of the others cases I've read online have discussed it so far as they include different cell lines) and so may be unlikely and its rare for him to have it at his age.
If the tests are conclusive tomorrow and it is definitely malignant then the next thing is that there is no treatment and so would do none. Or it could just be benign histiocytoma behaving extremely oddly (which is what I hope of course).
They are thinking of removing the lump from his ear though as its ulcerating and is bothering him and so are speaking to the surgeons tomorrow to see if they can remove it successfully.
I only know too well how inexact a science vet medicine (like human medicine) can be as my job involves reading hundreds of case reports in clinical medicine, but it never helps when its your own to worry about.
