Calcinosis Circumscripta - any experience with this?

[elizavixen]

Here's a recap: Maggie had this on her foot at the same time she broke her toe, it was just a swollen area but b/c she was limping I brought her in, they x-rayed, said she had broken toe and in a separate area, this calcinosis circumscripta. They said she needed surgery to remove it. I said OK, they did surgery, Maggie ripped out stitches, stiched up again, ripped out again, open wound for a while, kennelled at vets for over 2 months, and healed up OK and back at home.

But....Maggie's foot where the wound/surgery/calcinosis was is swollen back up - or I should say the swelling never really went down and it is really just where she had the open wound. The vet said the new skin that grew back was thick skin. The area is kind of the size of a golf ball, maybe alittle smaller. The vet said before she left she wanted to do another x-ray to look for the calcinosis and if it was back they wanted to amputate her toe. I told her I'd rather wait a while. Part of my motivation for waiting is $$, part is I'm afraid it really is back and I don't want anymore surgery, part of it is I just want to give Maggie a rest for awhile. B/c of all that has happened to the foot, I'm not surprised the area is swollen, it is just suspect. I don't want to do unneccessary surgery, esp. considering how Maggie's last surgery went - moreso the aftermath of the surgery. Maggie isn't at all lame, she's running, jumping, etc. I plan to just watch the foot for awhile and see if it decreases, stays the same or god forbid gets bigger. If it grows, I will take her back to the vet.

Has anyone had experience with calcinosis? Does it really just keep growing and growing?

Any advice on where to go from here?

[Jamiya]

The people on my homeopathy list say that it could have been treated homeopathically to begin with and she could have avoided the surgery at all. A more informal group run by the same people is here if you want to post: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/H4Animals/.

[elizavixen]

I joined that group but I couldn't really figure it out. Is it just like an email thing or is there a forum somewhere?

I did find the calendula and gave it to her a few times. Her foot did seem to finally start healing after that!

I don't want to do the surgery, but I don't want it to get to the point where she needs her whole foot amputated - if it will ever get to that point. A St. bernard on 3 legs just doesn't sound good to me.

It has just been so hectic these past few months with the surgeries, multiple sedations, her being boarded at the vets for 2 1/2 months! I just want to have her home and back into a normal routine for a while.

[Jamiya]

For the group, you just go to that link and join. After joining, you go to that link and on the left side there is a menu. Click on "messages" and you can see all the messages.

I'll post on the study forum and see if they can recommend anything.