So, I did talk to the vet about stopping the steroid quickly, and she said the dose was low and for a short period, so it wasn't a concern.
We did end up having some concerns though...also known as "complications". *sigh*
So a couple days after the surgery I noticed a small, cylindrical lump near the incision. I kept an eye on it, but wasn't too concerned thinking it was probably some inflammation or a bit of fluid. Last Thursday evening was Roxy's last day of Apo Amoxi Clav antibiotics. On Saturday the lump was a bit bigger and it was about time for Roxy's checkup appointment so I booked her in for Monday morning. On Sunday I called the vet's cell because the lump blew up to the size of a lemon over Saturday afternoon and Saturday overnight. I asked about hematoma, but she said usually fluid travels and would cause her leg or belly to swell up, and I thought ya that's usually the case, good point. Haha. The vet called in more antibiotics for me to pick up at the human pharmacy, and said to watch her for signs of distress, and call back if things got worse.
So Monday (yesterday) early morning she went in for her check up. The vet was definitely concerned about the significant size of the lump. A few things we talked about were abscess, or it could be a sign that she has inflammatory cancer. So Roxy was booked in for afternoon surgical exploration.
DH had to pick her up yesterday afternoon for me. The vet did call me to update - it was a hematoma! YAY!!!! Apparently Roxy didn't read the book on how hematomas are supposed to act. Haha! So they cleaned it all up real good and put a drain in. The incision was reopened, the edges were re-cut (for fresh incision edges, better healing), and the incision is now about 12 cm long. She was draining A LOT of fluid yesterday...gobs of coagulated blood.
There was no additional charges for this. My vet doesn't charge for follow up complications - just meds.
The vet tech said she went through surgery very well again, though at home it seemed like she didn't come out of the anesthetic as smoothly (peacefully? haha) as previous. She was whining a bit and shaking. I called to make sure she got pain meds, and they said yes she should be good to go. I felt so bad for her, but she seemed ok once I pulled her bed out by the couch and sat with her. She wasn't interested in food at 8 pm, but ate a few kibble ravenously at about 10 pm.
This morning she was THIRSTY and HUNGRY. So I gave her half her breakfast, waited an hour and gave her the other half. She was moving very gingerly, and was shaking after moving around. She doesn't have any pain meds for at home, so I'm going to call and see if I can get a bit of something. She is on 300mg Baytril (Enrofloxacin) for 3 days which is a heavy duty antibiotic just in case. Now she's sleeping peacefully.
She's going to need some heavy duty probiotics after this is all done.