Conditions Vanek's medical thread (input? opinions?) (pictures included)

Hello all!
Its been many months since I've been on here but I need your help/second opinions! Back in February I believe, I had taken my Guinea Pig Vanek to the vets because I had thought she was showing nearly all the symptoms of having ovarian cysts. The only symptom she did not have was hairloss, and she was pear shaped but there wasnt any weight loss at all. She had an ultra sound performed and the woman showing me the pictures said she was in perfect health and was only being aggressive/bratty to her cage mate because her cage mate was ill and natural selection was taking place so she was trying to hoard all the food and water for herself since the other would die. The only thing the vets could not explain were her long crusty nipples, but somehow they removed the crusts off of them and they looked fine except for the fact that they were longer than I had remembered them being...

This past month or two is probably when I started realizing Vanek isn't quite how she used to be. I'm frustrated because I've started working full time and these last few months I haven't been spending as much time with my pigs so I am not truly certain when these symptoms really began..

So a month or two now I've been thinking to myself, "the hair on Vaneks back isn't as thick as I remember it being." "From what I can recall, Vanek used to be much rounder/bloated looking almost.. seems like she's lost some weight!" and things like that... But since her cage mate died, I assumed it partially could have been caused due to mourning (although truthfully she didn't seem to be phased at all) and because I introduced my other pig to her and they've been living together ever since, so I kind of just thought it was because she was running around more chasing the other or something (she's always been a brat) But anyways, last week I gave the girls a bath for the first time in months and noticed two symmetrical bald spots on Vaneks sides, almost her underbelly but not quite, and that was really the only symptom she was lacking the first vet visit. Keep in mind she's had crustys on her nipples this entire time, they returned quickly after the Feb. vet visit..


ANYWAYS. I am almost positive it has to be ovarian cysts, so I had booked an appointment on Thursday of last week for today (Tuesday) and in my head I definitely decided surgery would be the route Vanek and I would take. I ended up going to a different vet I had never been to who was closer to me... the Vet we visited in February was very over priced and the guy who is knowledgeable about pigs there is hard to book with unless we wanted to wait weeks, more than a month even, which was out of the question of course... and the first vet visit was more than an hour away, where as the vet we visited today was 40 minutes away, better in my mind in case of an emergency...



So here's how the visit went.. I really liked this guy a lot, he was pretty knowledgeable and has performed only a handful of surgeries on guinea pigs which isn't to awesome, but living in NH it's rare to come by someone whos even operated on ONE pig in their entire career... He was honest and told me he wasn't the best when it comes to reading ultra sounds (the first vet from back in February sent this new guy Vaneks ultra sounds, which this new vet said they were very dark and hard to read in his opinion..) but he said he can usually palpate and feel a cyst if there ever is one and he said he felt nothing.. which he felt around her belly/throat glands for a good 30 minutes as we talked throughout the visit.. BUT, he did say he felt something above her bladder I believe? He said it was hard and what ever it was was not supposed to be there... he told me he couldn't figure out what organ he was feeling but it could either be her uterus, colon, or rectum.
Since he thought she was cyst free, he did mention he believes its possible she may have Cushings Disease, but he again was honest with me and said he's never worked on/seen a guinea pig with this disease before in his career, he just felt that the balding was to low to be cyst caused, pigs he's treated have had the symmetrical balding much higher..
So it came down to the fact that he wanted to operate, and I've got to say even though this guy hasn't done thousands of these operations, I was definitely thinking it was the only option since clearly Vanek was no longer in perfect health. Oh, also I would have gotten a second opinion however before letting him just slice her open and dig around to investigate... just throwing that out there...


So he left to go write up an expected rate, what he thought the surgery might cost. The first time she had "possible cysts" I did TONS of research and I think the average rate you folks have paid is about $350.. I decided $400 MAAAYBE $450 would be my limit, but I was banking on something like $250 since that isn't an uncommon number which I have seen on here... The technician came in with the guesstimated bill and MAN was I blind sided... It came to be roughly $1,000! Have any of you got a figure this high?! I find it hard to believe this guys done any type of procedure on peoples pigs for that cost.... I love my baby Vanek but I am not much of a gambler and I knowing how risky this surgery is... I just can't bring myself to dish out that amount of money when in my head I feel like its a 50/50 chance of survival...


Below are pictures I took a few hours ago to give you guys a visual of what she's dealing with. What do you believe it could be? And also I am wondering if anyone else finds this $1,000 price tag outrageous?! Can anyone tell me how much they payed or what they think the average cost would be? I am going to email the first vet inquiring about an estimated surgery cost hoping they will give me one, but I have a feeling they won't and I'll have to dish out another $50 to have her reexamined...
Also anyone know anything more about Cushings Disease? I've googled it but there arent a ton of sources for guinea pigs.. mostly dogs and what not....