Help! I am totally panicking!

My dad said to get a ruler, measure it, and keep track of it, so that I will be able to tell the vet more if it grows.

 
Dad's are so wise, aren't they?  That's a great idea and I'm betting it's just a local reaction to the injection.  Never hurts to keep an eye on it though, but I bet it'll be gone in a few days.

Have you tried applying gentle pressure to it for a minute... see if that makes it go down, could be some sort of hematoma, or the shot fluids stuck there somehow.

No, I haven't really tried that, and of course he always lays with his left side down, so I can't get to it right now. When I was trying to show it to my dad, he kept wiggling around, which made things difficult. If I can get him to stand still for a minute, I will try that later.
This is still really bugging me. I'm gonna be panicking until it starts to go down, if it does start to go down. If it doesn't, then i'll lose what little sanity I may have.

This is from the vetinfo.com website:
 
A: Jorge- I am pretty sure that your dog is probably better by now. Sometimes lumps do form where vaccines are given. If these are fluid filled lumps they are usually either abscesses or seromas. An abscess is an infected pocket under the skin and they are a rare problem. Seromas are accumulations of serum, the liquid portion of the blood, under the skin. These occur when the vaccine irritates the veins in the area and they leak serum or if there is bleeding under the skin, perhaps due to the needle passing through a vein or skin artery. These are more common than infections (abscesses) and they tend to go away on their own after one to three weeks. It is always a good idea to let your vet look at any lumps that form after vaccination, which you seem to have done. I am sure your vet will keep working with you to resolve this problem as long as is necessary.
Mike Richards, DVM

ORIGINAL: cakana

This is from the vetinfo.com website:
 
A: Jorge- I am pretty sure that your dog is probably better by now. Sometimes lumps do form where vaccines are given. If these are fluid filled lumps they are usually either abscesses or seromas. An abscess is an infected pocket under the skin and they are a rare problem. Seromas are accumulations of serum, the liquid portion of the blood, under the skin. These occur when the vaccine irritates the veins in the area and they leak serum or if there is bleeding under the skin, perhaps due to the needle passing through a vein or skin artery. These are more common than infections (abscesses) and they tend to go away on their own after one to three weeks. It is always a good idea to let your vet look at any lumps that form after vaccination, which you seem to have done. I am sure your vet will keep working with you to resolve this problem as long as is necessary.
Mike Richards, DVM

Thanks Cathy, that makes me feel a lot better.

I was actually surprised at how long the lump can last (and not be serious), so it was good info for me too.  Vetinfo.com has lots of helpful Q & As that I've referred to many times.

This is from my holistic vet and THIS WORKS.  Take your thumb and forefinger and just "pluck" at the lump.  Not hard and don't be painful ... but literally just pick up the whole lump and let it snap back. 
 
The point is to stimulate blood flow in the area -- this will help any fluids dissipate and gets the tissue to heal.
 
If you can get to a health store, get a homeopathic called "Thuja".  don't get the 'strong' one (if it's Boiron, get the dark blue tube, not the light blue but if the light is all they have that's ok). 
 
Give 4-5 pellets twice a day for 3-4 days (if you get the light blue container only use 1-2 pellets at a time & they ARE tiny). 
 
Don't touch the pellets with your fingers.  Skin oil destroys them  -- they are complicated little dispensers -- you gotta twist the top with it upside down and let it drop onto a piece of paper.   Fold the paper and crush the pellet balls -- and then pour it into his mouth onto his tongue.
 
Do *not* put these in food.  The stuff  needs to dissolve on his tongue.  They are sweet and he'll think it's a treat if you approach it that way.  The thuja will help detox his body from the shots. 
 
Then go back to desensitizing him at the vets.  Don't play fair -- take the one thing he thinks is BEST in the whole world and take it with you for a treat.  Peanut butter crackers?  Bits of steak?  Make this count.
 
Big deal -- DO NOT be *afraid*.  If you get all wigged out and worried so will the dog.  That is a bigger deal than you might think -- they SO ping off our fears it's not funny.  If you are all worried about a vet visit and how he'll do HE will worry. 
 
The other day, my dog Billy had to get blood drawn again.  Now I've gone to great lengths to make sure he isn't scared at the vet (he was ... like your dog!!).  And after this last blood draw, which was kinda tough, I made sure this last week that I took absolutely knock-em-out SUPERB treats to help him make 'nice' with the vet after she had to take more blood.
 
What'd I take?  WATERMELON!!!
 
It was messy. Oh yeah.  Was it convenient?  Nope.  BUT, I know my dog and I know what he loves more than anything -- the vet got a kick out of giving him this "ultimate treat" (and he was ape nuts for it). 
But beyond that?  She *appreciated* the fact that I was taking the time to make sure he wasn't afraid of her.   We knew he loved her and she's great with him -- but I wasn't getting that started again.
 
Watermelon probably isn't gonna work for you -- I didn't mean that.  I DID mean to think out of the box -- out of the treat box to be specific.  Use what will work!!!
 
Drop treats off at the vet before hand -- and call them before hand and arrange what time you will be there with him.  Let a tech come out to your car!!  Don't even stress it by him going in. 
 
You might want to stack the deck more in your favor -- give him a little valerian tincture before you get there (it takes about 5 minutes to work and you can mix it with a bit of peanut butter).  That will help the dog relax and if you repeat that a few times you'll find it will make things easier.
 
Take care Jen - this is NOT a big deal.  Yes, it may be from the shot but working thru it like this is pretty easy and it will go away if you do what I said above.
 
You're thinking about "injection site sarcoma" and such -- and it doesn't ever develop that quickly.  I rarely ever tell folks it's "not much" -- but in this case I can tell you it's not a big deal.  You have found it early and by stimulating the area you will get it to go down. 
 
You're a good dog mom and you'll learn to be better.  But keep on trying to desensitize him to the vets -- let this current scare only make you more stubborn to make sure he CAN go to the vet and not get freaked.  It takes TIME and I truly commend you in a big way for being so proactive!!!  Good for you!!

Thank you Callie.
I think having my sister take him in to the vet yesterday to pick up Millie's medicine with her was better than me taking him. She doesn't worry about it nearly as much as I do, and I can almost bet that with me, he would have been worse. I guess in this case her carelessness might be valuable. Now it kinda sucks that she is probably moving out soon. I just thought of what he really likes. I think it's yogurt, so i'm gonna give that a try. I've got plenty, and I can certainly always get more.
I 'm hoping the natural food store is open tomorrow after i'm done work so I can pick up some Thuja for him. If not, would they have that at a GNC, not that I am even sure there is one around here anymore.

Oh, and, I didn't know the name injection site sarcoma, but yeah, that's what I was thinking. I googled it, and on a  positive note, I don't think it feels like a sarcoma.

See this IS a learning experience ... it will help you know how better to handle her.
 
SO often in dog training, it's the trainER who can make more mistakes than the dog ... and becoming a better trainer is the key to having a better behaved dog.  Dogs just do what dogs do!!  Learning to figure out what they truly see, hear, smell and think helps so much.
 
Now avoiding your own nerves is a big deal.  But you CAN do it -- it's amazing what we can swallow and handle when it helps our babies!!!

I could only find drops at the store here, so I got that. I tried squirting it in his mouth, which he didn't seem to like. The bottle says to take it in juice or water. I think i'll try juice later. That seems like it would be the best way. 

The liquid is GREAT.  Put it in a wee bit of peanut butter or tahini.  Next time try to get the non-alcoholic one -- mine actually *like* that one.  But the alcohol one is intense, but works fast.

That's good to know. I just poured some gatorade in the water, which he drank, but he'd definitely love peanut butter, so i'll have to try that next time. I had no idea there was an alcoholic and non-alcoholic one. I only saw one type in the store, so that's what I got. I should check the bottle and see which it is. 

If it's "non-alcoholic" it will have those words on the front.  And don't beat yourself up -- you WOULDN'T know if you hadn't experienced it before.  In fact, that's the best part about messageboards like this -- it's how you learn junk like that!!! *grin*