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A whirlwind last few days....almost 4years ago to the day we had to say Goodbye to Zeus, our white boxer, due to Mast Cell and shortly after we took in a rescue we named Maia to help fill some of the void left by Zeus. We found out Friday that Maia has Lymphoma and we may soon have to say Goodbye once again. About 3 weeks ago she started snoring for the first time since she's been with us and I chalked it up to being a boxer until the next week. I noticed that when I came home from work, she would sound like she was short of breath and wheezing for a few minutes until she calmed down. When I was petting her neck, I felt two lumps in her skin around her throat and wondered if this was causing her breathing and snoring issues. I took her into the Vet on Thursday and they noticed that a few other lymph nodes were swollen so they aspirated them along with the lumps on her throat. They did a quick dye test on the slide and it revealed something was going on, more than likely Lymphoma. I brought her back in Friday for chest x-rays and they called to say she had two medium sized masses, pretty much confirming the worst. My mother had to go pick her up because I could barely drive there that morning to drop her off knowing the possible outcome. She is around 8yrs old and the Vet laid out our options from basic Prednisone treatment to keep her comfortable to full blown Chemo treatments, which they do in house. They are saying that from point of diagnosis she has about 1-2months remaining, maybe 3-4 with basic Prednisone treatment. Everything I have read online says that the Chemo route could only get her another 6-18months, is that correct? Money isn't the concern, her quality of life is and if the Vet could tell me that $5k in Chemo treatment would get her another 3-4yrs I wouldn't even think twice. With her age, is it something we should even consider? She is very active and it is obvious she has many years left in her. Right now she is on 20mg of Prednisone twice a day for 14days, then just once a day from there on out. In the few days she's been on it, I've already noticed the lumps in her neck going down. Why couldn't she remain on Prednisone indefinitely if it keeps the Lymphoma at bay? How can I tell when her quality of life really starts to suffer?  Internally I am struggling with the ultimate decision and now I also have to consider my 4yr old son who has grown up with her by his side. It is tearing me up inside on how to move forward. Apollo, our other boxer, was odd while she was gone all day for x-rays, very similar to how he was after Zeus didn't come home.
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Sep 22, 2014 18:37
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 01:31 |
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That's a tough diagnosis, you have my sympathy. Boxers are sort of known for developing cancer and all sorts of other health problems. I've done doggy hospice, and there are two nuggets of wisdom that I find extremely helpful for determining quality of life. One says "If your dog can eat, drink, pee, poop, and sleep, he's not ready to go yet." The other says to keep a record of good days and bad days, discussing with family members and writing down the verdict each day rather than relying on memory. When a week has three bad days and four good, it's time to let them go. Don't wait for the bad days to outnumber the good.
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Sep 22, 2014 18:50
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Prednisone doesn't do anything at all to cancer. It just decreases the swelling. Sorry about your girl, dude.
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Sep 22, 2014 22:35
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Actually, pred will kill lymphoma cells. It can make them feel like a million bucks in the short term. Eventually though (and sometimes very quickly), the cancer cells will get resistant to the pred and it'll come back. Not only that, but if it gets resistant to the pred then the standard chemo drugs stop working well too. Typically with lymphoma, if they use the standard CHOP protocol, the median (so 50% under, 50% over) remission period is about 8 months, with remission meaning normal-sized lymph nodes when you palpate them. If she is halfway through the chemo protocol when she goes into remission, that's when the timer starts, so it doesn't necessarily mean 8 months from end of chemo. At some point, the lymphoma will eventually come back. If the first protocol worked, then they usually try that again and the second remission will last about half as long as the first (so about 4 months). If CHOP doesn't work there are other chemo drugs that they can try too. Generally, the aim with chemo is to give the animal a great quality of life. The doses used are a lot smaller than in humans, so while they can get some side effects, they're usually pretty minor and the animal feels pretty good. I'm sorry about the diagnosis; lymphoma is a toughie. It's up to you whether you want to pursue chemo. I have seen a fair number of dogs get chemo for lymphoma and for the most part they're pretty happy.
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Sep 22, 2014 23:49
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Braki posted:Actually, pred will kill lymphoma cells. It can make them feel like a million bucks in the short term. Eventually though (and sometimes very quickly), the cancer cells will get resistant to the pred and it'll come back. Not only that, but if it gets resistant to the pred then the standard chemo drugs stop working well too. Thanks for the info. Even with chemo, we are only extending her time with us for mere months vs years .The hardest part of all of this is preparing for the inevitable, which is on the horizon. I mean we all have to deal with it at some point, but when this time window is placed out there, it makes it so much harder to deal with. With our first boxer, the MCT was causing severe pain so the decision was "easy", so to speak. With her, even prior to diagnosis and prednisone, she is a happy and active boxer, then boom.
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Sep 23, 2014 00:10
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H.R. Paperstacks posted:Thanks for the info. Generally, yes. I mean, 8 months is the median. Some animals get much less, but I know of one dog who's been in remission for 2 years and it hasn't come back. It's just not one of those things you can really predict.
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Sep 23, 2014 00:31
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Not only that, but when you think about it, in terms of the dog's lifetime, 8 months is like 1/10 of its life so far. It's like an 80 year old getting another 8 years.
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Sep 23, 2014 03:55
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After a few days I've finally come to a point of acceptance with Maia's diagnosis and had a good meeting with the Vet about many different things. We've opted to treat her with just Prednisone and make her final months (hopefully many) as comfortable as possible and fill them with endless amounts of love and attention from the family. With her age and the broad spectrum of months remaining if we decided to do Chemotherapy, I feel keeping her on lower dosages of Prednisone and at home is best for her and us. With the use of Prednisone there are the obvious side effects of increased thirst and urination and the Vet has moved us from 2 x 20mg each day to just 1 x 20mg daily for the next 7 days and after that, only every other day. We can move back up to every day if we see her lumps develop again. My concern is her thirst levels during the day while my wife and I are at work. Typically Maia and Apollo are left to run our hallway during the day. They are without access to water from about 9AM to about 3PM, but now that Maia is on the Prednisone, I'm worried that is too long without water and her kidneys. I could leave water down but then we are sure to come to puddles. This type of issue would exist at night too since they stay in the bedroom with us and we've woke up to one accident on our carpet already. From what I've read the Prednisone could cause her to have small bladder leaks and not even know it. I don't want her suffering if she needs water so I'm trying to find the best time to administer the Prednisone. I can come home every day on lunch to let her out and get water, which would have her without water from about 9AM to 11AM and then from 12PM until about 3PM. Or I can start sleeping in our guest room and set my alarm to go off every 2 hours to let her out and drink.
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Sep 26, 2014 14:30
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Prednisone doesn't do anything at all to cancer. It just decreases the swelling. Sorry about your girl, dude. Seconding this, but not to recommend against it. I used prednisone with my ferrets who had cancer and it bought then more comfortable time. It won't heal the cancer, but neither will the chemo, and for the short term, pred is much more comfortable in terms of treatment, for ask that you'll get less time. In the end, no matter what you choose, you will have to decide when her quality of life declines to the point where out would be best to let her go. Sorry about your puppy. I think boxers are about as prone to cancer as ferrets are, so there was nothing you could have done. All you can do is give her the best life for the time she has left with you.
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Sep 29, 2014 16:23
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 01:31 |
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So incredibly hard to go through - we all know we are going to lose our four legged loves but I am truly sorry that Maia is sick at such a young age.
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Sep 30, 2014 01:39
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