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Anyone here dealt with Lymphoma in their dog - UPDATE INSIDE

TTQ B4U

By TTQ B4U
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TTQ B4U Rookie

TTQ B4U

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Got some very bad news about a great member of our family. Our sweat heart little girl Xena, a 6yr old Brindle Boxer has been diagnosed with very early onset of Lymphoma.

 

The downside is that it's never a good thing even if we've caught it so very early. Chemo is set to start this week. Going to Med Vet Tomorrow for our first meeting and should know within 1-2 days if it's type B or Type T.

 

The good news is right now she's fine and acts 100% playful and as if nothing is wrong. The bad news is even with Chemo she won't likely make it past 2yrs. Could be 1-2 at most. :(

 

Just wanted to share and get some input from others here who perhaps have been down this road.

 

My Baby Girl at 8 weeks:

 

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj84/crms3er/HeadTurn_zps046ee6d9.jpg

 

Living the good life:

 

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj84/crms3er/Xena1_zpsd155f43c.jpg

 

 

Just this past summer:

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj84/crms3er/MyBeautifulGirl_zps0b488ae2.jpg

Edited by TTQ B4U
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B3NN3TT Newbie

B3NN3TT

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I lost both of my Bull Terriers to T-Cell Lymphoma. Our girl got chemo and lasted 4 months after diagnosis. She was 9 years old. Lost my boy a year later; he made it about 3 days.

 

Chemo is almost as bad as the disease itself. Horrible, horrible stuff.

 

They both had gastro-intestinal lymphoma. Nasty stuff. Pray you have B-Cell Lymphoma; much more treatable.

 

MedVet is good people. You have the best chance with those guys. Good luck.

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spectragod Newbie

spectragod

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Personally, I wouldn't put my dog through chemo, they don't understand what's going on, and, they will feel horrible, then, if they survive the chemo, life expectancy is usually not long.

 

I had 2 dogs with auto immune deficiency, they were puppies, would get sick for 3-4 days at a time, many trips to Ohio State and my vet, 3 months and 4k later, they "grew" into a immune system, had the not, I would have put them down.

 

It is rough, the best advice I got was to spoil them until it was too bad for them to tolerate any more.

 

Good luck with what ever choice you make, any of them will be hard.

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B3NN3TT Newbie

B3NN3TT

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With mine and the GI Lymphoma, my female would get out of bed and puke every morning, like clockwork. No other symptoms. Happy, healthy and energetic as always otherwise. And she remained so until the chemo, which completely annihilated her.
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TTQ B4U Rookie

TTQ B4U

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How was this discovered?

 

Over Thanksgiving everyone who came over was doting on her and petting her and several guests asked about the lumps on her throat. She has a big neck and muscular so we likely didn't notice. I looked it up and go concerned and took her to the vet right away.

 

Today we go confirmation that her stomach lymph nodes are enlarged and the cell testing yielded the results.

 

I lost both of my Bull Terriers to T-Cell Lymphoma. Our girl got chemo and lasted 4 months after diagnosis. She was 9 years old. Lost my boy a year later; he made it about 3 days.

 

The upside to Type B (which we are not sure it is yet) is that it's more responsive to Chemo and not as aggressive. Type T however, MedVet will cover the treatments in full/100% as they accepted her into a trial phase whereby she WILL receive FULL Treatment, but a select few dogs will ALSO get a new cocktail of drugs in the testing phase.

 

Chemo is almost as bad as the disease itself. Horrible, horrible stuff.

 

I hope not. Our Vet at Linworth has had two Boxers with Lymphoma and talked to us about the treatment and that in most all cases it's NOT as bad as it is on humans because the dosage in humans does just about kill you to make you better, whereas the one for dogs is supposed to just be a mild does to put it in remission for a short term.

 

I'll be sure to really dive into these types of questions with the Oncologist on Tuesday though.

 

They both had gastro-intestinal lymphoma. Nasty stuff. Pray you have B-Cell Lymphoma; much more treatable.

 

^^ Agree. Hoping for this for sure, but either way, the outlook is grim.

 

MedVet is good people. You have the best chance with those guys. Good luck.

 

Agree. Going there Tuesday.

 

Personally, I wouldn't put my dog through chemo, they don't understand what's going on, and, they will feel horrible, then, if they survive the chemo, life expectancy is usually not long.

 

Continued thanks for the insight. I'm definitely going to inquire. She's strong, healthy otherwise and not in pain now. Again, we caught it early.

 

It is rough, the best advice I got was to spoil them until it was too bad for them to tolerate any more.

 

Agreed and we intend to. I'm not sure who it's harder on, Xena, my kids or me. :cry: Yeah....I love my dogs as much as my kids.

 

Thanks for the insight everyone. Keep the info coming.

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87GT Newbie

87GT

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Sorry to hear about this. My cat has had it probably his whole life. He is 10 now and still alive. I never wanted to do the chemo because I figured it would be too much pain for him. I rather put him down if I had to go that route. Recently he had a large tumor on his face and it was affecting his vision. He couldn't even open his right eye. It went away now. He looks normal now and you would never know if I didn't tell you. Minus his vomiting and his shits smelling worse than the bathroom at work he is fine. Always full of energy.
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timmy43016 Newbie

timmy43016

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I have lost a lot of dogs to Lymphoma. 2 boxers and 2 pits. Boxers, unfortunately are one of the most cancer prone breeds. My male boxer (4 yrs old) had the same symptoms you found with small pea size lumps in/around throat. Chemo was too expensive and the results expected were not going to provide much in the ways of fixing the issue. For all the dogs I had to make a tough choice and just give them prednisone and make them comfortable. Prednisone provides roughly 2 months of comfort like nothing is wrong as it will send cancer into remission. Once the dogs body gets used to prednisone it will come back 10 fold. Once they start taking prednisone it will come back.

 

I just had to put down my male pit (also 4 years old) just last year. The lymphoma was aggressive and wrapped his spine and at was unable to walk. At that point I had to think about quality of life. We didn't know that is what he had as he was yelping because his elbow hurt...then it went away...then is appeared in another leg...when we took him to vet they gave him prednisone which fixed him right up, but unknowingly sealed his fate and chemo was no longer even an option. We did not find out lymphoma until a few weeks prior to me sitting with him until the end. We were told the chemo (from med vet) was a 5-15k expense (If I remember correct) and could not provide timelines for expectancy other than 2 months to 2 years. To someone else point...chemo is not hard on dogs like it is people due to concentration. We were told that Chemo is fairly mild in dogs reactions, but timing was all over the map. The absolute hardest thing to say was that I couldn't afford the chemo or justify spending that much for a dog when expected results were as grim as the diagnosis. That was the hardest pill to swallow because they are not just dogs, but a family member and one that I would kill to protect.

 

You have a tough diagnosis and one that usually does not have a happy ending. Im sorry that you are getting hit with this as I have been there more than I care to and understand your pain. Just be there for her and give her tons of love. Remember she knows you love her too. I wish you the best.

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TTQ B4U Rookie

TTQ B4U

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I have lost a lot of dogs to Lymphoma. 2 boxers and 2 pits. Boxers, unfortunately are one of the most cancer prone breeds. My male boxer (4 yrs old) had the same symptoms you found with small pea size lumps in/around throat.

 

It is very common in Boxers. Wife and I have had 5 total over the years and every one has had cancer in some fashion, but mostly in the form of benign tumors that were easily removed. There were 6 boxers at the cancer ward at MedVet today. I wish I could have gotten a picture of them all playing in the back room together but they wouldn't let us stay back there more than a minute or so.

 

Chemo was too expensive and the results expected were not going to provide much in the ways of fixing the issue. For all the dogs I had to make a tough choice and just give them prednisone and make them comfortable. Prednisone provides roughly 2 months of comfort like nothing is wrong as it will send cancer into remission. Once the dogs body gets used to prednisone it will come back 10 fold. Once they start taking prednisone it will come back.

 

I'm not sure what the verdict is on the cell type yet. That will determine the course of the treatment / cocktail. The hardest part is knowing that whatever we do is just going to help but never cure it. It is all about quality of life for sure.

 

We did not find out lymphoma until a few weeks prior to me sitting with him until the end. We were told the chemo (from med vet) was a 5-15k expense (If I remember correct) and could not provide timelines for expectancy other than 2 months to 2 years.

 

Yep. It's pricey for sure. The good news is if I can actually say there is any, is that if it comes back the most common and aggressive type which are the T-cell based cancer, the treatment will be nearly free as we qualified for a test study. Otherwise, I'll just forgo some money and enjoy the time it gets us. Not sure yet what our pet insurance will cover. I know it helps a lot.

 

You have a tough diagnosis and one that usually does not have a happy ending. Im sorry that you are getting hit with this as I have been there more than I care to and understand your pain. Just be there for her and give her tons of love. Remember she knows you love her too. I wish you the best.

 

This is the toughest part. Knowing that there's nothing I can do and no matter how much I can pay it won't save her life. That's about as difficult as not having the funding to do the treatments.

 

I have nothing to add on the Lymphoma but I am very sorry to hear about your dog Tim. You will both be in my thoughts/prayers.

 

Yeah man I couldn't imagine going down your path. My dogs are my kids.

 

Thanks guys. Today is a better day but still very difficult. She is my baby girl for sure. Sits at my feet whenever I'm at my computer. She's keeping them toasty warm as I type this too. :)

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dsm_sleeper Newbie

dsm_sleeper

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Really sorry to read that. I would suggest looking for a support group and do a lot of reading/searching to find alternative treatments and supplements to take that may help. Don't forget the power of a clean diet as well.

 

For starters: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2002-07-24-cover-cancer_x.htm

and

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-we-eat-to-starve-cancer-william-li

Hang in there and try to stay positive.

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TTQ B4U Rookie

TTQ B4U

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So a quick update for those that are interested. So far after several tests and two treatments, Xena has responded VERY WELL and in fact not only does she appear and act 110% normal, it's quite obvious that even she doesn't realize what's going on or that she's sick. Great news is after just two treatments, she is in FULL remission. Even according to the doctors it's no doubt because we caught it so very early which is key in any cancer diagnosis.

 

The other good but bad news is that like 70-80% of Boxers it is the more aggressive T-Cell Lymphoma, but the news either way would not be any better really. The benefit here is that she did qualify for the study and all treatments are 100% paid in full. They even cover up to $1,000 in any treatments or medications related to side effects IF in the event there are any.

 

As mentioned earlier, dogs get a very low does of Chemo and tend to not react badly. There are still chances, but much less likely for her to react or get ill as opposed to humans where the dosages are very strong.

 

The treatments go on for another 19 weeks at two per week regardless. The only real side effect so far is thirst due to her being on Prednisone which should end here next week.

 

I'll keep this thread updated and will insert some technical details regarding medications later as I'm sure this will help serve others who perhaps down the road might face a simliar story.

 

The team at MedVet in Worthington have great to work with. They don't kennel their dogs and instead let those that are friendly all play together during her visits which last 4-6hrs. Thus in a way Xena thinks she's off to a play-date. She already seems to know where we're going each time we get ready.

 

Total cost out of pocket so far for testing and xrays, MRI, etc. has been $2,700 but VPI Insurance has yet to kick-back their portion which is typically 50-70%. Not too bad all things considered.

 

Stay tuned for more....

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