Chemo Therapy

Status
Not open for further replies.
Adelle

Adelle

Boxer Insane
Our baby Hooligan has not been feeling too well for about 3 weeks now, and blood test revealed a very high level of calcium which is an indication of cancer being present in the body. We have done every test possible to rule out any other causes of this condition and all have been normal. We have also performed some tests to look for cancer in various places, all have which have also been normal. The vets are 99.9% sure there is cancer its just a matter of finding it. The fact that is so hard to find is a good sign hopefully its in its early stages and has not spread far. He is now scheduled for a biopsy of the kidneys and bone marrow this week. Poor thing and he is so patient and tolerant. The sort of cancer they are looking for at this point is not the type that is operable but the type that can be treated with Chemo Therapy. I am curious if anyone else has had to treat their dog with Chemo and how the dog felt. Obviously until we have an exact diagnosis we won’t know how to proceed. But I want to know if the chemo will make him more miserable or if its bearable because if it can buy us an extra year of two of course that’s what we want to do but not at the expense of making him more uncomfortable. I would appreciate advise from anyone who has any experience of this.

Thanks
Adelle
:(
 
Krikkit

Krikkit

Boxer Insane
Adelle, will be thinking of you and Hooligan. The website Tina posted is excellent. Rebel had chemo and went through it quite well, but I do know that other dogs do suffer from some of the side effects. Do you know what protocol is suggested for Hooligan? These sites have some information on the various chemo protocols used for our babies and might help you research:

http://oncolink.upenn.edu/specialty/vet_onc/

http://www.gulfcoastvetspec.com/oncology/y2k/

These may help as well:

http://www.caninesincrisis.org/

http://members.aol.com/pbl2/cancerfiles.htm

http://www.b-naturals.com/sum98.htm

I'm so sorry you are going through this - Hooligan sounds like such a trooper about it all - sending good thoughts your way.

take care
Sharon
 
S

ShannonB

Boxer Pal
Hi Adelle

I have been thinking about you and Hooligan and meaning to check and see how things are going. I am so sorry things have gotten to this point . Wouldn't it be wonderful if we just didn't have to worry about our babies and they stayed healthy all the time? We are probably going to be faced with the same decision with Cody here in the next day or so. We should get our results back today telling if its cancer or the thyroid. I will be lifting you and Hooligan up in my doggie prayers today. I know how hard this must be-hang in there and hopefully all will turn out well

Shannon
 
Adelle

Adelle

Boxer Insane
Shannon

Let me know when you get Cody’s test results. I hope you get some answers sooner than we are. We have done so many different tests at this point and still no answers. The not knowing is killing me, I just need answers so as I can accept the situation and start to deal with it. Because right now there is days when he almost his normal happy self and on those days I am happy as its hard to imagine there is anything seriously wrong with him when I see him like that, but then there is other days like yesterday where its very obvious that all is not well, and it breaks my heart I can barely look at him without getting upset. You and Cody will be in my prayers also. Do you have any photos of Cody you can email me I would love to see what he looks like. Have a look at some of Hooligan’s photos on his new website. http://www.geocities.com/slimemonster2000 Keep me posted

Adelle
 
boxer4

boxer4

Boxer Insane
I feel so bad, it brings back such memories. Our late Dutch was diagnoised with lymphoma 1 week after she turned 10. The first series worked real well and she had no problems, she went into remission in a matter of a couple of weeks. It was when she came out of remission and had to go to a more agressive dosage along with a lot of prednisone she had problems. She got real week and had diarreah and started to throw up a lot. I guess what happened is the prednisone made her stomach bleed( even though she was on Zantac) and the drugs that had to be used this time started destorying her red blood cells. I know they now have a med that people can take for that but I don`t know about dogs.. I`m not trying to scare you just sharing our experience. I guess it also depend on the type of cancer what drugs are used how healthy other than the cancer they are etc. Dutch was way too fat with a enlarged heart. My prayers are with you, feel free to contact me if I can answer any questions.
 
Boo

Boo

Completely Boxer Crazy
Poor Hooley. I hope he does well on the treatment. Give him big hugs from Jasper and me. Please keep us updated, not only is Boxerworld great for support but we love to hear encouraging news about sick boxers.

I had a look at your pictures of him. What a FACE! How can you ever deny him anything? From that picture of your husband feeding him the cookie, it doesn't look as though you do :LOL: If love can help his treatment, I am sure Hooley will BREEZE through it.
 
boxer4

boxer4

Boxer Insane
Adelle, Sorry I haven`t got back to you sooner, I haven`t been online since I wrote the reply. Unfortunatly Dutch only stayed in remission for about 5 months before we had to start all over again. If I had to do it over I`m not sure I would go through the second series, it took so much out of her. I`ll never regret starting chemo in the begining . It gave us those extra months to pamper her and spoil her even more, and she acted like a young dog again. My vet warned me that once they come out of remission it is much harder to get them to respond to chemo, as he put it once the cancer comes back, it comes back with a vengence. In her case I guess she just couldn`t handle the next round of drugs they had to be different and stronger in some cases. I think the amount of prednisone she was on really weakened her but she had to have it. I know there were other dogs there that were going through the same but it took them much longer to go into the first remisson, Dutch was fast(In about 2months) and it gave me hope. I would do it all over again if I had to, just not the second round. Good luck our family has you in our prayers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top