Lymphoma-Please share your experiences w/ chemotherapy & experiences w/out treating
- Thread starter rbrianboyd
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rbrianboyd
Boxer Pal
Not to jinx myself, but I am surprised (and happy to tell you) how well Bailey tolerated her first chemo treatment. She received an injection of Adriamicyn on Saturday and was prescribed Predinisone, Cerenia (anti-nausea) medication and a medication for diarrhea.
On Saturday, she was a bit less lethargic and more playful than she was before the injection. This was a surprise to me. On Sunday, she had diarrhea in the a.m. and as the day progressed I could tell that she wasn't feeling well. I'm sure I wouldn't feel good either if injected with the same. She mostly wanted to lay around on the cold hardwood floor by the A/C vent, but nothing too alarming. She did like laying in the shade outside and later joined us by the pool so she wasn't feeling too bad. Also, there was no change in her appetite so all in all not too bad.
Of course, she is drinking more water on the Prednisone and, as a result, I'm cautiously taking her outside to pee as much as possible. The best news for me is that I can already tell that the nodes in her throat have shrunk. They are not gone by any means but have substantially decreased in size. YEA!!!
I don't want to get ahead of myself but so far, and I do stress so far because it has only been 2 days, its nothing like the horror I expected it to be and I am glad I chose this route. Hopefully Bailey will continue to tolerate the treatment the same and I can continue to tell all of her success.
On Saturday, she was a bit less lethargic and more playful than she was before the injection. This was a surprise to me. On Sunday, she had diarrhea in the a.m. and as the day progressed I could tell that she wasn't feeling well. I'm sure I wouldn't feel good either if injected with the same. She mostly wanted to lay around on the cold hardwood floor by the A/C vent, but nothing too alarming. She did like laying in the shade outside and later joined us by the pool so she wasn't feeling too bad. Also, there was no change in her appetite so all in all not too bad.
Of course, she is drinking more water on the Prednisone and, as a result, I'm cautiously taking her outside to pee as much as possible. The best news for me is that I can already tell that the nodes in her throat have shrunk. They are not gone by any means but have substantially decreased in size. YEA!!!
I don't want to get ahead of myself but so far, and I do stress so far because it has only been 2 days, its nothing like the horror I expected it to be and I am glad I chose this route. Hopefully Bailey will continue to tolerate the treatment the same and I can continue to tell all of her success.
shindig
Boxer Buddy
Way to go Bailey....the first time is always the scariest and most apprehensive. I'm glad to hear she is doing well. The prednisone will really help shrink her lumps, and hopefully they will completely disappear so she will be in a full remission.
Unfortunately, Bandit has gone out of remission again, so I'm feeling bummed. Talking to the oncologist, he will now go on a rescue program.
Kevin
Unfortunately, Bandit has gone out of remission again, so I'm feeling bummed. Talking to the oncologist, he will now go on a rescue program.
Kevin
Albie
Completely Boxer Crazy
Great news about Bailey! Glad to hear she's doing so good. We also noticed a dramatic reduction in the size of Jack's lymph nodes after just one treatment. I was very surprised that he responded so quickly. Jack's next treatment is on Thursday so I'm anxious to speak to the oncologist about his progress.
Kevin - I'm so sorry to hear that Bandit is out of remission. How is he feeling?
Kevin - I'm so sorry to hear that Bandit is out of remission. How is he feeling?
SmallParts
Boxer Pal
Brodie was diagnosed with Lymphoma (T-Cell) with Hypocalcaemia on May 9th and has been on Prednisone (20mg once daily), Denamarin (once daily) and lomustine every three weeks since then. The CCNU path is not as an aggressive treatment as the CHOP or several others but it's all we can afford to do as we were quoted close to $7k for 6 months of treatment for the Madison protocol.
Here is an outline of what we’ve witnessed with Brodie, incidentally this is from my own notes I’m keeping on everything, something I would recommend…
May 09 – Brought in for Lethargy/loss of appetite, foreign object in stomach shown in X-Ray. Blood test showed high levels of Calcium, aspirate of lymph node confirmed Lymphoma.
May 10 – Remained in Hospital overnight for Hypocalcaemia, first round of Lomustine treatment.
May 11 – Brodie comes home. Full of energy and happy as always.
May 21 – Brodie in for blood work. Blood checked for white blood cell count, platelet count and calcium. White blood cell count good, calcium levels slightly high, platelet count low. Nothing to worry about just yet, expected from lomustine.
May 12 – Present – Continued medications as prescribed with additions. Also changed diet. (Diet consisting of home cooked meals with Blue Buffalo Kibble).
June 04 – Second round of lomustine/blood work. White blood cell count good, Calcium back to normal levels, Platelet count still low. Lomustine still given although platelet count just above safe levels for lomustine.
June 12 – Appt for Blood work. Check platelet count (Previously Low)
More on diet change – Diet consisting of 90/10 lean beef browned and mixed with broccoli, spinach, lima beans, sweet potatoes. Also used cooked salmon in place of beef.
More on vitamins and such – 1tbsp cod liver oil added to food twice daily, Pro-biotic added to food once daily, milk thistle added to food once daily, vitamin E added to food once daily.
Symptoms/Quality of Life/Mood – Brodie has been in a good mood since the day we picked him up from the hospital. He has indeed had times where he is less active but will still bark if someone comes to the door or come lay in your lap if you sit on the floor. He is definitely less heat tolerant and wants to come inside sooner than before, even if we are still outside. This used to never happen as he was content outside as long as we were outside. He drinks water as though we are going to take his bowl from him any minute and has accidents in the house several times a week, mostly at night and sometimes in his sleep even. He is hungry at all times and will eat anything that is in his bowl (even his denamarin).
All said, he remains… Brodie to us. The only drawback I can find so far with doing the treatment is the cost. I know we made the right decision to treat Brodie even if we have to make the ‘dreaded’ decision sooner than we like.
Hope this helps, sorry it's written in such a template format, as mentioned, I stole most of this from my personal notes.
Good luck with your Bailey, it helps to know others are going through the same thing.
Here is an outline of what we’ve witnessed with Brodie, incidentally this is from my own notes I’m keeping on everything, something I would recommend…
May 09 – Brought in for Lethargy/loss of appetite, foreign object in stomach shown in X-Ray. Blood test showed high levels of Calcium, aspirate of lymph node confirmed Lymphoma.
May 10 – Remained in Hospital overnight for Hypocalcaemia, first round of Lomustine treatment.
May 11 – Brodie comes home. Full of energy and happy as always.
May 21 – Brodie in for blood work. Blood checked for white blood cell count, platelet count and calcium. White blood cell count good, calcium levels slightly high, platelet count low. Nothing to worry about just yet, expected from lomustine.
May 12 – Present – Continued medications as prescribed with additions. Also changed diet. (Diet consisting of home cooked meals with Blue Buffalo Kibble).
June 04 – Second round of lomustine/blood work. White blood cell count good, Calcium back to normal levels, Platelet count still low. Lomustine still given although platelet count just above safe levels for lomustine.
June 12 – Appt for Blood work. Check platelet count (Previously Low)
More on diet change – Diet consisting of 90/10 lean beef browned and mixed with broccoli, spinach, lima beans, sweet potatoes. Also used cooked salmon in place of beef.
More on vitamins and such – 1tbsp cod liver oil added to food twice daily, Pro-biotic added to food once daily, milk thistle added to food once daily, vitamin E added to food once daily.
Symptoms/Quality of Life/Mood – Brodie has been in a good mood since the day we picked him up from the hospital. He has indeed had times where he is less active but will still bark if someone comes to the door or come lay in your lap if you sit on the floor. He is definitely less heat tolerant and wants to come inside sooner than before, even if we are still outside. This used to never happen as he was content outside as long as we were outside. He drinks water as though we are going to take his bowl from him any minute and has accidents in the house several times a week, mostly at night and sometimes in his sleep even. He is hungry at all times and will eat anything that is in his bowl (even his denamarin).
All said, he remains… Brodie to us. The only drawback I can find so far with doing the treatment is the cost. I know we made the right decision to treat Brodie even if we have to make the ‘dreaded’ decision sooner than we like.
Hope this helps, sorry it's written in such a template format, as mentioned, I stole most of this from my personal notes.
Good luck with your Bailey, it helps to know others are going through the same thing.
shindig
Boxer Buddy
He seems perfectly normal. Can feel a couple small lumps on his right jaw, not much bigger than a jelly bean or so. I think his oncologist is going to give him one more dose of doxorubicin (which is the heavy hitter of the CHOP protocol). Then I think he will be switched to lomustine in 2 weeks. The CHOP protocol has been very expensive. Fortunately I've got insurance, but we've hit our max on the LSA reimbursement. I only get reimbursed now for the medications, not the blood work, overday stay, etc.
Kevin
rbrianboyd
Boxer Pal
Kevin - Bailey and I are sorry to hear about Bandit & are sending positive vibes to him.
Albie - Bailey and I are also keeping Jack in our thoughts for a successful second treatment.
Best,
Brian
Albie - Bailey and I are also keeping Jack in our thoughts for a successful second treatment.
Best,
Brian
Albie
Completely Boxer Crazy
What a testament to the boxer spirit! These guys are just such wonderful creatures and bring such joy to all our lives! I'm sending positive to vibes to all our sick babies that they can continue to be happy and care free during these difficult times. Hopefully all of our vets can put this nasty disease into a nice long remission and our guys continue to remain in good spirits!
Oscar's mama
Boxer Booster
I hate hearing all our babies have lymphoma. They do indeed have a special brand of love and spirit My baby Oscar was diagnosed last October at the age of 6 with B-cell lymphoma. Since he was completely unsymptomatic with the only clue being lumps in his throat and behind his legs we decided right away to start a chemo program. I don't know the name of the program, but I know that for the 1st month he had treatments once a week and ever since has gone back for additional treatments every 3 weeks all while on daily prednisone. For the most part during the last 8 months, he has had a nice quality of life from what I can tell with little blips of lethargy here and there. Everytime I had begun to doubt my decision on continuing with treatment he would pep right up and all was well. Still nub wagging and happy to be around us.
Don't get me wrong, he is not the same dog he once was before the chemo. It's been hard seeing my energetic, troublemaking lunatic not even want to venture out for walks anymore. He seems most comfortable at home and happy to be there. No vomiting at all, and very little diarrhea from time to time.
However, this week he has come out of remission. And I am noticing a rapid decline in energy and labored breathing. He still has a verocious appetite but I have noticed more ribs protruding in the last 2 days which means he is losing a lot of weight already which is what happened in the beginning. He is scheduled for an appointment for another dose of chemo tomorrow. And from my understanding if that doesn't work then we would have to try a rescue protocol to give him any chance. I am honestly at my wits end tonight. Tomorrow is his 7th birthday and my gut is telling me to just let him be and not bother him with any more interventions that will only by him little time more. At this point I am feeling it is selfish of me to continue when I know he will only have a couple of more months, if we are even able to get him into a 2nd remission (it's only 40% chances I believe). But it is just so hard for me to let him go.
So that is my experience with treating lymphoma. I am so happy I decided to go the treatment route and have 0 regrets. We had him at least 8 months longer and also bought ourselves some time to deal with this and get ready to say goodbye. Best wishes to all you dealing with the same.
My baby Oscar was diagnosed last October at the age of 6 with B-cell lymphoma. Since he was completely unsymptomatic with the only clue being lumps in his throat and behind his legs we decided right away to start a chemo program. I don't know the name of the program, but I know that for the 1st month he had treatments once a week and ever since has gone back for additional treatments every 3 weeks all while on daily prednisone. For the most part during the last 8 months, he has had a nice quality of life from what I can tell with little blips of lethargy here and there. Everytime I had begun to doubt my decision on continuing with treatment he would pep right up and all was well. Still nub wagging and happy to be around us.Don't get me wrong, he is not the same dog he once was before the chemo. It's been hard seeing my energetic, troublemaking lunatic not even want to venture out for walks anymore. He seems most comfortable at home and happy to be there. No vomiting at all, and very little diarrhea from time to time.
However, this week he has come out of remission. And I am noticing a rapid decline in energy and labored breathing. He still has a verocious appetite but I have noticed more ribs protruding in the last 2 days which means he is losing a lot of weight already which is what happened in the beginning. He is scheduled for an appointment for another dose of chemo tomorrow. And from my understanding if that doesn't work then we would have to try a rescue protocol to give him any chance. I am honestly at my wits end tonight. Tomorrow is his 7th birthday and my gut is telling me to just let him be and not bother him with any more interventions that will only by him little time more. At this point I am feeling it is selfish of me to continue when I know he will only have a couple of more months, if we are even able to get him into a 2nd remission (it's only 40% chances I believe). But it is just so hard for me to let him go.
So that is my experience with treating lymphoma. I am so happy I decided to go the treatment route and have 0 regrets. We had him at least 8 months longer and also bought ourselves some time to deal with this and get ready to say goodbye. Best wishes to all you dealing with the same.
shindig
Boxer Buddy
I'm so sorry to hear about Oscar. He is about the same age as Bandit who turned 7 in April. It's so unfortunate and sad that this horrible disease afflicts our babies more than other dogs. I just don't understand why.
Bandit is also out of remission after 7 months of chemo (he started in early November). Today he is getting doxorubicin and my oncologist has started looking into some other chemo drugs. I think they are mitoxantrone & decarbazine (sp?). She is also looking at Elspar, which he has not seen and is only for lymphoma patients, so keeping fingers crossed.
Bandit, Brodie, Jack, Bailey and Oscar....positive healing vibes to all.
Kevin
Bandit is also out of remission after 7 months of chemo (he started in early November). Today he is getting doxorubicin and my oncologist has started looking into some other chemo drugs. I think they are mitoxantrone & decarbazine (sp?). She is also looking at Elspar, which he has not seen and is only for lymphoma patients, so keeping fingers crossed.
Bandit, Brodie, Jack, Bailey and Oscar....positive healing vibes to all.
Kevin
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