Nasal cancer (border collie, vet, spaniel, treatment)

[suzrey]

Hi All,
Biopsy results for Dashboard indicated lymphacytic plasmacytic rhinitis...basically inflammation of the nasal tissue, not a great explanation for the destruction. the oncologist decided to send the CT results to a radiologist, radiologist thinks she saw areas of neoplasia, which she thought was cancer. So yesterday we went back for a second, more directed biopsy, this time the oncologist hit the same area 3 times to get past the normal, though irritated tissue. The oncologist wants better proof thus the second biopsy.
Good news is that Dashboard is doing fine, no nosebleeds, full of energy. We have our first appt with our new holistic vet tomorrow am (we recently moved from west coast to east coast, so have all new medical care), from him I want advice on fine-tuning DB's diet and his take on our options.
I am sticking to "quality of life" as our goal for treatment, and I'm going to contact Lydia Hiby, animal communicator, so I can get a better of idea of what DB likes & doesn't like, so we can focus our time on the good stuff.
I'll be thinking good thoughts for Kevin and his fellow Marines, and I'm holding all of you, and your pets, in my heart.
Suzanne

[darbijanR]

Suzrey and Dashboard, can we add that when our Rocky was ill, blood work is so important to see that the his levels are up.
Rocky turned very anemic due to his condition.
We also gave him B-12 - dissolvable pearls - which we bought at the Vitamen World here - our vet said they would make him feel a little better and are not harmful. At his age, 12.4, we were keeping him comfortable, Palliative care and So much love and anything he wanted, he got! (( ))

[tds1]

Update on Merlin - went back to the oncologist for a planning CT for his second (and final) round of radiation. Got a call from the oncologist the next day. To her surprise, the symptoms he was having didn't seem to be from the tumor growing back as the CT showed that the tumor was 10% of it's original size. She said we could go ahead and proceed with the radiation or hold off for now and redo the CT at a later date - they didn't know what to recommend as they thought it was very rare for a dog to do so well after palliation. We have opted to hold off further treatment for now, and will hopefully save the additional radiation for a later time. His symptoms impoved a week later, and now he seems back to baseline. As he is a samoyed, I am sure the cooler weather his helping him. He continues on Keflex and Piroxicam. We are now 8 months out from palliation radiation and 10 months out from initial symptoms. Just trying to enjoy every additional day we get.

[suzrey]

darbijanR -- Thanks for the recommendation of the B-12, we did one round of bloodwork about 4 weeks ago, everything was normal at that time but it would still be good to add some B vitamins. Second biopsy came back with same result, lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis. Oncologist has decided we are going to treat that condition instead of assuming it's cancer. I can't find much online about LPR, vet said it is not common, of unknown explanation. She said it was possible it had been set off by a foreign body, which was dislodged with the first biopsy/flush. He has no symptoms currently other than the occasional sneeze and few forced exhales through the nose. If I hadn't seen the CT results I'd think he was all better. Anyway, treatment is currently doxycycl (antibiotic) and piroxicam (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory). I'm also giving him super-diet of raw meat, leafy green veggies made into paste and vitamins/supplements. Nice side effect is the level of adoration he feels for me seems to have increased in relation to the frequency of meat he receives. We'll see the vet again in 3 weeks to check in.
Best wishes to all,
Suzanne

[Dashdog]

Glad to see some good news for Merlin and Dashboard too. I wil keep healing thoughts in mind for both of them.

I am again in that wait and see part of diagnosis this time with Jazz my other older dog and Dash's best friend. She has a swelling behind her eye , good chance it is cancer..could even be a nasal cancer! But it could also be a blocked zygomatic salivary gland or a fungal infection. The other morning she developed a ulcer in that eye so now we are trying to heal that!. We think it is due to the fact she can not blink due to the swelling of what is behind the eye so that eye is dry despite having started Genteal eye drops in it or she may have scrathced the eye or even gotten uvietis from the sun the other day as any could have caused this ulcer. We are scheduled for an MRI on Monday and hoping it will tell us if it is the gland or not as that will make any next decisions easier. She is 14.5 but still has perfect labs and is in great shape for an old dog so I have decided I have to know if it is the gland as we can attempt to remove that if it is, If it is cancer then I do not think I will do much as she does hate vets and she has had a good long life.

[debpklake]

My 10 year old Golden Retriever was just diagnoised with nasal hemangiosarcoma. Took her to the vet's in August when I noticed some blood coming out of her nose. He sedated her, examined her nasal cavity with a scope and did cystology tests. Came back as a strep infection so put her on a round of anitbioticsand salt water drops which cleared up the drainage. She started sneezing the other day and actually sneezed part of the tumor out of her nose and started bleeding profusely. I rushed her to a different vet who sedated her and could see the tumor in her nasal cavity. I also took the tissue she sneezed out which is out they determined the type of cancer. Took her to a surgical center where she had a CT scan and blood work done. The tumor is inoperable and due to her age and bad bad hips, we have elected for no radiation or chemo. However, we did turn her care over to Texas Pet Hospice, which has been a big comfort for me. They have supplied her meds and will make weekly visits to check on her. At this point, you would never know she is sick.

[poms love]

Poms love
hello everyone i am thinking of you all ,we miss our 11 yr old pom whom we lost 10/20/10 he was everywhere we were. At our work at home in out of our vehicles going to wk. Its been so hard .i wish i could hold and kiss him ,this site was helpful to me i just got on and enterd nose tumors it helped me to learn and i got to feel what others were going thru and i wasnt all alone even when i felt i was thanks again and keep praying for us poms love

[joycez]

Hello Everyone,
I know I havent been on here in a while so I just wanted to stop by and send well wishes to all of you. Even though I dont write here as much as I used to I still come on at least once a week and read what is going on with everyone and always keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. Glad to see good news about Merlin and Dashboard. Sometimes these blogs are hard to read because the outcome of this horrible disease is so sad so it lifts my spirits to hear that some dogs are doing well..Dashdog I thought of you a few times recently as you have mentioned in the past that Dash was your personal navigator and would sit by your side while you drive..Well Shimmy, my new pup has that same quality, she rests her paws on the console and puts her head right above my shoulder and stares intently on the open road. It made me think of you!
Things are going well for me Ive been busy with work and of course a new extremely energetic puppy, who is very different from my sweet Sheldon but special in her own ways. On a somber note Ive had a terrible cold and my nose is so congested and irritated i found myself complaining about it at work and then stopped myself when looking at a picture of my sheldon-He was sick for 3 months with nasal cancer and on the day he passed the vet had told me that nasal cancer is like having the worst cold/sinus infection of your life...it made me think to myself - my stuffy nose was probably nothing compared to his "stuffy nose"..makes you realize that yes things sometimes arent good but they can always be worse...
I hope you are all fighting the good fight with your pups, Everyone that comes on this blog have such strong love for their dogs, they are so lucky to have us as owners and we are so lucky to have them! Cherish every day!
Joyce ( and Sheldon and Emma from Heaven)

[Dashdog]

Am not sure if some of you read any other threads or just this one so I will post his here too. Wed I had to make the very hard decision but the very correct one and let my queen once in a life time dog Jazz go. We had an MRI done on Monday and were waiting for the results. I looked at the CD I had of it and felt that the eye specialist was right it was the zygomatic salivary gland but being I really cannot read an MRI I was not sure if it was fluid (meaning a blocked gland) or tissue (meaning most likely a tumor).

Wed as she was walking down the stairs to go outside to pee she let out a painful yelp but when I looked she was gone and I heard the dog door flap close but when she came back in there was a glob of blood like gel on her eye ball and it did not wash out so I called the vet he told me to drop her off and he would have a look between his scheduled patients so I did that. He had not gotten the MRI results so his office started calling to get them. When he did call me he said what I was seeing was the eye had ruptured but had sealed off (so unlike a major rupture the eye ball was still there). The MRI report said that yes it was the zygomatic salivary gland but they felt it was not fluid filled so was most likely a cancer of the gland. There was no involvement in the nasal passages or outside the eye socket so this time it was not nasal cancer.The radiologist's advice was surgery to remove the gland and biopsy of the gland. My vet said we had a rather quick decision to make does he get on the phone and call to see if he can find a vet qualified to do such surgery and be able to do it that afternoon? Maybe it was a blocked gland and the outcome would be great or it could be cancer and the surgery could then turn things ugly as too often happens with rescue type surgeries. Or my other choice was to put her down. It was a very hard decision as outside of the eye thing she was still a healthy active dog despite her 14.5 yrs and she was my special dog. I always told her that she was my real kid and Dash and the others were all adopted.

Well, because I love her so much and I felt my decision had to reflect that great love that the only choice was to grant her that one final act of love and let her go. To put an old dog that hated being away from me and hated vets through a major surgery in hopes that the out come was the one I wanted was too selfish of me and to expect her to go one more day with what was now a painful eye was asking too much too. So I told the vet I would be right over and asked if I could spend some time with her (I had given her some tramadol before I took her so was hoping the pain was at least controlled for the moment) She greeted me with tail wags and kisses and was delighted that we were leaving that awful place. I took her on about an hour long walk to a nearby park and around the neighborhood of the vets office. It was a beautiful day for such a walk and when we returned she ran up to the car and looked at me like OK lets go! I had to tell her no and when she realized we were going back in she did not want to go and went back towards the car "didn't you understand I want to go home?" Broke my heart to drag her back inside. I laid on the dog bed with her and held her head until she very peacefully left me.

My heart feels as if someone took it out and stomped it to pieces yet I know I did the right thing for her. For 14.5 years she was my best friend and she deserved to leave this earth bound life with what dignity she still had. I know Dash was there waiting for her as despite the fact that the queen ruled over him and would now do so again and even the fact he now will have to share those pancakes his grandma makes for him once more with the queen, she was his best friend too and the bond they had had was very strong. I will cry many tears but I will be strong and greet each day thankful I have had such a dog in my life. To not have ever known her would be 100X the loss of loosing her. I feel she spent this last year adding the polishing touches to young Dazzle who Dash had groomed to be like him during his last 6 months of his own life and now that she saw he could step in along with that crazy dog Phoenix she could continue on with her life's journey. So where ever she is tonight I do hope she stops for a visit in my dreams. R.I. P. Queen Jazz.

Jazz and Dash together after Dash's nasal cancer was discovered.2008

[Va-Cat]

Been thinking about you Jan and wondering how you were doing. What a beautiful picture of your 2 fur-kids!

{Hugz}