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tillie celebrated her 11th birthday last week. while not a miracle, it is certainly an amazing thing. this october will be three years since she was diagnosed with nasal adenocarcinoma. her behavior continues to be normal and she is neither sneezing nor dripping as much as she has at other times during her battle with this disease. she is, however, suffering the consequences of the radiation she's had as her cataracts are making her vision quite poor, especially at night. during the day she still finds everything she needs and still chases the ball but it is difficult for her to get around new places when there is limited light. today she would not get out of the car in a parking structure as she could not see where she is going. so i drove out of the lot and parked on the street. she was fine.
we are grateful every day that she is still with us and happy. i know the same is true for all of you and your pups.
Arlene, Happy birthday to Tillie! I am so glad to hear that she is still doing so well. Does she still see DR. Ayl at all? I hope you at least have let him know how well she is still doing as the feed back could help guide him better in dealing with this type of Cancer. I will pray that she keeps going and gets to live out a normal life span for her breed. As for the cataracts well that even happens to alot of dogs that have never had the radiation she has had so in that way she isn't much different then dog without cancer. Way to go Tillie!!!! Jan
Woo hoo, Tillie, and Happy Birthday! Tillie is an inspiration to me with Scout, as *fingers and toes crossed*, he seems to be following a similar trajectory. Three years is just wonderfully amazing. I hope she had a wonderful birthday.
I haven't looked into it, but I'm curious about cataract surgery in dogs. Anyone know anything?
yes, it is done. but after the surgery the dog needs to sit still for days (?) so as not to disturb the work. we investigated for tillie but the eye doctor said it is not necessarily recommended for labs and, at the time, tillie was sneezing a lot so the "sitting still" part was not feasible. additionally, dogs do well with their other senses so losing their eyesight does not seem to be as big an issue as with humans. which is not to say we wouldn't be happier if she could see better...
and, jan, i have emailed dr ayl about tillie's status and have not received a response. was hoping to hear from him. so, as i have mentioned, our regular vet does her blood work and provides piroxicam.
Dash has not been to Ventura in quite awhile.Last time he had his piroxicam refilled Tracy said that Dr. Ayl will need to see him again before he refills it again.
I decided to talk to my regular vet as If I go to Ventura Dr. Aly will give Dash a brief exam then tell me what he thinks. He already said that the swelling is the cancer taking the path of least resistance. He will say he could try more radiaton but we have already discussed that too and despite it being side effect free for Dash I decided it did what I had hoped it would and that was buy him more quality time and now what happens happens. I am OK with that and months ago when I decided that I put my trust in neoplasene. Do remember that I did the IMRT for palliative care .
I sort of consider the time we are in now as the hospice phase where I will keep him pain free and let him live until he tells me it is time. Anyway back to Ventura ... then they will do blood work and I will have yet another vet bill not to mention the gas and time it takes to go to Ventura. Sooo I spoke with my vet who I think is a great guy and a very good vet.We decided that he will write the order for the piroxicam.He does not feel the blood tests are necessary every single month so will do them less frequent. Dash's have been pretty stable this whole time and when I would take him in to my vet to draw the blood I could tell he felt it was overkill to do it every month and it does stress Dash to have it done.
VMSG had pretty much told my vet that they were taking over Dash's medical care when he started the radiation so everything had to go through them I think my vet just kept quiet even when he did not agree 100%. Then when his thyroid bottomed out and he was starting to spend most of the day asleep and didn't race to the door to go on walks VMSG did not say a thing, but my vet did call and asked me if VMSG had addressed the thryroid issue and we ran one more test and put him on thyroid meds and within days he was back to being active and demanding he go on walks too. So I am comfortable letting my vet call the shots. He has known Dash since I got him and wants what is best for Dash and I.
Dash developed another infection so is back on antibiotics and is also on panacur for Giardia which Dazzle has been being treated for as he has it. I think Dash's stomach was a bit upset at first but he seems to be better now.
If I had to do this over again the only thing I would do different is I may have considered doing the definitve treatment using the IMRT verses the Palliative knowing how well the palliative IMRT dose has done . But I am not at all unhappy about the decison I did make back then and am very grateful for eveyday with Dash since then. I am also very thankful for all that have played a part in it; Dr.Ayl and his staff, Dr.Scanlan and most of all my own vet Dr. Casaus and his associates and staff at Whites Pet hospital. I am also thankful for everyone I met here and hope that the informantion we have all shared and continue to do so will allow others to beat this disease. When I say Go Tillie, Go Scout, Go Emmitt I mean it as like Dash they have been beating the odds. Jan
I agree blind dogs do quite well. When I was young I found a beautiful young Golden and we could not find the owners, My parents had 3 dogs already so we could not keep the dog. My parents neighbors heard about the dog and when they saw him they fell in love and took him. A year later he went blind but he still managed to live a normal life until he died many years later. I have also helped with the homozygous aussies ( Phoenix is one) many of then are deaf and or blind and they are amazing. One of my favorite pups when I helped with the rescue of 5 pups was the guy that was blind and deaf. Except for the fact he did not even have eyes you would not have known anything was wrong as he was a normal puppy and could even follow me out to the car and back to the house off leash!he was amazing
Our 15 1/2 year old Yorkie mix was diagnosed late July with nasal adenocarcinoma. We're still in shock over this but realize that we need to make not only rational, but very rapid, treatment decisions. We have consulted with a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist at VCA. Yesterday we went to see Dr. Olgilvie at the Angel Care Cancer Center and were given an option of the CyberKnife radiation. First he would need a higher resolution CT scan to make sure he was an appropriate candidate. The CyberKnife is 3 sessions on consecutive days with very low side effects, and we were told that it could keep the cancer at bay for up to 4 years. The cost is around $14,000, not including whatever follow up care would be necessary. If anyone knows about or has tried the CyberKnife treatment, we'd love to have feedback.
I know alot about Cyberknife as a few years ago we had considered it for my mom's cancer so I did alot of research and talked to the doctors at Stanford that were using it. But her insurance company would not pay and things got dragged out to the point where by the time we had them willing too the cancer had speard to the pont that The Cyberknife doctor up at Stanford said there were too many mets to do so she never did get it. I think it is a pretty amazing thing and had not realized any vets were using it yet so I think the only feed back you may get here is if any human has had it done as even the IMRT is a rare thing in the vets world. Have they used it for this type of cancer before? If so does he have any owners that might be willing to talk to you?
When our oncologist suggested IMRT for Dash I was thrilled as in some ways it is similar to the Cyberknife, being that you have very focused beams of radiation hitting the tumor and not the surrounding areas. I would imagine cyberknife like the IMRT would have very few if anyside effects which would not reguire alot of follow up care.
It is alot of money and I imagine the high resolution CT is not included in the cost? However you are the only one that can say yes It is expensive but it would be worth it to me.
As for DR. Olgilvie. He was one of my regular vets instructors at Colorado State and my vet said he is one of the most intelligent people he has ever met.
Keep us posted on what you decide to do as the intent of this thread is to gather as much info here so in the future the decision as to what to do when handed this diagnosis may be easier for some poor owner. Good luck in what ever you decide and I will be sending prayers your way. Jan
Hello all.Happy Birthday Tillie!!.Feeling much better here as it has been 2 weeks since boomer's death. I still cry when I go to sleep sometimes but boomer always seems to come to me in my dreams on those nights and I am so comforted by that.We have played catch in my dreams etc.. and it feels so real. i am sure this is all part of the grieving process. We are carrying on w/our lives but still remembering the silly things Boomer did while he was here.My husband wants to wait about a year before getting another dog.It is a big comittment and we want to be completely ready. never realized how quiet the house could be w/out a pet! our youngest child also left home a week before boo died so this was a double whammy!!Well I just wanted to check in and say that I am happy that the rest of your dogs are doing well. I don't know anything about that type of radiation.I know that if I had that kind of money and it could have given Boomer a longer life (and quality of life) I would have done it in a heartbeat.Good Luck.Take care all
Well I spoke too soon I guess. We went to our boat on Sunday (120 miles away) and on the way Ginger had a big bleed after several weeks of extremely minor spotting. It was one of those spraying kind of bleeds that left blobs and drops of blood everywhere. Fortunately we had planned to stay several nights at the boat and had our travel trailer in trail so we had water, soap, rags etc. to satisfactorily clean up Ginger, her sister and the car before moving on.
This is the first bleed ever in the car. Usually Ginger remains pretty calm in the car and so bleeding in the car has been a pretty big blow to our management plan of keeping her calm to prevent bleeding. Further she has been bleeding quite a bit since then on and off, fresh bright blood out of her good side, some large bleeds, some small. We had another big bleed this morning.
I don't know what to think. We will probably need to take her back to the vet but they were so devoid of answers for managing this thing the first time that other than another X-ray or scoping (which I won't do to her) to see where this thing is going, I doubt that the visit will do much good.
If any of you have successfully dealt with loads of bleeding I'd like to hear what you did. I remember reading some things way back in the archive when others were dealing with a lot of bleeding but there are 79 pages to dig through and my day has been cut out for me in the form of a bedroom and bed covered with blood drops. Both dogs upset. Ginger tends to get her feelings hurt by our cleaning her up after a bleed no matter how reassuring we are and since the bedroom functions as their den and it's torn apart right now, Pepper is pacing and whining in the hall and office and looking at the bedroom door and then at me in essence saying, "Fix it Mom, I want to lay down." Sigh.
Congratulations to Tillie, Dash and all the other dogs that are doing so well and I'm happy to hear that Boomer's mom is meeting Boomer in her dreams.
I am sorry to hear about Ginger's bleeding. Dash only had only a few of what I would call big bleeds but for a long time he pretty much oozed blood off and on 24/7. Holding ice or a frozen bag of peas as they will mold nice around a muzzle can help as blood vessels constrict when cold is applied. It does make taking them places difficult but when Dash goes away with me it has been to my dad's house and my dad understands and does not get upset. I bought a couple large soft white bath towels and take them so I have something to use should he really start bleeding and I can use them for any clean up as being white I bleach them. At my home I got inexpensive but nice soft king sized fleece type blankets at Costco and covered the couch, chairs and my bed so that does help protect things from blood and can be easliy washed.
Right now I am a bit concerned as I am thinking this may be the infection that brings Dash down. He still has a week of antibiotics left but after 1 week on he is doing worse not better. He has been on these before and had no problems but this time they seem to be upsetting his tummy so while he does eat it is not with his usual gusto and he is acting rather down so his normal chipper self is not here.
Yesterday was Dazzle's 1st birthday and I got all the dogs a chew that they love and Dash very politely took his and held it is his mouth then put it down and walked away. I tried again and he did the same thing almost as if he was taking it as to not offend me.Then he came and curled up next to me on the couch and just layed watching me with his good eye.His left eye remains pretty much closed due to the swelling. It left me with a lump in my heart as maybe he is starting to say He he is sorry but he can not do this anymore? I will try to keep him comfortable until we finish the antibiotics and see where we are then but I am not feeling real positive . And I keep seeing him earlier this week acting as my navigator standing between the two front car seats watching my driving ( like a typical man!) as we drove home from my dad's, and wondering if that was his last trip as my navigator.
I am hoping this is just yet another down on this ride and that we will go back up but also know that all rides do come to an end. Sad as it is that truth does hang there. Time to go walk Jazz and Dazzle and get some fresh ( but hot!) air. Hope everyone else is hanging in there . Jan
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Jan
cataract surgery etc
