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Carrier's Progress


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Best wishes for Carrier tomorrow. We'll be thinking of you :grouphug

Deerhounds Darcy, Duffy, Grace & Wellington, Mutts Sprout & Buddy, Lurchers Ned & Jake plus Ella the Westie + cats. Remembering Del, Jessie, Maddison, Flo, Sally, Stanley, Wallace, Radar, Mokka, Oki cat, Tetley, Poppy & Striker.

 

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Hi All,

 

Carrier had his 3rd chemo treatment yesterday. His appetite is still not good, but at the end of the day we manage to fill his tummy with a variety of food.

 

We drove down to Ohio on Monday, leaving at 10am ... thinking I would avoid bad weather... not. I have never heard of such a thing - freezing fog!!! I can't win with the weather when it's time to go there. On the way back it rained the whole time and by the time we got to Brant County is was wet snow. Mama mia! I was driving like my mother with my chest touching the steering wheel making sure that I could see the bloody lines on the road as I passed the transport trucks. We got home at 11:15 and I was welcomed with my fav meal - beans on toast -(thanks Tim!)

 

So back to Carrier... he had his blood work done in the morning and all was good to do the chemo. He also had an xray done on the back right leg because we were concerned that he was having some pain back there. To refresh your memory, a bone scan back in October showed "something" and a CT Scan at OSU also noted something, but the vets didn't think it was bone cancer - hence why we choose to amputate. Anyway, the xray was CLEAR!!!! Dr Couto said that that area even looks better now than it did last time - which is a huge relief. OSU feels that what we think is "pain" might be anxiety or phantom pain, because a physical exam found nothing either. He is on anti-anxiety drug (clomicalm) and we are also trying a DAP.

 

Back on track...

 

Unfortunately, the vet student on our case...was slow... in the head. As I was giving the update on Carrier from the last two weeks, he was just sitting there staring at me, not writing anything down... I like, hello... "are you going to write any of this down?" Anyway, he took Carrier to the back and I waited to hear if his blood work was fine and then left - to go Christmas shopping. I love Target! I came back at 2:30 and let the front desk know that I was here. 45 minutes later, the guy calls me on my cell phone. I tell him I am in the waiting room... for a long time already. Ugh! Then the biggest mistake he made really flipped me out. He bought Carrier out and I noticed that Carrier was standing with his back end really low and his eyes looked messed up. He wasn't his happy go lucky self and was crying but I thought it was the stress and he was tired and hungry... so I quickly got the meds and off I went to put him in the car. He did a can of rabbit. I did say that he looked kinda off to the vet student. He was really shaky getting into the car, so I returned to the front desk and asked to speak with the vet - not the vet student, because Carrier seemed really off and looked like he had been sedated. Dr Hosoya came out and said that he was sedated - well... no one told me! So knowing that and why he was acting so strange I decided to make the trip home, because having him in the hotel in that state is really stressful for him. Anyway, the vet student was totally clueless. There are more stupid things that he did - didn't give me enough Clomicalm to take us to the next visit, so I told him that I would just get some from my vet at home, as I wanted to get Carrier into the car. Later he calls me on my cell and tells me to just start giving it to him in three days, so that way I don't have to get more. WHAT? Why on earth would I wait to start giving him a drug three days later than I should, when it will hopefully help him? I am going to let Dr Hosoya and Couto know though. Yeah, I am bitch. :)

 

So back to Carrier.... He did well during the chemo, the xray was normal (THANK GOD!!!) and he is still really cute. Some progress that we have made in the physical department is:

1. jumping out of the car - no ramp needed. Getting in ... not so much. I tried that yesterday and he was laying on his tummy with his back legs hanging out of the car - sorry, buddy.

2. running and walking without any problem ... on ICE!

3. went for an hour walk with the other hounds... and ran most of the way and loved it.

4. managed not to get trampled in the car with the other hounds during said walk.

5. managed to taste test every premium dog food available in Canada.

6. managed to teach me how to make rice and boil an egg. he's so motivational for me and my culinary learning. :)

 

That's all!

 

eva

 

 

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Guest LittleGreys

Glad to hear Carrier is doing well!! Not that I am glad you had difficulty with the folks at OSU, but at least I know I am not the only one! The front desk folks are impossible to schedule with......the last time I tried to schedule my recheck with Dr Dyce, they told me my dog had to see Dr Hosoya, whom she has never seen before, and the lady at the desk told me that Dr Hosoya said that Munchie had to be there at 7am. I asked why, she said for general anesthesia?!?!? I asked what in the world my dog needed general anesthesia for, at most she was having a joint tap which certainly doesn't need general anesthesia!, she couldn't tell me, so needless to say, I didn't make the appointment! Sadly, after another fiasco last week, I have pretty much lost confidence in OSU.

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That's too bad about your experience at OSU LittleGreys. I do still have full confidence in OSU even though the vet student was not that great. I have never had a problem with the front desk. I hope things sort themselves out for you because OSU does have a great program for greyhounds. BTW, Dr Hosoya is pretty good too.

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Carrier Update Dec 16

Carrier is still not eating as well as we would like, but nevertheless is getting something in his tummy. On Wednesday he didn't want anything even though I made, bought and offered him everything under the sun. Then on Thursday he decided that white plain bread was his favourite - so he had quite a few slices of that throughout the day. On Friday morning he actually ate 1 cup of Canidae. We offered it to him just to see if he would take it and he did. He also ate it for dinner ... which is a real surprise since he has been turning his nose up to lamb for a long time now.

 

And now.. drum roll please...

 

He PLAYED WITH LAMBIE last night and chewed his bone and HE LED A ROO!!!! it was so wonderful to see.

 

We are in the middle of a snow storm right now so he is not pleased with not having a walk in a couple of days, but boy you should see him move in over a foot of fresh snow! His bowel movements are totally normal too, which is also great because last chemo he had diarrhea. He is sleeping better during the night - as are we.

He is doing well, so that's all we could really ask for this holiday.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Carrier Update Dec 29

 

Hi All,

 

I don't know really where to start... we have good news and bad news, so I guess I will cut to the chase.

Carrier was scheduled for his 4th treatment of chemo with the drug Doxorubicin and Suramin. He was taken back for his exam and we were informed that his blood work was perfect, but the vet student noticed an heart murmur in the apex of his heart. Carrier had a Grade I murmur when we began his treatment, which wasn't a concern because this is considered normal in greyhounds. We knew that there was a risk of heart toxicity with the use of this drug, but this is the case with all chemo drugs. An echocardiogram was performed and it was confirmed that the murmur is now a Grade II-III/IV. Because of this, it was decided to switch to another chemo drug - which is the normal protocol when a heart murmur progresses. The new drug is called Carboplatin Because of his heart murmur, he is now on drugs that he has to take for life. The good news is that we caught it the murmur early and it won't impact his normal activity.

 

Now the bad news. The echo picked up on a mass in his heart which is believed to be a tumor. Because of the location we can't confirm what it is exactly and because he has never had an echo before, we have no idea how long it's been there. It's not impairing flow and not invading any chambers - so his heart is working normally, with the exception of the murmur.

This was really difficult news to receive especially since he is doing so well otherwise. The recommendation was to take a chest xray and do an abdominal ultrasound to see if the cancer had spread to his lungs or stomach. If it had, it was more than likely that the mass in his heart was also a metastasis of the cancer. It was so hard waiting for the news and we tried to amuse ourselves with coffee and lunch, but it was so hard.

 

Thankfully, his lungs and abdomen were clear - which is a huge relief. OSU believes that the mass is more than likely a chemodectoma, based on the location and the absence of cancer in his lungs and tummy. This type of cancer doesn't respond to chemo drugs, but they are very slow growing tumors and they figure that the mass has been there for months to even a year. To determine if the mass is either a chemodectoma or metastasis of the osterosarcoma, we are going to do another echo after his 2nd or 3rd treatment of carboplatin.

We were sent home with drugs for his heart and also a vial of carboplatin for our local vet to administer. We have to check Carrier's blood work - specifically his kidney values, before he gets the chemo because the heart drugs can effect his kidney function. We are back in Ohio on Jan 23 for a recheck and another treatment of chemo.

 

Aside from this news, we can say that he is doing really, really well. His appetite is back and so is his personality. He continues to play with his toys and loves his long walks. Before Christmas, we went for an hour and half walk and he ran the whole way. In fact, when he got to the hotel, he almost caught a rabbit! He is fast!

 

It's was really hard hearing about the mass in his heart, but at the same time, we are comforted to know that the osteo hasn't spread to his chest and abdomen and he is acting totally normal. Had we not done the echo to check the murmur, we wouldn't have learned about the mass... so knowing that it wasn't causing any other clinic signs is somewhat good news ... well, that's what we are telling ourselves for now.

We are so fortunate that we are able to take Carrier to OSU for the best possible treatment and we were very happy to let the Greyhound Health and Wellness Program know that a $250 donation was made on our behalf from our friends and family this holiday season.

 

Hug your hounds.

 

eva and carrier

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the update Eva - sorry to hear about the mass in Carrier's heart :sad1 but he sounds cheerful and pretty darn healthy, all things considered! :):wub: I'll continue to keep him (and you) in my thoughts :goodluck :goodluck

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Kerry with Lupin in beautiful coastal Maine. Missing Pippin, my best friend and sweet little heart-healer :brokenheart 2013-2023 :brokenheart 
Also missing the best wizard in the world, Merlin, and my sweet 80lb limpet, Sagan, every single day. 

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Sending lots of hugs and scritchies to your sweet boy. I hope he continues to do well.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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