First Outing For Gracie

[Guest roselle]

Gracie is back to being Gracie, giving kisses, tail spinning and even a three leg dance. We took her to our granddaughters soccer game and sat on the sidelines. She was a star everyone was so surprised at how well she is getting along on 3 legs. Lots of questions from the kids as to why and how she lost her leg. She did great and i'm so happy to have her back. We saw an oncologist on friday who says she is a candidate for chemo. I'm not sold on it yet. She is just getting back to being Gracie again and I don't want her last 5 or 6 months to be doctor offices, needles,and low blood counts. Any feedback is very welcome. This is a difficult. But for today we are very happy. Another factor is last wednesday early in the morning after my husband left for work and I was still in bed I had a home invasion. The robber walked right into my bedroom. I have a panic button next to my bed , part of my alarm system and the robber saw me and heard all the noise and ran. Gracie was with me , but my 18 year old lab/shep he locked in a room. I need less stress for all of us right now.

Roselle and Gracie

[TheFullHouse]

Glad to see Gracie is doing so well but holy cow, I would have had a heart attack if someone had walked into my bedroom! Glad you are all okay.

[EllenEveBaz]

No knowledge about chemotherapy, but sending happy kisses to Gracie.

 

Home invasion -- YIKES! Glad you are okay.

[Charlies_Dad]

Roselle,

 

That is wonderful to hear Gracie is doing well. Isn't it nice to have them out of pain and back to just being a pup all over again?

 

As for the Chemo, this is what I can say about it for Charlie. Overall he has done very well and the only side effects have been he's tired the day after and there are some limited foods he will not eat that he normally would scarf down in an instant: banana is one example. Not sure whether it's the smell or taste but I believe it's the former. Reason being is he will also turn up his nose at his food if we put the normal amount of herbs on them, if we don't he eats fine. This usually lasts between 3-4 days post Chemo. He will also have loose stools for a day after as well but other than that, I do believe it's worth it. The reason for Charlie is I can see how much he is enjoying life and being his crazy self. Only yesterday when DW brought two new stuffies back home, he and Jack went crazy running in the backyard with them and he so loves when I throw them or play tug-a-war. So if I have him longer and he's loving every day, I know I have done everything for him. The reason for me is that in this fight, I want all the odds on my side and if one looks at the data, the average pup diagnosed with Osteo will live longer having amp & Chemo vs just amp. Again this is all my own personal choice but I truly believe it is the best one for Charlie.

 

Wow, about the home invasion! That is very scary. Thankfully you had the panic button and he took off.

[MaryJane]

So sorry about your home invasion - glad that the intruder "ran away"...

 

As to chemo, one of my previous greyhounds had amp and chemo and if I had to do over again, I would do the same thing as long as the dog would tolerate both.

 

The chemo effects usually lasted about a day or two (as someone earlier stated) and I would have to have my dog's chemo food "cheerios and yogurt" because other foods just didn't interest him and near the end of the chemo, even the cheerios and yogurt was not working as well. You might have to experiment with different things to find what will work with your dog.

 

Depending on the chemo, they have to give massive amounts of fluids via IV and one problem I faced is that my dog would have to pee every 20 minutes or so and this went almost all night. He had a real tough time getting comfortable the night after the chemo. Note, that I haven't heard of this bad of a reaction from other dogs.

 

You may want to check with the vet doing the chemo and see if you can bring in some blankets because there are issues with the "hazardous substances in the chemo drugs" and thus any blankets might have to be discarded as harzardous waste. I didn't realize that they were not providing something to lie on for my dog until I saw that his hair on the good leg was getting scrapped off .... and it was too late into the treatment to fix this. Note that my concern was for my dog standing so long with 3 legs and getting tired and not with loosing the hair which eventually grew back.

 

Good luck with whichever path you decide to follow.

[joejoesmom]

So if I have him longer and he's loving every day, I know I have done everything for him. The reason for me is that in this fight, I want all the odds on my side and if one looks at the data, the average pup diagnosed with Osteo will live longer having amp & Chemo vs just amp. Again this is all my own personal choice but I truly believe it is the best one for Charlie.

 

 

I agree with this 100 percent. My Joe has had three of the five chemo treatments and has had absolutely no side affects so far. Today he even started chattering again when I got his food for him. I hadn't heard him chatter since the cancer pain started. I am also transitioning him to EVO (<12 percent carbohydrates) which he absolutely loves. Dr. Couto says there is no evidence that a low carb diet is beneficial in osteo, but it won't hurt. He did say that it is quite beneficial for some other cancers, lymphoma in particular.

 

Jane

 

p.s. In case you have never had a chatterer. Joe chatters his teeth when he is excited AND happy. It is so cute.

[Guest roselle]

Thanks eryone for the feedback regarding chemo. I got more information on Gracies path report. Her limph nodes are neg. lung clear, so she has her first tx Wed. She'll be getting carboplatin. Any one have experience with this drug?

[Charlies_Dad]

Thanks eryone for the feedback regarding chemo. I got more information on Gracies path report. Her limph nodes are neg. lung clear, so she has her first tx Wed. She'll be getting carboplatin. Any one have experience with this drug?

 

Flash is getting this Chemo drug currently and you can always touch base with Shannon (azlorenz here on GT). Many other pups have been given Carboplatin and I believe it's actually the one tolerated best.

[NeylasMom]

So glad to hear Gracie is doing so well since her amp! That is great news!

 

I'll just play the devil's advocate for a sec regarding chemo, not to discourage you (to the contrary, I believe if I did amputation I would follow through with chemotherapy for the reason Charlie's dad mentioned), but just so you are aware of the risks. First, most dogs suffer only mild effects like the ones already described. I had always heard it was because dogs handled chemo better, but I learned recently that the dosages used for dogs are actually lower relatively than the ones used for humans because no one wants to put a dog through all of the nasty side effects of chemo that humans deal with. The trade off being it may be less effective at eliminating mets. The more serious risk is of sepsis - it's very rare, but this is when the WBC count drops very low and the dog gets a nasty infection. This is life threatening, but what my oncologists told me is that if you are informed of the warning signs and seek treatment immediately, the dog should be okay. It may require several days of hospitalization though, which can be expensive. I believe my oncologist told me this happens with about 5% of the dogs. But, I have also seen that the vets administering chemo will do blood work before each treatment and if the WBC count is already low, they will postpone the treatment until the count is back up in order to prevent this.

 

So again, I don't say any of this to discourage you - if I had chosen amp, I would also choose chemo - but I say it more so that you can ask your vet for what to look for in the case of sepsis and encourage you to call your vet right away if you see anything at all that is disconcerting.

 

I hope I'm not freaking you out or causing you to second guess. I'm just the type of person who thinks you should hear both sides and usually the people who post are the ones who've had success with any given treatment.

[joejoesmom]

Yes, I absolutely should have mentioned the possible side effects.

 

In addition to sepsis (which is actually a lower percentage according to Dr. Couto -- but that may just be at OSU) there is a remote chance that chemo could result in heart or kidney damage (depending on the drug used).

 

Because I am such a worrier, I do sterilize my hard surface floors every week (using a 10 percent bleach solution where possible or my steam mop if the bleach would damage the floor. Dr. Portela, my oncologist at OSU, said this isn't necessary as it would be rare for Joe to get something from my floors. But I can't disinfect the whole outdoors. I also wash all the stuffies and dog beds every week. However, this is me. If Joe were to get sepsis I would blame myself for not doing everything possible. I do it for that reason, not really because Joe would get an infection from my house.

 

All of this being said, in my opinion the risk of significant side effects is far smaller than the 90 percent surety that the cancer will grow very fast without the chemo. Sepsis risk can be reduced by not giving chemo if the WBC is below 1 in a greyhound. If heart and kidney issues develop, your dog would still likely have a longer life than just amp alone. So I elected to do chemo and so far have not regretted it.

 

I do have to report Joey's first chemo side effect. Today he developed diarrhea. I talked to his oncologist who said that chemo side effects can certainly show up 4 days after chemo (his chemo was last Thursday). There is also a chance that he has picked up an intestinal bug. He is going to get pepto bismol, lots of liquids, and no food until tomorrow morning. If he still has diarrhea, he will start on flagyl.

 

Jane