heartdogs Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Take care of Pinky & yourself. I'm so sorry for your loss of Cody. Cancer is so terrible in all its forms & leaves us so mad. Cody knew you did everything possible for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remolacha Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I am sorry Jay that it was so aggressive and fast. It's not just cancer, I lost my first grey to acute kidney failure in one week. She seemed fine, then one night I came home and she had thrown up her breakfast. She never ate again and after a week of trying, I let her go. I understand the shock you feel of how fast everything happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krissn333 Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Jay (and others who have gone through this), what abnormalities (if any) were seen in the bloodwork? Elevated white count? Ace has chronic lymphocytic leukemia and since we lost our Pinky, she has been a little off. She eats fine, plays hard, but has seemed a little achy, hesitates to get up on the couch or bed. She WILL eventually get up there. At times it's like she doesn't want me to touch her except on her head and neck. With the warm weather we've had yesterday and today though, she seems completely normal again. After reading all of this I'm going to call the vet's office and see if Ace can have a CBC and a chem panel tomorrow while I'm there with my kitty Rosie for her checkup. Quote Kristin in Moline, IL USA with Ozzie (MRL Crusin Clem), Clarice (Clarice McBones), Latte and Sage the IGs, and the kitties: Violet and Rose Lovingly Remembered: Sutra (Fliowa Sutra) 12/02/97-10/12/10, Pinky (Pick Me) 04/20/03-11/19/12, Fritz (Fritz Fire) 02/05/01 - 05/20/13, Ace (Fantastic Ace) 02/05/01 - 07/05/13, and Carrie (Takin the Crumbs) 05/08/99 - 09/04/13. A cure for cancer can't come soon enough.-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krissn333 Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 They're working us in so Ace can have some bloodwork tomorrow. Have I mentioned that our vet's office is awesome? Jay, I'm so sorry you've lost your Cody boy Quote Kristin in Moline, IL USA with Ozzie (MRL Crusin Clem), Clarice (Clarice McBones), Latte and Sage the IGs, and the kitties: Violet and Rose Lovingly Remembered: Sutra (Fliowa Sutra) 12/02/97-10/12/10, Pinky (Pick Me) 04/20/03-11/19/12, Fritz (Fritz Fire) 02/05/01 - 05/20/13, Ace (Fantastic Ace) 02/05/01 - 07/05/13, and Carrie (Takin the Crumbs) 05/08/99 - 09/04/13. A cure for cancer can't come soon enough.-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowjay Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Bloodwork was normal. Quote Cody: (11/19/2000 - 1/7/2013): [CollateralDamage #92569] Cody's DogsterPretty: (11/1/1994 - 1/27/2007): [Bee's Prettyside #43811] Pretty's DogsterPinky: (4/25/2003 - 3/17/2014): [Wagtail Resolve #19753]Click here to learn how to find your hounds racing name, pedigree and racing history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burpdog Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I can't tell you how many dogs I've lost where the vets and I knew something was wrong and the blood work was normal. All the dogs with osteo for instance. With Austin, we knew he was harboring cancer "somewhere" but didn't know for 10 months where. You can sometimes tell they are off and some are good at hiding it. The only advantage for mine have been an incredible acupuncture vet who is very good. She heard Buffy's lung tumor long before the other vets. I could go on and on. Looking at what you went thru with Cody, I don't see anywhere that you dropped the ball -- it's something that just happened. When Princess thru her lung clot, she was fine when I left the house and I barely got to work and had to go home and get her. I never noticed anything wrong with her in the days leading up to "that" day. It's more of a shock that way but it is many times kinder to both the dog and the person. If you have followed my posts, you know I will support the dog as long as they want to live and as long as they are not suffering and in some measure happy. That can be so draining and hard on me. Hospice care is not fun -- it can be rewarding and it is necessary...although there are some funnies along the way I guess You can drive yourself nuts trying to figure out if you missed something. Take a little time to reflect then move on or you will end up nuttier than you are If you do think of something you feel you missed, use it for the future and to advise others. Quote Diane & The Senior Gang Burpdog Biscuits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3greys2cats Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I am so sorry, reading Cody's story brought back my loss of Sara to Hemangio, although not Lymphoma, she too presented w/pain and weaness in her back end, the vets thought LS but after a spinal and MRI, they found a huge mass in her spine, not operable and aslo like you told me to "bring her home and spoil her" it was less than a week from the time she was seen by the specialist. You did everything you could to help Cody, it is hard not to keep re-thinking and second guessing, I am still doing it months later. Try to think of the "happy times" and be kind to yourself. Quote Roberta & Michael with Furkids- Flower (Shasta Flowers 6/7/06) & Rascal the kitty - Missing our sweet angels - Max(M's Mad Max) 10/12/02 - 12/3/15, Sara (Sara Raves 6/30/01 - 4/13/12) Queenie & Pandora the kitties - gone but never forgotten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest goofydog Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 So, so sorry for your loss Jay. I can't add any experience but wanted you to know I'm keeping you and Cody in my prayers. Godspeed sweet Cody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SueG201 Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Thank you for writing this, I will now be on the lookout for swollen lymphs with my old girl, she is getting skinny and her back end is not good, and I know something is going to take her sooner than later Hugs to you over the loss of your baby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burpdog Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 One of the things I learned early on (because I started in Great Danes) is that when a large dog is ill, the first thing to go is the rear -- doesn't matter what is wrong. Could be from not bad to very bad. This applies to any large dog. I've had it happen in danes, dobes and greys. Quote Diane & The Senior Gang Burpdog Biscuits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowjay Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 I can't tell you how many dogs I've lost where the vets and I knew something was wrong and the blood work was normal. I know now, but at the time I didn't realize that the bloodwork could be 100% normal and they still have something. Looking at what you went thru with Cody, I don't see anywhere that you dropped the ball -- it's something that just happened. ... You can drive yourself nuts trying to figure out if you missed something. Take a little time to reflect then move on or you will end up nuttier than you are If you do think of something you feel you missed, use it for the future and to advise others. You are right. I know I didn't miss anything. The e-vet even came to the same conclusion I did regarding the back end weakness and thought it was a tooth causing the first pair of enlarged nodes since there were no other presenting signs of something more sinister. Although as much as that put me at ease slightly in the back of my head I thought it can't be that simple, but we were following up with our regular vet in 2 days. But then I think, even if I insisted they aspirate one of the nodes that day (and from what I've read the mandibular nodes usually aren't the best ones to do), I would of gotten the results back 1 day sooner and it wouldn't of changed a thing. Even others with more experience and have had a lot of hounds have thought similar (arthritis or LS) when I describe the symptoms right up until he completely stopped eating (the day before the prescapular nodes appeared), at that point they knew it was something more - and at that point I did too. I am so sorry, reading Cody's story brought back my loss of Sara to Hemangio, although not Lymphoma, she too presented w/pain and weaness in her back end, the vets thought LS but after a spinal and MRI, they found a huge mass in her spine, not operable and aslo like you told me to "bring her home and spoil her" it was less than a week from the time she was seen by the specialist. You did everything you could to help Cody, it is hard not to keep re-thinking and second guessing, I am still doing it months later. Try to think of the "happy times" and be kind to yourself. I'm so sorry you went through it as well. There is a lot of thinking about happy times, it's hard to go through the day without thinking about him because he was my shadow, but I just now think about what goofy thing he would of been doing at that point. It's good having Pinky as she is pretty silly in her own right, but it's hard to see her wandering around the house looking at her brother. I even caught her on video today roooooing while I was at work. After our appt on Thursday I didn't have a good feeling and started to prepare myself for the worst. After Saturday really didn't have a good feeling and was preparing for bad news at the meeting with the oncologist - I just didn't expect to not even get that far. I think what is particularly hard for me is that Cody was my first. My whole greyhound "life" started with him and we shared a lot of memories. Of course being my first I was very protective of him as well so it's a bit hard knowing that no matter what I did I couldn't protect him from this. Throw rugs on a shiny floor can't solve all your problems. Quote Cody: (11/19/2000 - 1/7/2013): [CollateralDamage #92569] Cody's DogsterPretty: (11/1/1994 - 1/27/2007): [Bee's Prettyside #43811] Pretty's DogsterPinky: (4/25/2003 - 3/17/2014): [Wagtail Resolve #19753]Click here to learn how to find your hounds racing name, pedigree and racing history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remolacha Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 There is a special pain when you loose your first, and it always hard to realize you can't make everything better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valencia Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 My Sydney Sue, who I lost to Lymphoma, first started acting a little off; then I noticed the lymph nodes in her neck suddenly swelled. Within about a week, she was bleeding from the nose. I got her into the vet first thing in the morning after the nose bleeding started; the vet almost immediately guessed lymphoma. We started doxy that same day in case it was something other than lymphoma. The fna results came back within two days, and I started her on prednisone immediately. I lost her just shy of 8 weeks post diagnosis, from side effects from the prednisone, but the lymphoma had definitely become active again, so I'm guessing the difference would have only been a few weeks at best. So it was about 10 weeks from very first symptom (not recognized except in hindsight) until I let her go. I don't know what type of Lymphoma she had. In some ways, it can be a blessing if they go faster, even though it's harder on us. I knew Syd wasn't always doing so well, and it was as if she knew it, and my trying to prolong things would have just been horrible for her. At the time I made the final decision, I was really not sure if I should keep trying things, or just let her go; in hindsight, it was definitely time, and the right decision. We can't see every little change, or every little pain or discomfort that they have; nor can we assume worst case scenario every time something is off with them. We do the best we can do with the tools we have at the time, and we have to learn how to be okay with that. :grouphug Quote Shannon, mom to Shae, Jesse James and Linus the Chinese Cresteds,and bridge angels Sydney Sue and Stewart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krissn333 Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Jay, Ace is my first too. I've had her for almost 10 years now (gotcha day June 1, 2003). I can't believe bloodwork was normal with enlarged lymph nodes. Ace's are not swollen, I check them all the time. It will be good for doctor B to give her a good once-over anyway, so I'm glad I made the appointment. I really hate knowing that if something like this comes our way, I will be powerless against it Quote Kristin in Moline, IL USA with Ozzie (MRL Crusin Clem), Clarice (Clarice McBones), Latte and Sage the IGs, and the kitties: Violet and Rose Lovingly Remembered: Sutra (Fliowa Sutra) 12/02/97-10/12/10, Pinky (Pick Me) 04/20/03-11/19/12, Fritz (Fritz Fire) 02/05/01 - 05/20/13, Ace (Fantastic Ace) 02/05/01 - 07/05/13, and Carrie (Takin the Crumbs) 05/08/99 - 09/04/13. A cure for cancer can't come soon enough.-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilysmom Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 OMG!! Jay I can't believe he went so fast. I am so very sorry. Rest well sweet Cody, I am sorry you had to go Quote Praying for all the missing greys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirocco_Nikki Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Cancer is evil. Even dogs with the same type will present differently. Sirocco's os first appeared as a limp. A month later, a huge lump suddenly appeared on his shoulder and a month after that, he was gone. His xrays always looked good. Nikki's os didn't present until she stepped off the deck and her leg shattered. Never a lump, never a limp and never a whine. I was never negligent with their health care. My motto has always been "when in doubt, check it out". But, cancer is evil and evades all our good intentions. If we don't xray we could be missing something but if we do we could be exposing our dogs to too much radiation. All we can do is try our best and be there for each other. Quote Drake - Fortified Power x Cajun Oriel Janney - Ronco x Sol Happy Waiting at the bridge: Sirocco - (Reko Sirocco) - Trojan Episode x Reko Princess; Nikki - (MPS Sharai) - Devilish Episode x MPS Daisy Queen;Yukon - (Yak Back) - Epic Prince x Barts Cinnamon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OurLacyandJax Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 You did the best you could Jay. As I told you before - Lacy was diagnosed solidly with lymphoma on a Monday using bone marrow biopsy. Took her home, she was a bit animated, but still the sweet girl.. Early next morning, she crashed and we had to let her go. I have videos of her prancing around and playing with her toys on Nov 18th.. Dec 4th, she was gone. Cody lived a great life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleptogrey Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 don't beat yourself up- you repsonded as soon as there was a sign that something was wrong! the stoic dogs never show their pain until the very end. cancer is a wild card- can be slow moving or agressive as all hell. none of us can control it's momentum. yeah, all of us who have lost a dog to cancer think ....did i miss a sign(i now realize that emily who had osteo of the shoulder winched when groomed during the summer- i thought arthirtis)? and we all have 20/20 hindsight...but it's cancer and it's unfair, unforgiving and rips right into our hearts. it's greyt that we can all express our sorrow, joy and dissapointments on this venue. now it's your turn to be stoic and give out more love to those greyhounds!(when the time is right). mourn, it's very very healthy and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bernadette Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I am so sorry to hear about Cody. I can't imagine the heartbreak... Vinnie is my heart dog, my first grey and I just can't imagine not having him with me. I have tried to research the lymph nodes... Where are they and what do they feel like? When swollen, are they visible necessarily? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 I am so sorry to hear about Cody. I can't imagine the heartbreak... Vinnie is my heart dog, my first grey and I just can't imagine not having him with me.I have tried to research the lymph nodes... Where are they and what do they feel like? When swollen, are they visible necessarily? Maybe this will help....http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=575 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazy4greys Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 (edited) I am sorry all of this happened so fast. Just think of all the wonderful time you had together. Cancer SUCKS! Edited January 16, 2013 by crazy4greys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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