Bad News For Romie

[a_daerr]

Buddy lasted 16 days from DX to the bridge on huge doses of pred. It was so not worth it. My old school vet told me they used try chemo both it was worthless in quality of life and he will no longer do it. Lymphoma is fast and furious. In retrospect if all the nodes are involved I'd never do pred again.

 

Same. I had a cat who was diagnosed with lymphoma, and I will never forgive myself for forcing Pred down her throat in the last few days of her life. She lasted maybe a month from diagnosis to the bridge. If I could do it over again, I would've had her PTS before it ever got to that point.

 

I'm really sorry for this bad news, and I hope against hope it's not lymphoma.

[LBass]

How are you and Romie doing today?

 

I will say that I drove about an hour and a half to see a neurologist with Piper when it was clear that something more than his "usual" seizures was going on. It was very much worth the long day because I got a definitive diagnosis and solid info about treatment and prognosis. The specialist was wonderful after that about consulting with my vet so Piper got the benefit of his input without another trip to North Carolina.

[EllenEveBaz]

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes, experiences, and article references. I worried all day about Romie, but he met me with the rest of the pack when I came home, happy to see me and know that supper would be served soon. This all seems completely unreal.

 

The local vet here says he has given the Wisconsin-Madison protocol to 6-7 dogs, including one of his own, who made it a year after diagnosis. That doesn't sound like a lot of experience, but I feel like we could consult with an oncologist or OSU or Dr. C. Everything the local vet told me yesterday jives with what I've read in the articles, so I feel like he is up to date on the disease.

 

He said the test results wouldn't be back until Friday or Saturday. I feel like I am going to go insane waiting. But I feel in my heart that it is lymphoma. The vet said he thought he could feel that Romie's spleen was enlarged, which would make him at least a stage 4. But evidently all the stages respond about the same to chemo, except for stage 5, which is in the bone marrow. And the vet said we would know early on if Romie didn't respond well, and could end the chemo.

 

When I left the vet's yesterday, I was ready to charge ahead with the chemo. After reading more, I'm more hesitant. When I took Romie for a little walk after the vet yesterday, he poured out pudding poop -- evidently from the stress of the vet visit because his poop was ok this morning.

 

I couldn't love Romie more than I do now, and he's not much for extended cuddling, but I can make his meals paradise and tell him over and over again what a wonderful dog he is. And wait for the test results. He's curled up on the rug next to me, making his occasional little grunty sounds.

[galgrey]

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes, experiences, and article references. I worried all day about Romie, but he met me with the rest of the pack when I came home, happy to see me and know that supper would be served soon. This all seems completely unreal.

 

The local vet here says he has given the Wisconsin-Madison protocol to 6-7 dogs, including one of his own, who made it a year after diagnosis. That doesn't sound like a lot of experience, but I feel like we could consult with an oncologist or OSU or Dr. C. Everything the local vet told me yesterday jives with what I've read in the articles, so I feel like he is up to date on the disease.

 

He said the test results wouldn't be back until Friday or Saturday. I feel like I am going to go insane waiting. But I feel in my heart that it is lymphoma. The vet said he thought he could feel that Romie's spleen was enlarged, which would make him at least a stage 4. But evidently all the stages respond about the same to chemo, except for stage 5, which is in the bone marrow. And the vet said we would know early on if Romie didn't respond well, and could end the chemo.

 

When I left the vet's yesterday, I was ready to charge ahead with the chemo. After reading more, I'm more hesitant. When I took Romie for a little walk after the vet yesterday, he poured out pudding poop -- evidently from the stress of the vet visit because his poop was ok this morning.

 

I couldn't love Romie more than I do now, and he's not much for extended cuddling, but I can make his meals paradise and tell him over and over again what a wonderful dog he is. And wait for the test results. He's curled up on the rug next to me, making his occasional little grunty sounds.

[DaisyDoodle]

The other thing to ask about is the type of lymphoma. IIRC, there are B cell and T cell lymphomas. One has a better prognosis than the other--but I don't recall which is which. Either one is more aggressive, or one is more likely to respond to chemo, something like that.

 

I didn't note this in my earlier post, but my CoCo lived for 28 months from my initially finding her nodes enlarged. She had her bad post-chemo days, and toward the end, the daily use of the pred made her weak, but overall, I think she had many good days during those 28 months. She died at 14 years 4 months of age.

[macoduck]

Regarding spleen enlargement- Any time Possum went to the vet he had to wear a belly band because he liked to "bless" the place. I thought it was fitting a tad snug. A few days later I couldn't fit it on him.

Perhaps measure Romie's waist for an indicator of change.

Sending hugs to you both.

[4My2Greys]

I hate to have sounded so negative about the outlook, but I didn't want you to think lymphoma is a walk in the park. Bruiser had been going through chemo for hemangiosarcoma when Beanie was diagnosed with lymphoma so I had a little experience in what to expect. With Bruiser other than a day of being tired when he got his chemo he pretty much went through it with no problem. For Beanie on the other hand, it was a nightmare. As Pam said about Buddy, it started as a stressful pantingfest on the prednisone. Then the vincristine irritated the area around her injection and she started to self-mutilate her legs, licking them until they were raw and bleeding. Add to this the fact that she was so stressed everytime I had to take her to the vet's for treatments. All this time I was thinking that these were just hurdles we had to get over and in the end it would be worth it because afterall lymphoma responds well to chemo as so many told me. In the end however Beanie died a death so horrible from this disease it will haunt me for as long as I live. I am going to hope and pray that if you decide to go through with chemo that Romie's lymphoma is one that responds well to it. I just want you to be aware of what you are up against and that sometimes in the end it wasn't worth the misery both they and you go through to continue to try to fight it.

[duncan41]

I guess we were "lucky". My first GH, Nikki, was dx'd with lymphosarcoma 90 days post adoption..............and I knew absolutely nothing about Greyhounds, lymphosarcoma, chemo, pred................nada. My Vet did the research and my GH mentor suggested a consult with Dr. Couto (who answered my email within 24 hours - ) leading to a decision to try the Wisconsin-Madison protocol. We made it half way through the treatment when it was decided that she wasn't tolerating it well enough to continue, so she was started on Pred. She actually lived 5 months post dx, the last 3 months on pred. Other than waking me up in the middle of the night to go out, the pred was actually a blessing; the last 3 months were actually quality months. At the first sign of trouble, we let her go.

 

Like I said, I guess we were "lucky".

 

Having said that, would I do it again? For lymphosarcoma - no. For lymphoma, yes, as long as it was under the guidance of an oncologist. JMHO

[JJNg]

Lymphosarcoma and lymphoma are just different names for the same thing...

[inugrey]

I just want to chime in to give you my experience with pred. We did not choose chemo and went the pred route and he was on 60mg a day. He lost all of his muscle mass and drank and peed a lot. But at the end of the day you could tell he felt so much better and we just dealt with the clean up associated with his illness. We also let him go the minute he showed discomfort. I would go this route again.

 

His lymphoma was in his digestive system, so I guess it's not really the same thing you are going through, I just felt like you needed to hear from someone who used pred and doesn't think it's the worst thing ever, especially when dealing with end of life/quality of life decisions.

[Guest johnmclaren]

Hello, I am sorry to hear that your pups are ill. I will suggest you to meet the Vet as soon as possible.

 

http://www.compoundiapharmacy.com/

[PatricksMom]

I am so sorry, so sorry. Lymphoma is a truly horrible disease and it moves so quickly.

 

We put Murphy on predisone (I believe 25 mg) as well as Tramadol just in case he was in pain and a medication for liver support because his liver was affected (I have no idea if that helped). We had almost 4 good weeks with him, spoiled him rotten, and were able to let him go at home, before he became unhappy. The only side effects from the prednisone at that dose were increased appetite (solved by feeding him 4 meals a day + treats) and increased drinking and urination--nothing that seemed to bother him.

 

These decisions are so difficult and personal and unique to every dog, but I'm pretty sure if I had to do it again I'd do the same thing. But I don't know for sure, if it had been Patrick, who loved rather than feared the vet, I might have done chemo.

[queenwinniesmom]

Thinking about you and Romie, sending good thoughts, and knowing you will make the right decision for your precious boy.

[Guest mirinaaronsmom]

Mojo was diagnosed with lymphoma less than a year after adopting him. Since he had given his best for racing and only retired because he got too old, I felt he deserved a longer retirement, so I chose to go the chemo route. OSU provided the injectible drugs and he handled the whole thing very well. He loved going to the vet and they loved having him there on his chemo days. I had him with me for a year and a half post-diagnosis. When the lymphoma reared its ugly head again, I put him on prednisone just until I could ready myself for letting him go. I just couldn't put him through the discomfort and weight loss again. I can't say if I would do it again because I'm guessing each dog and situation is different. The only negative to the whole experience was that it wasn't more time in remission. I don't envy you having to go through this and I wish you the best. Whatever you decide, it will be the right thing for you and Romie.

[EllenEveBaz]

Aspirate report confirmed lymphoma, and I decided to let him go. He was not a dog who could bear any discomfort, and I wouldn't have been able to bear that.

 

Many thanks to all of you who posted your good wishes or experiences. They were all appreciated, more than I can say. I've posted about my sweet dark prince in Remembrances.

[robinw]

[PatricksMom]

I'm so so sorry.

[MP_the4pack]

[LBass]

God Speed, Romie