"the train must come to a complete stop before it can start moving backwards." (or something like that...)L said this to me referring to chilli's course of treatment. he hasn't gotten any worse (good news) but there were no visible changes on his x-rays (bad news.)
"If the medicine tastes bad it must be working." (or something like that...) J was referring to the chemo and all the terrible side effects chilli has suffered through. if this is true then our little pug is well on his way to being cured. yeah. right.
words of wisdom from my family of medical professionals.
chilli had his third chemo yesterday. so far there have been no obvious side effects (touch wood.) arrogant vet is trying a different medication this time with the hope of a slight reduction in tumor size. as with any large, slow growing tumor even a tiny bit of shrinkage would be awesome.
it amazes me how many people have a vet oncologist in their life. now that I have a dog with cancer (plural) I'm involved in a whole new world. pets with a terminal illness. arrogant vet's practice is a busy operation. sadly, there are a lot of us out there.
"my pug has liver lymphoma and an atypical thymoma in his chest. what kind of disease does your basset hound have?"
"bone cancer."
"I'm sorry."
it's like infertility. I'm always shocked at how many infertiles I see in the waiting room at cornell. sometimes every seat is taken. again, sadly, there are a lot of us out there.
"I am a poor responder with old eggs and I have a husband with a low count and low morph. what's your deal?"
"PCOS and six failed IUIs."
"I'm sorry."
canine oncology and reproductive endocrinology. my hobbies. my life.
5 comments:
I'm cheering for you and chili
Wow. Standing still. Hmm. I'm normally a "if I'm not moving forward, I'm falling backwards" kinda girl, but in this case.. I'm taking hope in standing still.
Thank goodness you are on a course to "cure" both of them.
I'm new to your blog and slowly trying to make my way through the posts to get the scoop before erroneously commenting. But, I too am an animal lover sans kiddos. I just wanted to say I'm so sorry about your Chili pup. My sweet Sir Lancelot won a battle with oral mela.noma and then lost the battle with an undetermined abdominal/lung can.cer that *probably* was mesoth.elio.ma. (I have never smoked and he was my baby since I was 12. Poor guy got 2 rare cancers!) He was 14 1/2 at the time and I said it was enough. Spoiled him as much as possible the last two weeks and then let him go when it was time. It is heart wrenching to have your "baby" facing ca.ncer when they can't tell you how they feel or not knowing if all the hoops you jump through and money you pour into it will help their quality of life. Sounds like you are doing all you can for your pup. You are definately right in that there are many critter cancer patients out there. I'm so sorry you have this on top of everything else. :(
ps- Totally unsolicited info, so I'm sorry if this offends you in any way. For the mel.ano.ma I did exhaustive research. Pretty much hopeless so we did the surgery and I did everything to make him healthy as possible. I also added a mixture of a huge glop of cottage cheese (full fat), 2 tbs flax seed oil, and a generous sprinkling of ground flax seed to his diet 3x a day. For the better part of a year. He lived 2 1/2y longer than what was predicted. Can't say why, but it's not something that will hurt if the calories stay in balance. (I'll admit to trying it too, but I didn't find it too tasty!). I also consulted a homeo.pathic vet who had excellent ideas to try and was willing to get him in within 2d to start treatment, but I was a college student on my 2nd degree and already 20k in debt. I just couldn't afford it. :( I don't know if that's something you would be able to look into. My heart just breaks for you and all you are going through. :(
Post a Comment