Luna had her first dose of Tanovea today.
She is WIPED OUT.
Next dose is in three weeks, five doses total if she does well.
Good night Luna. Sweet dreams sweet girl.
Viewing entries tagged
lymphoma
Luna had a follow up ultrasound and spleen and liver biopsy with Dr. Clemans last week. The cancer is back. The lymphoma is in her spleen and now her liver too. The chemotherapy was not working.
We had a decision to make, and it took us almost a full week to make it.
Do we keep going?
We looked at our goofy, happy, playful, sassy dog and decided YES, we will keep going.
Are we crazy? YES.
Are we right? I DUNNO.
But we are comfortable with our decision.
Next - five IV injections of a fairly new cancer fighting medication called Tanovea. One injection every three weeks. If it does not work or Luna feels like crap, we will be done. Done done. This is it. But this could give us several more months with Luna. And for us, that is the best news we could hope for.
In the words of the great Dr. Sue, Cancer Vet, ”Already a statistics buster. Kick butt Luna!”
And so she shall.
It is difficult to write about Luna right now because lately we have all been a little bit apprehensive.
But you have been with us through it all, and I don’t want you to miss this chapter just because it is a scary one.
Luna is still the dorky, goofy, fun dog she has always been. Right now she is demanding canned food from Russ. (Update: He caved.)
In December, Dr. Krapfl did an abdominal ultrasound on Luna and found irregularities in her spleen. He did a recheck ultrasound in January, and her spleen was even more abnormal. We did blood work, including a clotting profile (tests to make sure Luna is able to stop bleeding in a normal amount of time), to assure the next procedure would be as safe as possible.
Dr. Clemans did an aspirate (small sampling of cells) of her spleen.
The cancer is back.
Luna doesn’t know. Please don’t tell her!
We restarted chemotherapy last Wednesday. Her next dose is tomorrow.
Luna is also on Lasix.
“Why Lasix?” I asked Julie at VCA MidWest Vet. “I don’t know,” she said. “I will find out.”
The purpose of the Lasix is to prevent hemorrhagic cystitis - bleeding into the urinary bladder. It is new since we did chemotherapy last time, and Dr. Clemans has added it to her protocol.
I hung up with Julie and yelled at Russ, “Dr. Clemans is practicing cutting edge medicine! CUTTING EDGE!” After a few minutes, he said, “so…cutting edge, huh?” and went back to reading. He was, I am sure, quietly impressed.
Between Dr. Krapfl and Kelly and everyone at Gentle Doctor and Dr. Clemans and her team at VCA MidWest Vet, and all of you praying and cheering her on…this little dog has a great team surrounding her. Beautiful things are bound to continue happening.
Optimism is getting your terminal dog a Christmas collar in August. Someone has to be the outlier right? Why not Luna?
She is doing great by the way! Two more chemotherapy sessions!
Luna "choosing" a new collar and leash - she wants them all! She was a hit at the Farmers' Market with her ears and tail!
Favorite client. Favorite dog.
DAYS after diagnosis, we are gathered to say good bye. Dad had opted to treat with steroids, and the dog's poor body did not handle them well.
We loved this guy and his dog. Kelly has a Boxer dog. This was a seven (seven!) year old Boxer dog. I have a three year old dog with lymphoma. This dog had lymphoma. Some euthanasias are even harder than others.
Why have I been given eight good months so far and this guy two good days? Why are they both so young? Why do I have to be punched RIGHT in the heart? Why did this guy? He did adopt a tiny Boxer puppy, which is just asking for heartache. Who am I kidding? I adopted a goofy mutt puppy, and that too is just asking for heartache...eventually.
"I will be back with a puppy, but it won't be soon," he said.
"I know," I said.
I walked Joy and Luna up to Beals Elementary. I walked until I was exhausted, then much to Luna's annoyance, picked her up for the walk home. She was exhausted too. Joy happily panted along next to us.
I have no more answers than I did when we started our walk, but I am tired enough that it is difficult to think, and that is good. I try to get into Joy's state of mind, and step back into the house. I need to call it a night early. Tomorrow is another busy day.
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 18 - An Update in Real Time
Abby and Luna
Luna has now been through four sets of chemotherapy, each about a week apart. The first two were IV treatments at VCA MidWest Vet, the third was at oral medication at home and the fourth was IV treatment again.
Tomorrow will be Luna's next IV treatment, pending good news from her complete blood count and urinalysis today. (Thank you Kelly! For everything.)
Luna at Gentle Doctor after her weekly blood work
Luna does not mind her half day stays with me on Mondays, and she loves her visits with Dr. Clemans and Brandy and the team on Tuesdays. We have gotten into a routine, and none of it seems to be scary to her.
Luna waiting her turn at VCA MidWest Vet
She had a rough couple days last week where she would not eat, but is now eating chicken and rice well. We may have been had in typical Chihuahua fashion, but she really did seem nauseous, and now is all better. We will either wean her back onto dog food or transform her chicken and rice into a balanced diet using the website my friend Dr. Kanne showed me, Balanceit.com.
Luna! That is my blanket from Aunt Pat!
So far, so good you guys! Luna is feeling great and acting onery, just what we hoped! It has been warm enough for evening walks again, so Russ and I have been walking Joy and Luna, sometimes around the block, and sometimes to the elementary school to play. We have all been loving that time, and the whole family has loved our time with Luna.
I will stay on top of getting updates to you! Hopefully they will all be this normal!
Thank you all for all of your support. We love you so much!
Russ-me-Amanda-Abby-Joy-Luna
ONE YEAR AGO
TWO YEARS AGO
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 14 - In Which We Receive Even More Bad News and Fast Track Christmas
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Today Kelly called for Luna’s flow cytometry results. Flow cytometry is a way to further differentiate cells, in this case, Luna’s blood cells.
Luna has stage 5 (the worst - involving the bone marrow) cancer, B-cell (better than T-cell) lymphoma.
I do not know what to make of this. I strongly suspect this is more bad news than good. Someone much smarter than me (that is, internal medicine specialist Dr. Clemans) will be have to interpret these results.
It will not change treatment, but more information is usually better than less.
On an equally important note, I really want to give Joy and Luna the rest of their Christmas gifts early.
ONE YEAR AGO
TWO YEARS AGO
Luna Lovegood - Chapter 8 - In Which the Veterinarian Takes Her Sick Dog to the Veterinarian
Friday, December 15, 2017
We met with Brandy the veterinary technician and Dr. Clemans, one of the internal medicine specialists at VCA MidWest Vet. They are both so nice. We were completely tidal waved with information. Even knowing all the big words, I had a difficult time keeping up with how they went together and what they meant for Luna.
Luna has at least stage four (of five) lymphoma, and possibly stage five. The younger the dog, the more aggressive the lymphoma tends to be. Although I read in the Five Minute Veterinary Consult that lymphoma is "rarely cured," it turns out the authors were just trying to say gently that it is never cured. This is a fatal disease. Always. I knew that. I had to be told that by an expert.
The CHOP chemotherapy protocol for lymphoma is twenty-five weeks long.
Dr. Clemans is not certain Luna will live through the twenty five weeks.
She handed me a box of Kleenex and continued. I tried in vain to pull it together. I have not been okay since hearing this.
Luna will have a complete blood count (blood work) done at Gentle Doctor every Monday. We will purchase the IV chemotherapy medications at Kohll's pharmacy once a week (no veterinarian discount!) and drop Luna off at VCA MidWest Vet every Tuesday. There she will be evaluated by Dr. Clemans. Brandy and the rest of the team will administer chemotherapy. She will come home in the afternoon. Luna loves Brandy and Dr. Clemans, so this once a week day long stay should not be a problem.
Chemotherapy for dogs tends to be much gentler than chemotherapy for humans. Luna will not lose her hair, and will probably not develop gastrointestinal signs or even be tired or mopey.
Luna took in all the information like a champ!
I had a heads up from two kind client families about the costs associated with chemotherapy for lymphoma. Brandy went over an itemized estimate with us. The price is steep but the potential benefits are priceless and worth the investment for us. Many clients have chosen not to go through chemotherapy with their pets, which was the absolute right decision for them too. Our goal is to allow Luna as much high quality time as we possibly can. We will quit when she is no longer loving life. I have not wrapped my head around that yet though.
ONE YEAR AGO
IN LOVING MEMORY OF SNOOKIE JONES
TWO YEARS AGO
SOMETIMES GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS, AND OTHER TIMES HE SENDS A CORGI
Thank you guys. For everything. I love you.
“I am sorry to say,” the report started.
Luna is three years old.