Bonus time.

It’s been nine months since our dog, Sophie, was diagnosed with canine chondrosarcoma. She’s doing great and I’m glad to see through the comments that folks have found this modest blog helpful. I hope you’ll consider creating your own blog and add to the resources available online. If you do, please send the link via the comments on this page.

A quick recap of our experience:

July 2007: Sophie begins to sneeze in a bizarre manner. Really, you can’t confuse this sneeze with a normal, everyday dog sneeze. Something is clearly wrong.

August 2007: Surgery to “debulk” the tumor; biopsy indicates chondrosarcoma, a cancer of the cartilage. The tumor has almost filled the right nostril, but has barely touched the left one; thankfully, the tumor has not pushed into her brain or eye.

September 2007: Full radiation– 21 sessions– each lasting 30 minutes. Sophie tolerates everything quite well. She does not seem bothered by the anesthesia and her side effects are very mild. Mostly, she suffers from fatigue, some hair loss, bleeding gums, sores on her mouth and lots of discharge from her nose and eyes.

January 2008: The sneezing returns, so Sophie has a CT scan. No cancer yet, but there is extensive scarring from the radiation.

April 2008: Sophie turns 10 years old. The hair she lost during radiation has grown in white. She has lots of energy and a hearty appetite.

Future: Sophie’s right eye will develop cataracts because it was in the radiation field. The cancer will return someday, but we hope it’s not for a very long time.

We know that we got very lucky, and we’re making the most of this extra time. I hope that you, too, are able to gain some quality time with your pet. Thanks for reading.

 

The new normal

Sophie went back to the vet this week. She had starting sneezing those abnormal sneezes again. They’re like potato chips– you can’t have just one; Sophie can easily sneeze 12 times in a row. I get tired just watching.

We had started to worry that the cancer had returned. There was the sneezing, an almost constant dripping from her nose and then an afternoon when she seemed off-balance and maybe dizzy.

The scan came back with good news; there’s lots of scar tissue in her nasal cavity but no signs of the cancer. The radiation has damaged the cartilage in her nose, making her less resistant to colds and other irritations. As the oncologist pointed out, this is the new normal. She can prescribe antibiotics if Sophie is truly sick but her energy level and appetite indicate that she feels fine.

There was just one worry: Sophie had a seizure before the scan. It’s possible that it was a reaction to the anesthesia but we can’t be sure.

I don’t know if you can see from the photograph, but the hair that she lost after radiation has grown back– and it’s white!

 

Moving past cancer

Sophie’s cancer has dominated our lives for the last two months. It was early August that her unusual sneezing sent us on this roller coaster– surgery, diagnosis, radiation, worrying.

We don’t know how much cancer remains– but we know it’s there. Sophie, however, only knows that she’s feeling better than ever. She’s got energy to spare– today, she practically dragged me all the way to the pet store. I’m just starting to realize how long she must have been affected by the tumor before we treated it. We had just assumed that her decreased endurance was due to age.

Cancer will eventually get our dog but for right now, life is really good.

I started this blog because I didn’t find much that captured the experience of having a dog with cancer. The blog stats show me that, sadly, lots of other people are looking for that kind of information, too. I hope this little blog provides some useful tidbits and a bit of hope.

Good luck to you and your pet.

 

Chatterbox

An unexpected side effect started this week. In the middle of the night, Sophie’s jaw started to tremble uncontrollably and make her teeth click violently together. This little tremor would continue for a minute, stop for a while and then start again. We were all scared and exhausted by sunrise.

The vet called this phenomenon “chattering”– it could indicate jaw pain (best case) or small seizures (worst case.) I read somewhere that it could be a side effect of the prednisone, but didn’t find anything authoritative to support that.

The chattering hasn’t stopped but it’s a lot less frequent. We’re hopeful that it’s a temporary side effect and will eventually pass.

Otherwise, Sophie is in good shape. Her eye is drippy but not disturbingly so; she has more saliva but I wouldn’t call it excessive. She’s been tired lately but I attribute that to all that late night chattering. For a dog who got a whole month of radiation, she’s holding up pretty well.

postscript: chattering lessened and then stopped shortly around the same time we stopped using prednisone. 

 

20 + 1

We finished our 20th radiation session on Friday and met with the vet for our final consultation. She has a surprise for us: she recommended that Sophie have one more session of radiation.

Her reasoning is that they try to give the highest dose of radiation that a dog can handle without the side effects becoming unbearable. That is, the long-term gains have to be balanced against the quality of life right now. On average, that’s usually 15-20 doses of radiation.

Sophie has not suffered any significant side effects (except bad breath but that probably doesn’t count)  so she can easily tolerate one more session without problem. Our last, last, last appointment is Monday.

It’s one last chance for us to read magazines and work on that puzzle in the waiting room. And one more opportunity to shrink that tumor.

 

first side effect

We’re in our final week of radiation treatment for nasal chondrosarcoma and there’s one noticeable side effect: BAD BREATH!

Eating a whole litter box bad. Smell it ten feet away bad. Wake you up in the middle of the night bad. Even Sophie seems to notice and be distressed by it.

There are many reasons for this. We’ve stopped brushing her teeth to cut down on the risk of gum infection. Also, the vet feeds her canned food after radiation each day. But most of all, I blame the prednisone. One of the side effects of the drug is increased appetite; the vet warned that dogs will do bad things to get more food, like go through the trash or jump up on counters, even if they’ve never done it before.

Sophie’s bad behavior involves horses. She has been sneaking under the fence to eat the horse manure in the green space behind our house. We’ve lived here four years and she’s never shown the slightest interest in horses but now they produce such a delicious delicacy that she simply can’t resist.

I can’t wait until the prednisone bottle is empty.

 

Now for the hard part

We are officially more than half done with radiation. Sophie has not exhibited a single side effect– no jaw pain, no blistering, no hair loss. So far, it’s been a pretty easy experience.

As I took her for her 11th treatment on Monday, I thought “okay, the easy part is over.” We’ve been warned that she’ll start developing a sunburn on her face soon, and it will continue for a couple weeks after the last treatment.

So while we have completed half of the radiation, we know that we’re not half way through the radiation experience.

Poor Sophie.

 

Tumors in Domestic Animals

Title: Tumors in Domestic Animals, 4th ed.
Editor: Donald J. Meuten

If you want to understand your animal’s cancer on a cellular level, this might be the book for you. Filled with black and white images, Tumors in Domestic Animals provides photos, radiographs, cross-sections, and pictures of cancer cells. This textbook is intended for veterinary pathologists, so it may be of limited use once you’ve received a diagnosis. But if you’re curious about what that tumor really looks like under the skin, this book will oblige you in detail.

 

5 fractions down… 15 to go

Sophie completed her first week of radiation with flying colors. The hardest part has been the daily fast– why bother getting out of bed if there’s no breakfast?

Sophie truly dislikes going to the vet. This is how the week started:
Day 1: Sophie refuses to go into the exam room
Day 2: Sophie refuses to enter clinic
Day 3: Sophie refuses to leave car

I was really worried! But on Thursday, we were back to Day 1 status. I think she’s got the hang of it now.

 

Radiation: Day One

We spent a glorious weekend at the beach, trying to forget that Monday would bring the first day of radiation for Sophie’s nasal tumor. No food or water was allowed for eight hours prior to treatment, so I fed her at 5 AM and went back to bed (normal breakfast is at 7ish.)