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.
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.
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.
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.
