Sneezy

Cancer is no longer a word we use daily and it’s hard to remember how scary it was when we started this journey. If you are looking for current information on canine nasal chondrosarcoma, there is an abundance of information online.

For general information from professional sites, try the del.icio.us links on the right hand side of this blog. Personal experiences abound; my favorite is  Lindsey Lou who shares the story of her dog Honey. The February and March 2007 entries include photos of Honey during various stages of treatment.

Yahoo groups has a community dedicated to all types of canine cancer. It’s a very supportive and active place.

Sophie continues to do quite well and shows very few signs of her cancer experience 18 months ago. In fact, she still hasn’t developed cataracts, which was the one side effect we expected to see by now. At ten years old, Sophie still looks and acts like a much younger dog.

The one daily reminder of her ordeal is that she suffers several bouts of sneezing every day. Anytime she wakes up from an extended nap, she sneezes repeatedly for several minutes.

Since we don’t have much to report, I don’t update this blog very often but I do read the comments. Leave a note if I can be of assistance.

Best of luck to you and your dog.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Location is everything

We met with the vet this week. First, the tech took out the staples from the area where the skin tag was removed two weeks ago. (An aside: those staples were really cool! She pressed in the middle and the ends came right out.)

 

Chondrosarcoma

We have a diagnosis: stage 2 chondosarcoma. Basically, it’s a type of cancer that forms in cartilage. It can be found in the “flat bones”, such as ribs or skulls.

The good news is that it doesn’t often metastasize and it doesn’t grow as fast as some other nasal cancers. Bad news is that it doesn’t respond well to radiation. We’re meeting with the vet next week to discuss our options.