Sophie’s second cancer

Sophie still has no real symptoms or side effects from her bout with canine nasal chondrosarcoma in 2007. She sneezes daily and is otherwise happy.

For the past several months, however, Sophie has seemingly suffered a never-ending urinary tract infection. She goes outside at every opportunity and takes a long time. At our last visit, the vet strongly suggested an ultrasound because she suspected bladder stones.

Sadly, the results were much worse. Sophie likely has transitional cell carcinoma. It’s a nasty, aggressive cancer of the bladder or the urethra. This cancer is completely unrelated to her previous struggle– it’s just her bad luck to get two icky cancers in the space of two years.

The vet has prescribed Piroxicam, which might help slow the tumor, and Misoprostol to offset any digestive problems caused by Piroxicam.

Beyond this palliative prescription, there is no real treatment– one can try surgery or chemotherapy, but the side effects frequently outweigh any additional survival time. We are switching to home-cooked meals that are gentle on her stomach, but aren’t making any other changes in our daily routine.

We had such success with Sophie’s first cancer that it’s hard to accept that we can’t do anything about this second scourge. We have absolutely no idea how much time she has left. Right now, she’s happy and generally healthy, and we’re going to enjoy each other for as long as we can.

 

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.

 

Managing the Canine Cancer Patient

Title: Managing the Canine Cancer Patient: A Practical Guide to Compassionate Care Authors: Gregory K. Ogilivie & Anthony S. Moore, c. 2006

This has been the most informative and readable books that I have found so far on the topic of canine cancer. While the individual cancers are not discussed in depth (e.g. nasal cancers are discussed as a group) the book includes symptoms, diagnostic procedures, treatment options and expected side effects. Color photographs show dogs at various stages of the disease and treatment.

 

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.