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.

 

The Day After

On Wednesday, we anxiously waited for a call from the vet. Finally, we were allowed to meet with the surgeon and pick up Sophie. I woke up with a headache from all the crying the night before; and when we entered the waiting room, I started sobbing all over again. I was exhausted by the time we were shown to an exam room.

 

Dogs don’t get bloody noses

Thinking it was foxtail, we made a beeline to the vet. Since the only symptom was full-body sneezing, we were sent back home. Sophie didn’t have any nasal discharge and had not been scratching or pawing her nose, so the vet thought that foxtail was unlikely.

The next day, however, Sophie had an impressively bloody nose. It’s possible that she simply sneezed so hard that she knocked her nose against the floor and made it bleed. However, most of the blood was on the bed….looks like she was sleeping when a full-body sneeze triggered a serious rush of nose blood.

So back to the vet. This time we got a referral to a veterinary surgeon.

 

First symptoms

A dog’s sneeze is almost always funny. When a dog is going to sneeze, he gets a look in his eye and a tilt to the head meaning “stand back…..” I invariably congratulate Sophie on an excellent sneeze because it seems like such an accomplishment.

If a classic dog sneeze is funny, Sophie’s sneezes last week were hilarious. They would start at the tip of her nose and run through her body and escape out her tail. The sneeze would shake her whole body and she’d look a little tired afterwards. It was quite a spectacle.

I was describing these new sneezes to a co-worker who did not laugh along with me. Instead, she suggested that Sophie might have a foxtail in her nose. Foxtail is a nasty grass top that can get into a dog’s nose and work its way into its lungs.

Now, I’m wishing it was something simple like foxtail.