Almost half way through… my thoughts on chemo

Spencer had his 7th dose of chemo on Thursday.  He is having 15 doses total.  So we are almost half way there.

First, a little back info about what he is doing for chemo for those who haven’t read our story…  Spencer had a grade 3 fibrosarcoma on his front, left shoulder.  His leg and scapula were amputated.  his lymph nodes came back clean.  At last x-ray nothing had shown up on his lungs yet.  But with it being a grade 3, our oncologist said we have to assume that it had spread at the cellular level.  Prognosis without amputation or chemo was that Spencer would have a month or less from when we first saw the tumor (August 17).  We did the amputation exactly 1 week after first seeing the tumor.  Chemo was a harder decision.  In the end we decided to go with it.  At first Spencer was going to do 4 three week cycles.  It would be adria and cytoxan on week 1, then vincristine on weeks 2 and 3, repeat for a total of 12 weeks.  Generally 15 weeks are recommended; but adria can cause cardio myopathy and dobermans are already at a very high risk for cardio myopathy.  So at that the risk to benefit flips going beyond those 4 doses of adria that he would get with the 12 weeks.  Spencer had 1 does of the adria and cytoxan, then a week with the vincristine.  And then he was staying with my mom while we were out of town and he had some episodes of weakness.  We ended up having a cardio workup done and found that he had decreased heart function.  They don’t think that the adria CAUSED it; but it was certainly not advisable to continue with adria considering the heart problems we now know he has.  So, we had to do something new.  We swapped out the adria/cytoxan for Mitox.  Not as good at fighting his cancer; but the best we can do considering his heart problems.

Ok… now on to my thoughts.  Like I said, the chemo was a much harder decision than the amputation.  While the financial aspect was certainly part of this, it was only a small part of my hesitation.  I knew that if it would likely give him additional QUALITY of life I was in favor of it.  But I was worried about doing it, him feeling awful, and then him still dying.  See, even before the amputation he seemed FINE.  You would never have looked at Spencer and thought, “this is a sick dog”.  KWIM?  But there was that tumor there, big as day, showing that indeed, he was a sick dog.  So then we did the amputation.  Once again, he seems very healthy (minus a leg) and now, there is no huge tumor staring you in the face.  I wanted to believe that he was cured.  But then the oncologist gave his recommendations and they were that without chemo we should expect another tumor to show up within a couple of months.  He explained that with this being such an aggressive cancer that we had to assume it was already spreading.  (I think that I have mentioned before that he said if it had been a grade 1 or 2 tumor, as 90% of fibrosarcomas are, that we could have assumed the amputation was a curative surgery.)  So then I had to really consider the chemo.  And it came down to that if he didn’t react well to it, we could always stop.

So we moved forward.  Then the scare came with his heart and I started thinking, “CRAP!  I went forward with this, and now he is going to die of a heart problem from the chemo!  I messed up!!!”  But that isn’t going to happen.  Yes, his heart is under functioning; but it isn’t life threatening at this point.  We will watch it; but for now we aren’t even medicating.

Overall, Spencer still has a VERY high quality of life.  He slips sometimes.  He has AWFUL gas sometimes.  He has thrown up a few times.  But he still runs around with the kids.  He still wants to hang out with me.  He really hasn’t slowed down at all.  He is happy.  He does not seem sick!

And as I posted about, we are now more than 2 months past first noticing the first tumor.  That tumor grew from nothing noticeable to huge in 2 months or less.  And here we are, more than 2 months post amputation.  7 weeks into chemo, and there is no obvious tumor.

So I was talking to my husband about it.  Who knows if there is a tumor somewhere growing.  But if there is, I’d have to guess that the chemo has slowed it down since we can’t see it.  So, I’m going with either the chemo has killed the cancer off and it isn’t coming back, or it has at least slowed down the tumor growth.  And it has bought Spencer quite a bit of time.  Who knows how much; but I can say that we are 5-7 weeks past the estimate for when he would have needed to be put to sleep had we done nothing, and he is like a healthy, happy dog.  So for me, the chemo, is worth it.  I’m ready to be done with it, not to have to drive across Atlanta once per week for him to get a treatment.  Definitely ready to not be spending all of this money every week.  But it is all worth it.  Because he is kicking ass so far!!

And a funny aside…  Spencer is kenneled when no one is home.  We do this for several reasons, partly because we don’t want him chasing the cat around; but also because we don’t want him sneaking onto the furniture.  The other day our house keeper accidentally left him out of the kennel when she left.  I commented to my husband that Spencer obviously had not gotten on the couch (you would be able to tell), that maybe we could stop kenneling him when we aren’t home.  Then yesterday morning I was sitting in the family room.  I had a headache and it was early morning.  I had the lights off.  I watched Spencer walk over to the area where his bed usually is in that room (it had been temporarily moved), then he looked at the nearby recliner (my favorite chair, it is a nice Lazy Boy, definitely NOT something I want him sitting in), he stepped up on the chair and laid right down.  (Honestly, if I hadn’t seen him do it, I never would have thought he would fit – this isn’t one of those big recliners, it looks like a moderate sized arm chair, and he is a pretty big dog.)  I immediately told him, “no sir!  you get down RIGHT NOW.”  He looked at me like I was crazy and got down.  I have since realized that he had never TRIED to get on the furniture that I knew of, so I have never actually taught him NOT to do it.  I guess I need to get to work on that.

2 Month Ampuversary!

Today was Spencer’s 2 month ampuversary.  Sometimes it seems longer, sometimes it seems like just last week!  Overall, he is doing GREAT!  Especially considering that without the amputation the vet’s best guess was that he would have needed to be put to sleep a month or more ago!  And really, he is kicking butt right now.  For the last week + his back leg has been doing that strange thing that I mentioned in my last post.  I did find a small sore on the inside thigh and wonder if he fell at some point and poked his leg on a stitch or something, and maybe it is just sore?  The sore is healing fine though, so I’m just watching it.  His oncologist did look last Thursday and didn’t see anything.  Who knows what is up?  I sure wish he could just tell me!

Spencer has finished his second 3 week course of chemo.  This was his first 3 week that started with Mitox.  His stomach has had some issues; but I’m not sure if it is chemo related, or diet related.  I have found that if he gets some bread (or pizza crust) that he almost always throws up.  I’m trying to stick hard to his grain free diet and so far since I  started being more strict he hasn’t thrown up at all.  I also find that he has much worse gas if he eats his chicken dog food than he does when eating rabbit.  He is on Natures Instinct, which they are supposed to be able to swap among the different meats.  Maybe chicken just doesn’t sit as well in his stomach?  I’m kicking myself right now for buying chicken at the house and rabbit for at the cabin; because the bag I bought for the house was a BIG bag.  And he can clear a room sometimes after eating!  I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to finish the bag out.  haha

His appetite is great so far.  His fur is sort of growing back; but he definitely still has his shaved spots (one from the amputation, one from the surgery on the other side to remove infected tissue).  I think he is going to have a bald spot on the right side (opposite side of his amputation).  He pulled some of those stitches out and the vet we had to take him to in FL said to just leave them out.  Now the middle of the scar looks much more severe and like it likely won’t grow fur again there.

Attitude wise, he is doing great.  He is starting to be willing to stay outside for a few minutes at a time without me at the house.  At the cabin he still will only go outside if I head out with him, which I’m fine with since that yard isn’t fenced in.  But it is nice that now I can walk him to the deck steps in the morning (must walk him that far) and he will go down and do his business while I get a few things done to get the kids out the door for school.  He is loving all of his squeaky toys.  We went and ran around the field with the kids this weekend and he wore himself out!

This Thursday he goes for his 7th week of chemo – Mitox again.  almost halfway done!!

I don’t know what to think…

I had never seen any of the “weakness episodes” that Spencer had when staying with my mom.  And after what she saw, I watched him like a hawk; but nothing.

Until Friday.  We went down to take pictures of friends for their holiday cards and Spencer went with us since I don’t like to leave him home alone for too long.  he mostly hung out in my car (the temps were good outside, the car stayed about 70 inside).  One time I took him for a walk and it was like he went to turn around, got confused, laid down for a few seconds, stood back up and his back left leg didn’t seem quite normal.  Kind of stiff.  Within a minute he was completely normal and I wasn’t even sure if I just imagined it.

Then on Sunday we were up at the cabin.  The stairs to the top floor come into a small landing.  If you go straight you go out a door.  To the left and you go in the guest bedroom.  To the right gets you into the family room.  I had come down the stairs as Spencer walked towards me into the landing area.  I continued walking to the family room.  I heard him slip, then fall, I turned around and he was going up the stairs; but kind of not as stable as normal.  He got to the top, then turned around and came back down, seemingly fine by then.  It seemed like he had decided to turn around in the landing area, slipped, then went up the stairs to turn around up there.  Who knows, maybe when he slipped and fell it hurt a little, resulting in his less than stable climbing of the stairs… I guess it would hurt ME if I fell down.

And since then, nothing.  I have been watching, watching.  But nothing.  And both of these times it wasn’t anything that I was even definite was off.  Just maybe off.  Definitely enough that I’m bringing it up at our weekly appointment on Thursday…

So, keep fingers, toes and paws crossed that this is nothing and Spencer is still fine.

This just hit me!

On October 17 it will have been 2 months since we noticed Spencer’s tumor. Remember that crazy big one that I posted a picture of in one of my first posts? And that thing grew fast. We are certain that nothing was obviously there in June of this year since he went into the vet for limping and no one could find a reason for the limp. I had also checked him over closely and am certain that this thing was not obviously there. So… I’m thinking that went from absolutely not noticeable to huge in 2 months. So I’m hoping that the fact that we are not seeing ANYTHING at this point that maybe, just maybe that means there is nothing to see.

I know, you never can know; but it was just a thought that I have had. I don’t have many pictures of that part of Spencer from earlier in the year; but I do have this one from January and clearly the tumor is not there…

so anyway, this is possibly me grasping at straws; but I sure am hoping that this is all a good indication that the cancer is gone for good…

Done with dose 5 of chemo

that means we are 1/3 of the way done!! So far so good. Spencer had Vincristine today, it was a quick in and out appointment. We met another tripawd today. He is one year post amputation due to osteosarcoma. It is back in his lungs now though, so things aren’t looking too good for him. 🙁 His owners said that they don’t plan to do more chemo or surgery; but are going to do what they can to make the rest of his life as comfortable and quality as possible. For now he seems to be doing great and doesn’t seem to be feeling bad yet.

Sorry, I slacked.

OK, lots of updates.

First, I had a week of not having my “good listening ears” on. I was wrong about Spencer’s new chemo drug. It is actually mitoxantrone, AKA Mitox. With starting this one he will be dropping adriamycin and cytoxin. So now he does Mitox on week one, then Vincristine on weeks 2 and 3. Then back to Mitox and so on. Mitox isn’t quite as good as Adria plus cytoxan; but considering his heart issues it is what we can do. Don’t want to cure the cancer only to give him heart failure! Financially, the Mitox is more than the other 2 drugs combined. And… it looks like there is no generic for it. So, if you find yourself in the same position as us, just be prepared for a little bit of sticker shock.

So Spencer finished his first 3 week cycle – the one he did adria/cytoxin, then vincristine, vincristine. He did his first week of Mitox last week and moves on to another dose of vincristine tomorrow. So far he seems to be handling it fine; but his stomach might be having some issues. He has thrown up twice this week. He still has a big appetite though, so hopefully this won’t get to be more of an issue. I plan to bring it up at our chemo appointment tomorrow.

More of my not listening well… When I heard about the hemangioma I spoke with a tech at our family vet; but not to the actual vet. I don’t know if I just heard “hemangioma” because that is more of what I have dealt with (my youngest daughter has one on her hand, I had one on my shoulder); but I heard wrong. It was a HEMATOMA. So just a spot that isn’t quite healed. They don’t know if the problem is that he always has to roll a little to that side to stand, so he keeps re-injuring the spot or what. Last week they went ahead and drained off all of the fluid and they tried to then kind of bind the wound by wrapping gauze/tape around him. Yeah… that didn’t work so well. he has lost the weight that he needs to lose, so he now has the large chest tapering back that is typical of a doberman. The bandages just kept slipping back on him. I finally gave up and took them off that night. So far a little fluid has built back up; but not much. And the latest culture came back as no infection. Hopefully we are DONE with this issue!

On to the weekend. We did pictures with my dad dressed as Santa for our Christmas cards. Spencer and the kids did great. 🙂 Spencer was excited to get back up to the cabin and had the added bonus of meeting his “cousins”. My brother and sister in law brought their 2 labs up too. Spencer had never met them before; but they all hit it off. My dad ALSO brought his dog – a min pin named Snoopy – yeah… Snoopy doesn’t like Spencer much; but he was fine as long as my dad held him. Overall it was a fun weekend!

Today (Wednesday) I have started trying to push Spencer to go outside some on his own. In the past couple of months he has gotten used to me always going outside with him. Now he seems to think that he can’t go out without me. he gets in the back yard, I walk back in the house and he IMMEDIATELY comes right back in. Hopefully soon he will start to figure out that he is OK in the backyard on his own for a few minutes!

Playing with friends

Not much today. I am hoping to talk to the family vet tomorrow about thoughts on this hemangioma and hopefully the culture will be back. But today was the first day since the biopsy on August 18 that Spencer has gotten to play with his friends (a huge german shepherd and an australian shepherd that live next door to us). He had fun; but did stick around with me more than normal. The dogs did have to get lots of sniffs around his incision sites, like they needed to figure out what had happened. But Spencer seemed to have fun running around and being a dog. 🙂

Ugh. Not sure what to think about this.

Last week they drew “fluid” from Spencer’s incision site where he had the “spider bite”. The incision is completely healed. But there is still fluid in there. When they drew it out the syringe it was blood. They sent that off for a culture and also for a biopsy. The biopsy results came back and showed it was a hemangioma (basically a blood filled mole). The vet wants to wait for the culture results before we decide what to do. UGH! I don’t think he can do another surgery right now because the chemo slows healing so much. But who knows. I don’t even understand how something like this can come up. Did it maybe cause the problem in the first place? But if so, they removed a LOT of tissue with the surgery to remove the necrotic tissue, so how would this thing still be there.

I have no clue what to think. I’ll update when I know more.

Wait, I thought he was supposed to be sick.

I tell you what.  If *I* had everything going on that Spencer has going on I would be lounging in bed.  Reading books.  Sleeping.  Maybe talking on the phone.  Napping.  Watching some TV.

How is it that with EVERYTHING this dog has going against him, he still has boundless energy??  Today we went for a few walks around the lake, runs around the nearby field and a walk in the woods.  Spencer seemed to love every minute of it.  He is a bit wiped out tonight; but who can blame him?!

You know what?  A day like today tells me that we are doing the right things for him.  Without the amputation and/or chemo Spencer very likely would not be with us now.  And look at him, still enjoying every minute of life.  I sure hope that he beats this; but even if he doesn’t, he sure is enjoying the time he has!

So, a few pictures from today:

Lounging, looking at the lake.

 

running in the field.

 

Hugs with the kids.

 

Starting the walk back.

 

Running with the girls.

Just a good day.

Nothing exciting to post. Spencer has had a great day though. His incision is looking much better. He has been very active today, jumping around, playing with his squeaky toy. then running around the yard for a bit. Yesterday he got the all clear to play with his friends again, so now we just need for them to come out to play!

Yesterday he got his stitches out. There was still some fluid in the incision site so the vet drained that off. She was a little concerned that there was still so much fluid (a syringe full). It is very possible that this is a result of the chemo slowing down his healing. But to play it safe they sent some off to have another culture done and some more off to have it basically biopsied. That should be back by Monday (the biopsy, the culture takes like 10 days).

Spencer was very excited to get to the cabin. It was dark by the time we got up here. I’m sure he will have lots of fun going out exploring in the day light tomorrow. 🙂

For those who have been through amputations – question… how long until you let them go out (in a fenced yard) by themselves? Before all of this happened Spencer generally went out in our back yard on his own for standard potty breaks. But since he came home from the biopsy I haven’t let him go out on his own at all. I always go outside with him. He now only goes a few feet away, then looks back to make sure I’m coming too. I was just wondering today how long I should keep always going out with him. I assume at some point I can feel safe letting him out on his own… right?

Oh, and I think that we came up with a name for the cabin. We often call him “Spence”, we are thinking about naming the cabin “3Pence Lodge” (to state the hopefully obvious… combining him being a tripaw and his nick name).