Lymphoma

[cornell]

Have you had experience with Lymphoma?

We are suddenly dealing with a case of Nodular Lymphoma and given a few of weeks survival without treatment.

We are considering Madison-Wisconsin chemo.

Did you opt for chemo?

Were there any side effects?

How long did it extend your fur child's life?

Did you try an alternative approaches? Did you try the lymphoma herbal remedies?

This is such a difficult decision to make considering that his only symptoms are the enlarged lymph nodes in his neck otherwise he seems to be doing fine.

Affectionate pats to all:)

[becky thatcher]

I can only say that our dog was given 3 months to live with amputation and no chemo for an Osteosacoma. (stats 90 % dead in three months with amp and no chemo)

We did chemo after the amputation and she is still alive almost two years later.

Go for the chemo. I know it is $$$$$$$$$$$$ but that is what credit cards are for.

If I had cancer I would not go for any herbal treatment myself.

Just my opinion here

[piper]

Have you had experience with Lymphoma?

We are suddenly dealing with a case of Nodular Lymphoma and given a few of weeks survival without treatment.

We are considering Madison-Wisconsin chemo.

Did you opt for chemo?

Were there any side effects?

How long did it extend your fur child's life?

Did you try an alternative approaches? Did you try the lymphoma herbal remedies?

We went through lymphosarcoma with 1 of our border collies. We opted not to use chemo as he was 13 years old and long discussions with our much trusted vet were that it was not the right choice for him due to age and other issues. Instead we put him on cortisone. We were told a few weeks without cortisone and 1 to 2 months with cortisone, we got about the 2 months.

I know of 2 other people that used chemo on younger dogs (both about 5 years of age) and in 1 situation they gained about 18 months and the other around 2.5 years more.

It is an awful decision to have to go through and a horrible horrible disease. I felt comfortable saying no for Ricky but had he been younger and fighting fit I do not know which way I would have gone - I would most likely have given chemo a try regardless of the cost.

Good luck with your decision and s for you and your pup. Whatever you decide will be the right decision for you and your dog and your circumstances, no matter what other people say.

[dancinbcs]

I have lost an old dog to Lymphoma, that had survived a mast cell tumour 3 years previously with Chinese Medicine. When he got the Lymphoma he was too old and the cancer too fast for us to do anything about it. I lost him within three weeks.

I have two friends that have opted for chemo for Lymphoma. Dog 1 had $30000 in chemo and treatments that only bought them 18 months, much of which the dog was very ill. Dog 2 had $8000 in chemo which put her into remission but she went into kidney failure from the chemo and died within about 9 months. She also was quite ill during the chemo. Both owners have told me that they would never consider putting a dog through chemo for Lymphoma again.

Personally I have seen a lot of success treating various cancers, in both humans and dogs, using chinese medicine, but not for Lymphoma. Sadly nothing much seems to work for very long with Lymphoma.

Sorry to not be able to offer anything more hopeful.

[centitout]

I opted for cortisone for Bono,rersearched people that had done chemo,and quite a few of the dogs were sickly,constant vet visits etc.Only a few had relatively few side affects.I would have rather he lived 3 good months than 12 crappy ones where he was sick all the time.

As soon as it started to spread at 3 mths ,he was let go peacefully before he was too sick.

All the cortisone did was make him eat more,pee more but it did reduce the nodules in his throat right down so there was no pressure when he was breathing.

[becky thatcher]

I have lost an old dog to Lymphoma, that had survived a mast cell tumour 3 years previously with Chinese Medicine. When he got the Lymphoma he was too old and the cancer too fast for us to do anything about it. I lost him within three weeks.

I have two friends that have opted for chemo for Lymphoma. Dog 1 had $30000 in chemo and treatments that only bought them 18 months, much of which the dog was very ill. Dog 2 had $8000 in chemo which put her into remission but she went into kidney failure from the chemo and died within about 9 months. She also was quite ill during the chemo. Both owners have told me that they would never consider putting a dog through chemo for Lymphoma again.

Personally I have seen a lot of success treating various cancers, in both humans and dogs, using chinese medicine, but not for Lymphoma. Sadly nothing much seems to work for very long with Lymphoma.

Sorry to not be able to offer anything more hopeful.

Wow! Never heard of it costing that much.

Dogs generally tolerate chemo very well, is what our Vet Oncologist told us. In our case that was true.

Edited February 28, 2010 by becky thatcher

[cornell]

Thanks for your thoughts:)

We are looking at $4,000 if we went ahead with chemo.

Given his age, other health complications and the trauma involved we have decided to forgo chemo.

We refuse to abandon him so now we are on the hunt for other gentler yet powerful alternatives.

Please keep your thoughts and experiences coming

[dancinbcs]

I have lost an old dog to Lymphoma, that had survived a mast cell tumour 3 years previously with Chinese Medicine. When he got the Lymphoma he was too old and the cancer too fast for us to do anything about it. I lost him within three weeks.

I have two friends that have opted for chemo for Lymphoma. Dog 1 had $30000 in chemo and treatments that only bought them 18 months, much of which the dog was very ill. Dog 2 had $8000 in chemo which put her into remission but she went into kidney failure from the chemo and died within about 9 months. She also was quite ill during the chemo. Both owners have told me that they would never consider putting a dog through chemo for Lymphoma again.

Personally I have seen a lot of success treating various cancers, in both humans and dogs, using chinese medicine, but not for Lymphoma. Sadly nothing much seems to work for very long with Lymphoma.

Sorry to not be able to offer anything more hopeful.

Wow! Never heard of it costing that much.

Dogs generally tolerate chemo very well, is what our Vet Oncologist told us. In our case that was true.

The treatments for Lymphoma are very different to those for other cancers like osteosarcoma. Dogs often do tolerate chemo well, except when it is for Lymphoma. For the dog mentioned above the $30000 total was for lots of ongoing treatments including chemo and surgery. The total cost was never mentioned at the start with each treatment adding a few thousand her and there until the owner finally totalled it all up once he was gone.

[piper]

The treatments for Lymphoma are very different to those for other cancers like osteosarcoma. Dogs often do tolerate chemo well, except when it is for Lymphoma. For the dog mentioned above the $30000 total was for lots of ongoing treatments including chemo and surgery. The total cost was never mentioned at the start with each treatment adding a few thousand her and there until the owner finally totalled it all up once he was gone.

And in the case of this dog there were several relapses where he had been declared in remission and then the process started again. He endured large amounts of chemo, I think in the 18 months from diagnosis there were probably only 3 to 4 months all up where he was in remission and not on some treatment regime or another.

[dogbesotted]

check out here: the canine cancer group at yahoo.. heaps of experience and help there.

[email protected]

H

[Cockerlover]

My Thoughts r with u ,

I personaly would NOTconsider chemo ,having seen what a pup of mine went through ,he was only in remission for 3 months ,Extremly sick with side effects of chemo ,his owner was in debt for thousands & eventually he was given his wings b4 reaching 18mnths of age .

Each dog is different <some dont have side effects ,but I can only advise on my personal experiances,

[becky thatcher]

Thanks for your thoughts:)

We are looking at $4,000 if we went ahead with chemo.

Given his age, other health complications and the trauma involved we have decided to forgo chemo.

We refuse to abandon him so now we are on the hunt for other gentler yet powerful alternatives.

Please keep your thoughts and experiences coming

Unfortunately, you will have to be super vigilent if you go down that track, there are a lot of charlatans out there for both animal and human cancer.

Believe me, I was where you are when my dog, and a family member were diagnosed.

If you do try Chinese medicine/ homeopath etc, ask them the questions- what were the outcomes for clinical trials, was the selection criteria randomized, what treatment was it trialled against, were all scans done within a month of treatment.

You see my point?

If he were human he would be offered palliative care now if you have decided against the chemo- keep him comfortable for as long as possible.

Don't forget, alternative treatments can be toxic too, with very little science to back them up.