| Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 1
| My German Shepherd was diagnosed with Lymphoma last Thursday. He started treatment immediately. He was very near death that evening. He currently is going through Chemotherapy and on Pednisone which I understand to be quite the misleading wonder drug.
The story...
I noticed lumps under his jaw maybe a couple of months ago, as is apparently common, I figured I just never noticed them before. The day before Thanksgiving he had loose stools, not an uncommon occurrence for Rocky especially since there was a lot of activity in the neighborhood, the weather is changing and well, he's neurotic and thinks too much, he's a German Shepherd, which is kind of like having a retarded toddler stuck in a dog body. Anyway he gets stressed when things are too unusual and diarrhea is a common side effect of that, I keep Azulfioine around for this reason. More stubborn than usual it lasted several days despite the medication, but eventually passed.
A couple of days later I came home from work to find food left in his bowl, which has never happened. For the next few days he ate his usual amount but not his usual all at once pace, it became an all day event. Oh and he was losing weight pretty noticeably. This was followed by a gagging cough that lasted 2 days, but again he got over it. Understand I live in doggy Disneyland, I am a block from the largest dog park in Los Angeles, an entire canyon dedicated to canine recreation. The idea that he picked up something from the hundreds of dogs that traipse through this neighborhood daily is fairly likely, I figured canine influenza.
Two weeks into this started a stuffy nose, followed the next day by horrible swelling in the neck. He saw the vet the next day. Rocky started his life in Florida and the vet suspected maybe he'd been carrying Ehrlichia, he also ran tests for just about everything else, took X-rays, gave him steroid shots and antibiotics. That night was Rocky's first brush with mortality, he was in horrible condition that night, throwing up food, water, diarrhea, listless, suffering and swollen. The next day the transformation was amazing, you could almost literally watch the swelling go down. The vet had given me enough antibiotics for a 5 day course (1000 mg Amoxicillian, 3 times a day, which seemed excessive but was working wonders).
The vet was on the other side of LA, I had taken off work to get him there that day, I really wasn't in a position to repeat this, and I tapered his dose of the antibiotics off to keep him on then for a longer course. They ran out and he was relapsing and got worse, his breathing became very heavy and his heart was pounding. I had ordered more antibiotics but being the holidays they were slow to be delivered, after 2 days off of them he was in bad shape. I stopped at the emergency Vet clinic on my way home from work, explained the situation and asked if they could give me enough antibiotics to get through until mine arrived, my vet had since gone on vacation for the holidays. I did not have Rocky with me at the time and they couldn't contact my vet, it was all very frustrating.
Turns out this whole conversation with the receptionist was being monitored by the off duty vet that sat next to her, at one point she looked at me and said, "ave you considered your dog may have lymphoma?". I had read up on every dog ailment known over the last few weeks, so I knew what she was talking about, but didn't understand how antibiotics could have such a dramatic effect on a cancer. She explained. Turns out this particular clinic specializes in Canine Cancer research and is staffed for such on Wednesdays, that day. I'd run into the right people.
I was told that this isn't that uncommon, and she informed me that German Shepherds are somewhat predisposed for this along with Golden Retrievers and Rottweilers. She said that those 3 breeds make up a vast majority of her cases. She was quite optimistic about treatment and said she had several dogs that had been on treatment since she started 8 years ago, and 2 to 5 year remissions were not uncommon.
I left with an appointment to see her the following morning at another such clinic, The only other day they do this, I was quite lucky. Rocky had a bad night that night, his breathing was painful to watch. Every breath was a strain on his body. He was whithered away to almost nothing, and was throwing up everything. What was only a month ago a four and a half year old dog with incredible energy and stamina, he struggled up the stairs after his walk, legs shaking under the strain, his foot now swollen to almost a ball shape.
Through all this Rocky's days have been better than his nights, and although still struggling to breath he seemed in pretty good spirits for a dog that was such a physical wreck. It was an hour drive to the clinic. Rocky was there all day, I stayed with him. The diagnosis was positive for lymphoma, they said he was in very bad shape, and it would be a struggle to get him healthy enough for the treatment to be effective. His mysteriously high energy level and good spirits were the only thing that convinced them that he may be treatable. His lungs were full of secondary infections, he was pumped full of fluids, and took it all in stride. like he knew he was being helped. He left with more medication than an elderly hypochondriac.
That night was the hardest yet, the breathing was... I don't know, I just watched him thinking that if he was to just give up I'd understand it was like watching a balloon inflate and deflate. An agonizing sound accompanied every breath and all the while the secondary rhythm of his pounding heart could be seen in his chest almost like it was just under the skin and not encased within his ribs. I fell asleep, tears in my eyes. When I woke up he was laying next to the bed, silent, my groggy eyes could not detect any movement in his chest, something easy to detect the night before. I tried to focus, but still could see no signs of life, as the words "aw, damn!" left my mouth, his eyes opened, he looked at me, sighed and went back to sleep.
His condition has improved dramatically, his appetite voratious, his spirit, well, the 2 foot leaps in the air celebrating "the walk" have returned. I understand that this is largely attributed to the Pednisone, and the effects are not long lasting, but this was to build his strength back up, and it has done that. He seems as healthy as he's ever been right now. His new diet seems to be agreeing with him. His days of kibble are over and he will need to stay on a strict amino/protein diet to survive. It's hard to even think that what lays beside me as I write this is a dog who has a terminal illness. I have a lot of confidence that he can fight this, this is a dog that was rescued from a fire in an abandoned building when he was just 8 weeks old. Nobody seems to know how a solitary, barely weened puppy ended up there. He started his life in a fight for survival, I think he can fight this.
My point to this reply is that I understand now, what he has, how it's fought, and that his breed increases his chances of contracting this. I've also seen first hand happy, healthy dogs that were at the stage he was last week, five years ago. There are survivors of this, many apparently, and many die misdiagnosed, or treated by a vet inexperienced with the disease. I was and hope will continue to be fortunate to find that unlikely specialist in this field, it happened by pure luck, my fingers are crossed and I know this time I have been given is priceless. |
