Neka's Cancer/Life Journey

well last week was interesting for me and my mom she took me on a long drive again down to the U of I for another consultation, ever since my new STS that got diagnosed my mom has been all crazy again. All her late night researching. I just nap and cuddle next to her, she thinks I dont know, but I do…

I had good news my xrays were still normal and my leg had healed well since surgery in April, but the doctor was very concerned that the high grade STS(soft tissue sarcoma) could come back locally. I just lounged on the floor during these discussions, this vet got right down here with me, I looved it. My mom talked to this guy for a really looong time, wow, thank goodness they don’t charge by the hour.

Moms view:

So out options are somewhat limited now because I have maxed out the lifetime max of doxi, I even used zenecard with the last 2 doses to protect her heart, even though they said its safe up to 6 doses, my regular oncologist mentioned he did have 1 dog that had heart failure after 5.. and that made me very nervous.

we talked about radiation: what I learned that kind of killed my gun ho for radiation. so Currative radiation, which is every day for 19 days uses small grays(units of radiation) per treatment, U of I only uses sedation most other clinics use anesthesia. No long term side effects just extreme skin burning equating 3rd degree burn, they felt she was not a candidate for this because she already had 3 legs and it  could cause her some pain until it heals, which already on 3 legs coudl be challenging, plus..it is a steeep cost.

Pallative radiation, is 1x/week for 4-6weeks, which gives a higher dose at each treatment, vs alot of small doses. This is what I thought i was going to do, except that, I find out, it has long term side effect of tendon and bone break down, anywhere from 6months til 2yrs.. I said well how bad what kind, he said can be bad enough where they would normally amputate. Im like….aaaah.. i said what %. he said about 10%, which at first seemed low, but then he tells me a university of Mo, doesnt even do that type anymore because of the side effect…hmmm I kept thinking if only 10% why would a university who specializes in radiation therapy doesnt even do that type. I didnt like that.

last option: Dr. N at U of I, did not recommend continuing the doxi even with the zencard, even though it decreases heart toxicity its not a definite, yet my regular oncologist said its 90% effective..

He said I could use a dif chemo like the carbo or this other one. but all said and done, he is most concerned with the local regrowth as the IV chemo works more systematically and the metronomic works best for stunting local regrowth. Studies are limited and some are dirty about combining both.

Plan: We just finished out last dose of doxi this week and now I have to deside where to go from here. I will be calling univ of Mo on monday to discuss radiation in more depth as I am curious if there is an inbetween option that may not be in the books or proven that will not burn her too badly and most of all not give long term tendon or bone breakdown.

So in addition to all of this, I learned another thing. he is wondering if the mets in he lungs from the CT scan a yr ago is even OSA mets, he said they will usually have grown by now and her have not. He said they were consistent with location to OSA mets but is wondering if maybe they are granulomas. Which could lead him to think maybe her OSA was a low grade originally. I hadnt even realized they could grade K9 OSA . He told me they normally dont because they still recommend the same course of action..HMMM… interesting.

ok done with my midnight rambling.

heres fun pic

Neka & horsey friend june 2015

~ by neka03 on June 15, 2015 .