Waiting
I didn't elaborate too much in last night's post about some of the pros and cons, and the thought process about what's going on with Sammy, so I'll try to do that here.
First, we're not sure yet that the cancer is localized to Sammy's throat tumor. Yesterday during the meeting with the oncologist we did some additional testing to rule out multiple myeloma. If Sammy has systemic disease, then we will not pursue any additional treatments. More on that later.
If the only thing going on is the throat tumor, then with radiation he has an excellent chance at a complete cure. What is worrying me now is that his raspy breathing has returned. The oncologist thinks it could be the tumor starting to regrow, or it could be that he's developed a granuloma around the stitches in his palate and throat, which often occurs in cats. So yesterday we discussed what to do in order to determine what's going on. The oncologist offered up doing another CT scan (cost: $900) or giving him 1 shot of Cytoxan (aka cyclophosphamide), which is a chemotherapy drug. If he rapidly responds after 1 shot of Cytoxan, then we would know that the tumor is returning, as lymphoma and plasma cells are extremely sensitive to cyclophosphamide. Oh, and by the way, 1 shot of Cytoxan costs $80. I gave her my blessing to do 1 shot of Cytoxan.
Oh, sweet Jesus, last night was hell. Poor Sammy started vomiting around 3 am. He had no appetite this morning and a very limited one this evening. He also had other GI issues (I'll spare you the details of that lovely mess). In summary: no more chemo. Absofuckinglutely not. Not worth it.
But on the bright side, his breathing is still raspy. That points to no tumor regrowth and rather a granuloma being present. If we go forward with radiation, that could also knock out any sutures/granulomas still present. In the long term, Sammy would lose vision in 1 eye and possibly lose some sense of smell. We can also afford the treatments.
To summarize: waiting on the results of the myeloma testing. No systemic disease, then we have to decide if we move forward with radiation, which I'm leaning towards at this point. The schedule would be three times a week for four weeks, then done. If there is systemic disease, then we make Sammy comfortable and do no more. So here's hoping for clean results, eh? I like having options.
First, we're not sure yet that the cancer is localized to Sammy's throat tumor. Yesterday during the meeting with the oncologist we did some additional testing to rule out multiple myeloma. If Sammy has systemic disease, then we will not pursue any additional treatments. More on that later.
If the only thing going on is the throat tumor, then with radiation he has an excellent chance at a complete cure. What is worrying me now is that his raspy breathing has returned. The oncologist thinks it could be the tumor starting to regrow, or it could be that he's developed a granuloma around the stitches in his palate and throat, which often occurs in cats. So yesterday we discussed what to do in order to determine what's going on. The oncologist offered up doing another CT scan (cost: $900) or giving him 1 shot of Cytoxan (aka cyclophosphamide), which is a chemotherapy drug. If he rapidly responds after 1 shot of Cytoxan, then we would know that the tumor is returning, as lymphoma and plasma cells are extremely sensitive to cyclophosphamide. Oh, and by the way, 1 shot of Cytoxan costs $80. I gave her my blessing to do 1 shot of Cytoxan.
Oh, sweet Jesus, last night was hell. Poor Sammy started vomiting around 3 am. He had no appetite this morning and a very limited one this evening. He also had other GI issues (I'll spare you the details of that lovely mess). In summary: no more chemo. Absofuckinglutely not. Not worth it.
But on the bright side, his breathing is still raspy. That points to no tumor regrowth and rather a granuloma being present. If we go forward with radiation, that could also knock out any sutures/granulomas still present. In the long term, Sammy would lose vision in 1 eye and possibly lose some sense of smell. We can also afford the treatments.
To summarize: waiting on the results of the myeloma testing. No systemic disease, then we have to decide if we move forward with radiation, which I'm leaning towards at this point. The schedule would be three times a week for four weeks, then done. If there is systemic disease, then we make Sammy comfortable and do no more. So here's hoping for clean results, eh? I like having options.
1 Comments:
I'm so sorry; this is so hard. Just know that whichever decision you make it will be the right one for you and your beloved pet. He's very fortunate to have you and Scott for owners.
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