Lymphoma information

2bullymama · Feb 11, 2023

1/15 update -- so the short of it, us being so overwhelmed, exhausted an plain brain numb- neither me nor Lewis picked up on or remembered what the side effects of the Tanovea were.... sigh! It turns out every issue we were experiencing with Beau over the last two -three weeks was a side effect... he hit 5 of the 6 at high levels. Lethargic, loss of appetite, diarrhea which could or couldn't be can't really say either way, but it was 10x worse. When I explained everything to our oncologist, she immediately said we will not continue on this protocol. So, we are back on Elspar for this week with a recheck next week to see how he responds and then determine next steps. She is otherwise happy with how his system responded and today she asperated the one node that still is being stubborn and said all she is seeing is blood and fat cells, but never said if he was in remission. we'll know better next week.

I'll be 100% transparent, so others learn for us, PAY ATTENTION to the listed side effects!! Over these last 3 weeks, there were a couple times we did not think Beau would wake up in the morning that is how lethargic he was and the other issues were that severe. We didn't connect the dots to them being side effects, it wouldn't have changed anything, but maybe we would have dealt better or called to see if there was anything more to help him. Yes, we did take him to our regular vet to check things out, but again... two different facilities and they may send each other the "chart/reports, it is still up to us as pawents/owners to READ everything and connect those dots where you can. lesson learned!

He is more himself the past two days, even eating his normal raw food. We'll see what tomorrow brings on how he responds to going back to Elspar.

2bullymama · Feb 11, 2023

2/10 update – new protocol, called MVPP. On 2/1 Lambeau received a portion of this protocol to see how he would respond to it. Our oncologist did not want Beau have the experience he did with the Tanovea so we took this new protocol in two steps. 2/1 was two of the three drugs and then a recheck I a week. We returned on 2/8 with a glowing update… Beau was 100% back to normal, eating, wanting to go on walks, playing and chewing toys/bones. Beau has not touched a ball or bone since August so to see him grab a ball and want to chase it, pick up a bone and chew it, we were over the moon with happiness. This past week, Beau received all three drugs and takes one pill a day for a week along with still being on prednisone. We are three days in and he is still doing great. The one stubborn node in his shoulder has decreased in size which is progress. Poo is still an issue regardless, but his appetite is fantastic, he is still playing and chewing bones. This coming week is just a CBC check due to the possibility of white cells being impacted on this pill he gets daily. Next chemo treatment is on 2/22

2bullymama · Mar 10, 2023

3/10 update - last weekend was a rough one – his white blood count dropped, basically bottomed out. He ad a fever of 106, we got it down to 102.9 with a cool bath and ice packs, but within 30 minutes of being out , it shot back up to 105.9. we jumped in car to ER, he spent the night and we picked him up at 4:30 on Saturday. He was very weak and tired most of Sunday – Wednesday, but yesterday he started perking back up. Oncologist has suspended the rest of his treatment this week, so we go back on 3/15 for CBC/liver evaluation and discuss nest steps. Yes, another side effect of one of the pills in the current protocol. L

Rusty’s Owner · Mar 10, 2023

2bullymama said:
3/10 update - last weekend was a rough one – his white blood count dropped, basically bottomed out. He ad a fever of 106, we got it down to 102.9 with a cool bath and ice packs, but within 30 minutes of being out , it shot back up to 105.9. we jumped in car to ER, he spent the night and we picked him up at 4:30 on Saturday. He was very weak and tired most of Sunday – Wednesday, but yesterday he started perking back up. Oncologist has suspended the rest of his treatment this week, so we go back on 3/15 for CBC/liver evaluation and discuss nest steps. Yes, another side effect of one of the pills in the current protocol. L

Poor Lambeau, hope he is doing better now.

2bullymama · Mar 27, 2023

3/27 update – MVPP treatment was done on Wednesday 3/22, we only did three days of the Procarbazine, this is the pill that has the low white blood count as a side effect. Our oncologist wanted to ease him back on it so we did three days instead of seven. He is doing well now weekend he was tired and had massive diarrhea. Today he was energetic, interactive, and very hungry. Next treatment is on 4/5. This protocol is suppose to be two weeks on and a week off, but due to beau’s reaction, she is opting to do one week on and one week off.

2bullymama · Jul 16, 2023

Didn't realize i hadn't been providing updates here... again, this is so others have some insight from the experience.

4/29 update – MVPP treatment was yesterday, Friday 4/28. Beau was due for treatment on 4/19 but we cancelled that appointment due to a double ear infection. He is doing well, but ear infection is still an issue so we had his ears packed yesterday after chemo. Our oncologist switched up the MVPP this week, by going every other day (four pills) of the procarbazine instead of 7 straight days and dropped his prednisone to 10mg a day to try and lessen the “roid belly” Lambeau has going on right now. His belly is so bloated he struggles to go up the stairs. Outside of the ear infection, he is doing really well. Wants to go on walks, plays at times for just a few minutes, eats his marrow bones and loves to cuddle. Oh, and appetite is sky high at all times, I’m sure the pred has something to do with that.

5/13 update – MVPP treatment was yesterday, Wednesday 5/10. Our oncologist continued the altered MVPP this week, by going every other day (four pills) of the procarbazine instead of 7 straight days and dropped his prednisone to 10mg a day to try and lessen the “roid belly” Lambeau has going on right now. We seem to think the belly has gone down a bit, but it could also be mind games because that is what we want to see J Lewis took Beau this time and asked when/if treatments would ever stop.. she stated, in a sense, since all his nodes but one went back to normal, that means the cancer is still in his system so we have to maintain treatments to keep it at bay, he is “kind of” in a remission, but she won’t call it that. So, for now, we stay the course and continue to enjoy our big Mush! He loves to eat, cuddle and go for walks in his stroller – yes, he no longer wants to walk himself, he will walk out the garage door and right over to the stroller and wait to be placed in it. LOL!!! He gets whatever he wants J

5/24 update – No change from last update!! MVPP treatment was today, our oncologist continued the altered MVPP by going every other day (four pills) of the procarbazine instead of 7 straight days and dropped his prednisone to 10mg a day to try and lessen the “roid belly”. We seem to think the belly has gone down a bit, but it could also be mind games because that is what we want to see. He as lost fur on his paws and face again, but otherwise he is not experiencing any other side effects.

6/11 update – No real change from last update, which is not a bad thing! MVPP treatment was Wednesday; our oncologist continued the altered MVPP and dropped his prednisone to 5mg a day. He is still losing on his paws and face, but otherwise he is not experiencing any other side effects. He has started getting a lot of cysts on his paws so soaks and cleanings are taking place almost daily. Next treatment is 6/21.

6/23 update – No real change from last update. MVPP treatment was Wednesday; our oncologist continued the altered MVPP and dropped his prednisone to 5mg a day. Beau also had a follow up appointment with our vet for the last ear infection; tests show the infection is all gone. But, he had a reaction to it and the skin n his inner ear (around the tips) is peeling off and the edges are rough almost like a crust is on them. They gave us a natural lotion called Pavia to apply and massage in twice a day. Next treatment is 7/12.

7/16 update – Oncologist is very happy with how Beau is doing!! She has decided to keep him on a three week, instead of every other week, schedule for the altered MVPP treatment! We are thrilled hear that as are our wallets. Beau actually showed interest in playing/chasing his favorite orange ball last week; he lasted only about 10 minutes but at least he wanted to play. All else is status quo which we will take. His fur has not grown back at all from when he was first diagnosed, still has the shave spots from the ultrasound back in August 2022. His facial and paw fur I very thin so he kind looks like a hot mess, but is really in great shape per our oncologist. Next appointment is 8/2.

2bullymama · Aug 5, 2023

8/5 update – The big news for this update is we received the OK to wean Beau off the prednisone nd we are know at treatments (altered MVPP) every three weeks! We will do every other day of pred for a week then every third day for a week. He will be off pred next Friday 8/18! Our oncologist is very happy with how Beau is doing, still won’t call it remission, but the one node that is being stubborn is stable enough to back off the prednisone… which we are overly joyful about! Hoping that his belly will go back to normal (the roid belly.. swollen). Otherwise, he is doing great, poo is under control for now, he loves his nightly walks in his stroller, he is still eating well, play is few and far between, but he will still try to eat any dog that he sees, so we know he feels OK. Facial fur is returning, paws in front seems to have fur coming back, but belly, limbs from treatments are all still bare. Next appointment is 8/23.

2bullymama · Aug 26, 2023

8/25 update – officially off the prednisone!!!!! The down side of that, all his allergies have returned L, red/raw folds, interdigital cysts and runny eyes; so far his ears are staying clear. His facial fur s all coming back in, but the shaved belly is still bald.. not sure why. He is has very little energy unless food is involved. His next appointment is 9/20, his oncologist is going to aspirate the one stubborn node at that appointment and send out to a specialist for evaluation. She said it is very uncommon for a node to remain so stable for this long a period of time and she wants a cell specialist opinion on the matter. He is still doing the MVPP altered protocol, but I got the impression the protocol might be changing based on the aspiration results. She made the statement “once we get that information we will make a plan on our options.” We also noticed one of Lambeau’s front little “chicklet” teeth broke so Lewis too Beau to our vet to have it checked. Well, due to the cancer situation leaving it alone to see of the skin will grow over is not an option – we are very nervous as they want to do surgery to remove the tooth. Our vet is consulting with our oncologist to see what concerns she would have in doing the procedure.

2bullymama · Sep 20, 2023

9/20/23 update -- Today was to be a chemo treatment, but our oncologist opted to skip it and do an aspiration of the node that continues to be swollen. she is sending it for testing and we will hear back in about a week on the results. Based on the fining , his next appointment in October will either be a chemo treatment or just a check up to ensure the cancer is staying at bay.

next appointment is 10/18

overall... The Mush is totally back to normal: he is feeling good and wanting to even go for a walk. We got two walks out of him this week without having to hang a piece of bacon in front of him as bait. He is willing to go up the stairs, but we limit that to once a day and make sure one of us is behind him incase he losing his footing. he even wanted to play with Cheli on Monday night (WHAT!!!???)

he goes to get his stitches out and follow up from surgery on Friday.

OH -- BIG NEWS... as of today he is on ZERO medications!! Nothing, nada, zilch! Wait.. does panacur count? Cause he is on that a few times a week to keep his poo issues at bay... darn, OK, maybe he is on one med. CRAP! (pun intended) Still 1000x better than this time last year, where I think he was taking like 11 pills a day of four or five different medications.

2bullymama · Oct 2, 2023

9/29 update – Results o the aspiration came back with cancer still present. Lambeau had an altered MVPP treatment to get him back on a three weeks schedule of chemo. Our oncologist would like to get him at every four weeks, but for now it will continue at three weeks cycle. Otherwise, Beau is doing well except he is losing all his fur, his belly is completely bald and all his really thick fur around his neck and shoulders is very thin. Our oncologist said it is not surprising since he has been on consistent treatment for 13 months.

Next treatment is 10/18

2bullymama · Oct 25, 2023

10/18 update – Beau is doing well and celebrated his 9th birthday on 10/22. In these short three weeks ALL of his fur has grown back in, even the fur that has been missing for 13 months! The fur on his belly from the initial ultrasounds never came back, but he now has a full body of fur again. So strange how it came back so quickly as last month it was all so thin we could see skin everywhere on him. He received the same protocol of the alternate MVPP.

Next treatment is 11/8

2bullymama · Nov 8, 2023

11/8 update – He received the same protocol of the alternate MVPP. Overall, our oncologist is thrilled with how he is doing. She said the stubborn node is still being stubborn, his blood work looks fantastic and comparing it to previous panels, she believes he was not handling the pred very well because his numbers long fantastic compared to when he was on it. She was astonished at his fur growth and stated she never seen it come back so quickly on a patient… why, she can’t say, but she was happy to see it all grown back in.

Next treatment is 11/29

2bullymama · Nov 29, 2023

11/29 update – Beau remains at status quo… that one stubborn node has remained stable. He received the same protocol of the alternate MVPP. He continues to be more and more like himself, he initiated play with Cheli one day last week and he is back to wanting a marrow bone, which for awhile he wasn’t interested. We are officially at one a month (every four weeks) for treatment now. Praying so hard for a remission.

Next treatment is 12/27

2bullymama · Dec 30, 2023

12/27 update – Beau is on a new protocol called Laverdia. I swear to you, I never remember our oncologist saying Lambeau was in remission, but apparently he was and he has now fallen out. In doing some more reading, it seems you can be considered in a form of remission but not FULL remission, which is what he was all this time since all nodes were normal but the one in the shoulder. There is so much to learn and keep up with. The new drug he receives five pills twice a week for two weeks (Wednesday and Saturday) then back for a evaluation/blood panel to determine how to proceed. Beau seems good except the poo issues are back and he is a little slower in moving around… all this change started on 12/24 so we checked his nodes and noticed most were somewhat swollen, so we knew before going to the appointment he most likely would be placed on a new protocol. This drug has a lot of the same side effects as the Tanovea, which ironically was this time last year and we are praying he doesn't experience the same feel of impact. So far with just the one treatment his eating is not impacted at all which I hope continues.

Next appointment is 1/10 – which is 17 months post diagnosis.

2bullymama · Jan 14, 2024

1/14 update – Beau lost his battle on Saturday 1/13/24 at 2:30 PM, we helped him cross the bridge. We went to the 1/10 appointment knowing he was not responding to the new protocol, in fact, he was responding in the same fashion he did to Tanovea. The only thing it didn’t impact was his eating; he was still going strong with wanting to eat. At the appointment we filled the oncologist in on how the two weeks went and how we decided to not give the last dose because he was get sicker with each dose (there were only four doses). When she came back out to talk with us she informed us all his nodes were enlarged/swollen and he was out of chemo options. Since he never went into full remission he could not return to any of the protocols. He was placed on palliative care (60 mg prednisone per day) that day. Late Wednesday night into Thursday morning (no sleep for any of us) he started having to poo every 30 minutes and blood was present. I called our vet office and they suggested we admit for fluids and overnight observation to see if they could get him stable (give the pred via IV to bypass the gut). He stayed overnight, but Friday morning there was no change to the poo issue but he was comfortable. At that point, we made the decision to schedule his passing on Saturday. We picked him up on Friday night loved on him hard all night, took him for long walks in his stroller. It was cold and windy, but we wrapped in blankets and he sat up the whole time just taking it all in.

We did choose to have a necropsy performed, it did not answer why all the poo issues, but it did tell us why he declined so quickly on Wednesday/Thursday, his abdominal nodes had ruptured.

We have no regrets of anything we did over the last 18 months for your boy. We did everything available that we knew of and could get to. The one thing I would add much earlier, ever at the very beginning is finding a holistic vet to work with oncology. The holistic vet will look at the whole body and treatment the cancer, side effects and body to ensure a balance is kept. Would it have changed anything, don’t know, but if it would have even just eliminated some of the side effects of the chemo, I would gladly paid and accepted.

Lambeau our sweet lovable, orange ball loving, wiggle butt, food loving big mush is now free at the bridge chasing and squeaking every orange ball he can find. I think Nitshcke, Banks and him are bickering over who was Mom and Dads favorite and Banks will for sure be keeping him in line.

Thank you all for all the support, motivation, suggestions and most of all love you have given to us over this last year and half… it is immeasurable!

To anyone reading this and going through this hell … I pray something of what I documented will help you in your journey.

To summarize Lambeau’s regiment: