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Recently, our dog started been losing weight. He's always been a picky eater, but no matter what we tried, he'd eventually stop eating it. We went to the vet last week, and after a blood test, Ultrasound, and x-ray, they found a mass growth in his abdomen. We did surgery right away, which went well, and just got the pathology tests back today. Looks like it's an invasive form of cancer. The ultrasound and x-ray didn't spot anything else of note, and the vet that did the surgery said everything else looked good, so we were hopeful, but the pathology test says otherwise. Now we hoping to get in with an oncologist for a prognosis. Our vet told us that this type of cancer usually requires surgery + radiation therapy + chemo therapy, so if there's a chance we can treat it, it'll be quite expensive (we've already spent $3000 on him in the past 2 weeks). Just wondering if anyone else here has gone through something similar and had some advice. I'm hoping for the best, but realistically expecting the worst. The thing that really pains my heart is that we're leaving for a 3 week vacation in 1 week on the other side of the world, and can't cancel it. So if we have a short window left with him, it's even shorter because of that.
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Apr 14, 2016 23:14
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| # ? May 8, 2024 07:22 |
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First of all, I'm really sorry you and your family and your dog are going through this. Cancer really sucks. You may have to take a breather first before making a decision and that's okay. Not certain how much a consult with the oncologist would cost, but it could give you peace of mind, even if you don't go through with the treatments. I know you said you had to see the oncologist to get the prognosis, but if it's super expensive to see him once, you could try asking your vet if treatment would possibly mean extra days, weeks, or years of life. I've heard medical horror stories where a person with cancer was thinking they were fighting/suffering to have 10 years of good quality life when the doctors were hoping for 3 months, while having chemo/rad the entire time. Please don't beat yourself if you don't go through treatment. I would have totally done the surgery as well, because cancers solved by surgeries are complete cures. For being spread, I wouldn't personally do for myself, let alone my cat, but everyone has different experiences with cancer.
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Apr 15, 2016 04:12
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^^^ thanks for those words. Met with the Oncologist yesterday, gave us the treatment options and costs. The pathology report mentions that the cancer had started to spread to one of the leaser lymph nodes, so the prognosis isn't good. We were basically told he has 6-9 months WITH chemo treatment ($3100). This is also not a common type of cancer, so there's not as much data with which to work. Good news is that he's pretty much back to himself now. Still emaciated, but his anemia seems to be going away. Next steps are to re-do the x-rays and ultrasounds when we get back to see if anything significant shows up. If there's significant tumours, there not really any point in treating. If nothing shows up, we can either start Chemo, under the assumption it's still spreading, or not do any treatment. One concern with chemo is it's hard on the heart, and this little guy has a small heart murmur. At this point, i'm just trying to enjoy having him around and back to normal, hoping the surgery got all the cancer, but if it didn't, knowing we've done effectively all we can at this point.
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Apr 20, 2016 19:52
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