So as many of you know by now, our beloved Olde English Bulldogge Hurley has become very ill very suddenly. On Monday when petting him I noticed what seemed to be a few 'lumps' under his normally flabby chin - by Tuesday, they had become worse. I immediately called Tufts Animal Hospital for an emergency apppointment. This was at 2:30 Tuesday and by 3PM they had me in there for an appointment.
Since it's a teaching hospital, a resident came back with us, examined Hurley, and went to meet/review with a doctor. Not long after she came back with a doctor. They had both felt Hurley's lymph nodes in his chin area and determined they were extremely swollen. They used small needles (but it wasn't a biopsy...) to pull some fluid out of 3-4 of the lumps. It also seemed he wasn't clotting properly as he was bleeding more than most dogs who have this test. The doctor said it could either be systemic, like Lyme's, or it could be cancer. They took the samples out back to look under the microscope and of course, results were inconclusive. I was instructed to call back on Wednesday afternoon for results from his urine sample, blood sample, and pathology.
While I was getting my hair done on Wednesday, the doctor called. She confirmed that it was in fact cancer - lymphoma. I was told 80-90% of dogs with this diagnosis go into remission from chemo so it has a very high success rate; BUT there was a strong chance he would only have about 6-8 months. She immediately booked us an appoiontment with Tufts oncology for today.
The oncology resident and oncologist today again confirmed the diagnosis and said it is the most common cancer in dogs, and that chemo had a high sucess rate. They confirmed that in addition to his neck, he had swollen lymph nodes in both of his shoulders as well as the back of both of his 'knees' on rear legs. We discussed further testing options...
1) An ultrasound to see if there were any internal lymph nodes that were swollen.
2) Chest x-rays to see if anything had spread to his lungs.
3) Blood work to see if he was clotting normally as we have noticed a significant red/bruised area on his belly. Also, sometimes with swollen lymph nodes in their abdomen, that can lead to bruising. She actually opted not to do this test after we left because she felt very confident it was bruising due to the masses in his abdomen and his poor clotting.
4) They have sent some of the samples from Tuesday to a hospital in Colorado (a test called PARR I think...) in order to have them re-checked. This test can tell if he has B or T cell lymphoma - "B" being the better option in terms of responding to treatment. It also tells what lineage of lymphoma he has. They could have also seen but not fully conclusively via x-ray if he potentially had B or T. We are hoping that since she said she saw nothing in his lungs, that it is the "B" category but we have to wait for a week for final results.
Staging tests were performed and we received the most devastating news - that he was actually in stage 5 - although I literally felt like it came up overnight almost. It is actually stage 5A vs. 5B - 5A was a little reassuring because it meant that he was otherwise "himself" and not having other physical side effects from the cancer. The vet assured us that this normal for this type of cancer to come on so suddenly. We obviously agreed to have all of the above tests done in order to have a full idea of his status/health before we developed a game plan. We left him for the day for these tests, as well as for his first treatment of chemotherapy.
I received a call in the afternoon from the doctor and Hurl was worked up so they had to sedate him for the ultrasound and x-ray. So although the "good" news is that he is in the "A" category, it is still stage 5. The tests confirmed nothing had spread to his lungs. However, he did have swelling in his spleen and abdomen lymph nodes. The stage 5 diagnosis was primarly due to the fact that the cancer (lymphocites) is also in his blood.
We had already decided earlier in the day that we would be proceeding with chemo, and he started today. There are 4 meds - for the first 3 weeks/1x per week he will receive one each of the three injectible treatments. He is now also on prednizone at home. Chemo to start will be once per week, then once every other week for a total of 15 weeks. We are hopeful that he will respond well but the doctor said by around week 6 we will know if he is responding to treatment or not.
We were sent home with prednizone, an anti-diarrhea med, and an anti-nausea med depending on how he reacts to the chemo.
We will need to monitor him closely as the chemo and prednizone can result in excessive thirst and frequent peeing. But other than maybe some nausea, we have been told that dogs typically do better on chemo than humans in terms of side effects.
The four drugs for his treatment thus far are:
1) Prednizone
2) Doxrubicin
3) Cyclophosphamide
4) Chemo
Three are injectible shots, and the prednizone we will taper off in the coming weeks. He will require blood draws before every chemo session to check his white blood cells. Right now, his platelet counts are normal as is his calcium level.
I also asked about changing his diet and/or holistic supplements but the doctor said there is no proof that they work and they could in fact interfere with his treatment.
We are so hopeful that he will be responsive to treatment and that in the next 15 weeks at some point will go into remission. BUT with that said the cancer can still come back. If we opted for no treatment they gave him only about 1-2 months, whereas with chemo treatment he could go into remission for as long as 6-8 months or longer. I have been doing a lot of research and joined a couple of groups on FB to get input from others who have been in our shoes. Some of their dogs with lymphoma lasted up to 2 years, and one even 8 years! So we are desperately praying for a miracle.
Please please pray for Hurley. We are devastated and desperately hoping for response to treatment. He truly is one of our children and such a big part of our family.
~E
Praying with you Erin.
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