The day after my fabulous 12 week scan, just when we thought we could sit back, relax and just enjoy life and being pregnant, we took our furbaby, Cloe, to the vet to check out some lumps C. had noticed on her belly. The news was shocking and not good at all...canine lymphoma, a common, aggressive cancer in dogs. Worse news - it is treatable, but not curable. We had two choices 1) put her through a 6 month chemotherapy regime that would involve weekly vet trips, blood work and often treatment through an IV drip (at a cost of $4-5K), or 2) give her prednisone (a steroid) to keep her comfortable while the cancer takes it's course (quite inexpensive). Option 1 would likely give us another 6-12 months of remission after the chemo was done before the cancer came back and we gave up the fight. Option 2 gave her about 6-8 weeks to live.
I have never cried so much in my life, I love Cloe dearly, she is our furbaby and we'd do just about anything for her - we even moved her from California all the way to Sydney because we love her and couldn't bear to part with her. On the other hand, she's had cancer before - several years ago, just before we moved, she was diagnosed with bladder cancer. She went through a year of chemo pills, some allergic reactions to meds, and great expense to us. The good news is that one was curable, so we didn't hesitate to treat her, but could we put her through it all again, but even worse this time?
After many days, buckets of tears, and seemingly endless discussions we decided no, we couldn't put her through and we didn't want to see her suffer just for the sake of another 6 months by our sides. (thanks mom for your guidance through this tough time) So, we started the prednisone and hoped for the best. We also found a source for some natural immunity boosters specifically designed for dogs with cancer and decided they were worth a try (K-9 immunity by Aloha Medicinals).
The good news...it has been 10 weeks since her diagnosis and she is still alive and well, not to mention fat and sassy! (the prednisone has the unfortunate side effects of seemingly endless hunger and thirst) At the last vet visit they seemed pleasantly surprised and pronounced Cloe in remission, albeit with the warning that it wouldn't last long.
The bad news...I have noticed a swollen lymph node on her belly where we first discovered it months ago - however I have been a bit slack with the natural supplements and have hopes that starting those up again will give her some more time.
In the mean time we are loving her dearly, spoiling her rotten and slowly adjusting to the idea that she wont be with us as long as we would like.
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