I did some reading on the web and talked to my friend Don whose Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Ace, was diagnosed with lymphoma about a month and a half before. The news was not good. Lymphoma is one of the worst cancers a dog can get. Without treatment, or with dietary, holistic or prednisone treatment the dog will live an average of a month to 6 weeks beyond the date of diagnosis. However, 84% of dogs with lymphoma respond well to chemotherapy. Yet chemotherapy is not a cure for this horrible disease. It generally results in a remission from the cancer where the dog feels and acts as it always has. The dog does not lose fur (except a few breeds which have hair, not fur.) and the dog doesn't feel sick from the chemo. The remission lasts an average of a year to fourteen months. Q started treatment at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists in San Antonio on July 28, 2004. Our oncologist, Dr. Janet Carreras is excited about Q continuing her herding career! And we continue to pray and hope for a cure.
On June 19, 2004, Q turned 9 years old. We had a very happy day and went for a long walk together. That night when we went to bed, she crawled under the covers and cuddled with me just like she always does in the wintertime. Little did I know that just 10 days later, on June 29th, I would discover a lump under her jaw.Q went to the neighborhood vet the next day because I couldn't get in to see our regular vet till July 12. He checked her over and thought it might be some kind of infection and gave me 10 days of antibiotics (Cephalexin). The lump didn't change and meanwhile I could feel another lump on the other side of her jaw. On July 12, Dr. Carolyn Love saw Q, checked her lymph nodes (this is what the lumps were) and aspirated the lymph node on her chest. Dr. Love said the cells didn't look great but she couldn't say for sure if it was lymphoma till she did a biopsy--in this case, removing that lymph node and sending it to a pathologist. That surgery was performed the following Friday. On July 24th, at 1:40 pm, I received the phone call: the diagnosis was lymphoma.Q is my Cardigan Welsh Corgi. She was born into my hands, and our lives have been entwined ever since. She is my best friend and my working partner at herding trials. We got her AKC herding title (PT for Pretrial Tested) in 1999 at the Cardigan National Specialty. For almost 5 years after that my job kept us from herding. But last January we started taking lessons again, this time at Endgate Ranch near Dallas, Texas. In March, at two AKC trials, Q and I competed in HSAs (Herding Started, A-course, sheep). The first day she was 2nd place and the next day she placed first out of 11 dogs! We have plans for more trials and we continue to practice 2-3 days a week.
THE DATES (if you have a pet with lymphoma,you know the dates are important).lymph nodebut we didn't receive the news till July 24thQ goes to the oncologist and gets her first chemotherapyQ is at GCVS to get another chemotherapy treatment. If she had not had chemo, she would be dead by today!Q and I compete in AKC herding match at trial, and comes away with her first duck herding title!4 months from Q's date of diagnosis; she isstill in remission.February 20 marks 7 months since Q was diagnosed. She is still in remission!Q participated in the Austin Collie Club AKC Herding Trials this weekend and qualified twice. She now has a new title: HSAs!Today celebrates Q's 10th month in chemo- therapy and in remission from lymphoma!A BANNER DAY! One year ago today, Q wasdiagnosed with lymphoma. She has now beenin remission for ONE YEAR.Q continues in "good health" in the midst ofwith this dog who holds my heart in her paw.
Every day I feel Q's cheeks with such fear in my heart. And every day I breath a sigh of relief--no lymph nodes yet. And even though I do this each day, I know the feelings of fear that will engulf me that day I once again pat her head, rub her cheeks and feel. . .lumps. I feel broken by fear now just wondering when that day will be and how, dear God, I will cope with that discovery.Lately I worry that I have become so used to Q being in excellent health that I have begun to take her for granted. Did I spend extra time with her today? Did I do something special with her today? Did I make her happy all day? I worry that I am spending so much extra time trying to make Q's last days the best ones of my life--and hers, and that I am becoming far too attached to her and I will not be able to live without her. I worry that Q doesn't have that many days left and I am wasting a lot of the time we have left together worrying about it. --Donna, Thanksgiving Day (November 25) 2004.
Links for Canine Lymphoma 