Lily's Post Op Check

[mom2reds]

I took Lily for her 2 week post op check and the vet said her jaw is healing up really well. Her jaw is tending to shift a little to the right and she may need to loose a tooth, but right now Everything looks good! Now I just have to decide if I want to have her do chemo. It would be every 3 weeks and would require a day off from work and an 80 mile round trip. Plus it would cost $300 for each treatment and they want her to have 5 treatments. Right now there are no signs it has spread anywhere else,but it's a very aggressive cancer and they are concerned that it will come back. I will probably end up taking her it's just trying to get the time off from work and the $$ to pay for it. Hopefully I can take sick days (I have 18 sick days built up) instead of vacation that will help. I think my vet here can do the pre-visit blood work so that will help with some of it. I told the oncologist I wanted to take the weekend to think about it. Oh, and I have Jury Duty on Monday so I will have to see how that turns out. Hopefully I won't get on a jury or at least not on a trial that lasts weeks!

[oceangirls]

Sounds like a good update. Extra rayz . What chemo regimen are they recommending?

[Lisa]

Lots more rayz for Lily!!

If you have 18 days, can you just call in sick to use them up?

[LexieLuvr]

Lots more rayz for Lily!!

If you have 18 days, can you just call in sick to use them up?

Good idea! More rayz from me, too!

[areese]

so glad for the good update. and many for continued healing and for making the decision you feel right about.

[Alex's Mom]

Awesome update!!! I know that the chemo is expensive, but I also know that when Alex had it, after her cancer surgery, it really gave me HUGE peace of mind. Dogs don't react as horribly to chemo as humans do, from my experience. Totally worth it. More and coming your way.

[lotsadox]

That sounds really good for Lily. As for the chemo, I'd probably be on the fence. Like Paula, I feel it could give you a lot of piece of mind, but I really don't know. I"ve never been thru it and have no frame of reference. I also agree with Lisa, call in sick and go.

As for jury duty, I am never picked. I finally asked a guy I know who is a trial attorney (mostly criminal work) and he said that lawyers pick people they think they can convince of whatever they want them to think. He said he would NEVER pick me He said he didn't want people who had strong opinions on things. Ask questions. Be skeptical. If they ask things in the voir dire about certain crimes, be definite and not wishy washy. It's worked for me for 30 years now Oh, and when the defense attorney says things, it's okay to roll your eyes. (I didn't say that out loud)

[mom2reds]

Thanks everyone. I O.K.'d it with my boss to take the days off as sick days since I only use my sick time for dr. visits anyway. We're going to keep it on the QT in case HR has issues with it. He's a pretty understanding boss about things like this, especially since I don't have any human "children". I will call the vet tomorrow and get her an appt. to start the chemo, I'm not sure how soon they can get her in. I just hope the she doesn't get sick on the 40 mile ride home. The vet said dogs don't have as many side effects as humans because the chemo. isn't as strong. Send more of those wonderful healing that the chemo. works and she lives cancer free for the rest of her life.

The drug they want to use is Carboplatin. The vet gave me information on the drug and the treatment plan. She will get anti-nausea medication after the treatment. They said research shows dogs with osteosarcoma in the jaw like Lily had have a better survival rate (approx. 14-18months) and a recurrance rate of 15% and metastatic rate of 35%. The whole "avoid contact with saliva and other bodily fliuds for at least a week after treatment" is a little scary. They said to use gloves to clean up any urine and don't let them lick you. I usually don't let Lily lick me, but you know how sneeky dachshunds are, every once in a while she gets one in there.

[areese]

I've known quite a few dogs that hae gone through chemo, both for osteocarcoma and lymphoma and they did not get sick and seemed to fly right through it. I know one dog who had osteocarcoma (leg) and lived to be 15-a full 5 years after treatment. and my friends golden had treatment for lymphoma and was running in an agility trial a couple of months after. (she's still in remission too...was after one treatment!)
the usual things can happen...blood count dropping and such but gosh they handle it way different than people and also it's become much better over the past 10 years where I would see dogs losing their hair and being sick from it. I just have the opportunity to see it a lot cuz of agility and knowing so many many dogs over the years.
so lots of and

[lotsadox]

I think dogs handle these things way better than humans anyway. Just cover your seats with towels. I've had dogs throw up, pee, poo and just about anything else in my car. It cleans up. When Pebbles was sick, she would throw up in the car. I got so I would cover the seat with a folded up beach towel and put another one on the floor, just in case. It worked fine.

Sending more and