Angel started chemo for the lymphoma a couple weeks ago. Her regimen is one dose once a week: vincristine, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, then a week off, then repeat. I think after 2-3 months of that, she gets a treatment every other week. She also gets prednisone 5mg daily x 1 week, 2.5mg daily x 1 week, then 2.5mg every other day.
She did fine with vincristine. No side effects at all. After the cyclophosphamide last week, she seemed like her stomach bothered her a little for about 36 hours, then she was fine (just a little quiet and not quite as excited about her food - although biscuits and cheese were still interesting). That's quite common. Her lymph nodes responded well.
She was due for vincristine again today, but her neutrophils were too low, so she will not get chemo this week. She will be on Clavamox for a week to protect against any infections, then they will try again. They will probably either lower the dose of cyclophosphamide or give her a different drug next time she is due for that. The vet (when I called to ask if I should still taper the pred) said it happens in about 25% of dogs.
K is annoyed, as it is at least a half hour each way through stupid Florida traffic, plus an hour and a half wait before they could tell him they couldn't do chemo. That is a lot of time where he can't get work done (I am grateful that he can take her so I don't have to take time off; he works from home when not traveling). He also is not crazy about having a dog who is prone to infection spend hours in a place where there are lots of other dogs that could infect her. He is philosophical about the whole process, but of course I still had to hear about it being annoying. Angel is his girl, though... she finds him fascinating (the little spotted one is a tease and a Mama's girl ).
A few rayz for my love, if you can spare them. She is happy and energetic.