how's Kelso doing?

Sorry I have not been around much.
Crazy around here, in a bit of a fog.

The past few weeks Kelso has been doing really well, tapering off the steroids and acting more like himself than I have seen him in awhile. I think I even commented to Lisa that I felt like I was meeting an old friend again, he was just doing great.

I got up for work at 5am this last Sun morning (one reason I have not been around) and Kelso was sleeping, I let him out, ect., was acting fine. The night prior we were actually commenting on how well he was doing.

At around noon Dan called me and said he was at the ER vet (same one). Kelso had refused his food so Dan took him in, knowing the signs from before.

Fever was 106, platlets 20,000. Lowest they have been. He stayed overnight and was given IV Baytril and Ampicillin. Perked up the next morning. The critical care vet that saw him last time spoke with me and seems confident that this is lymphoma/leukemia. As he counts were way out of wack (lymphocytes really high) and neutrophills really low. So the lymphs appear to be crowding out his neutrophills which is why he has had these infections. She thinks that this evidence, paired with the positive cancer testing is a diagnosis we can no longer ignore. Bone marrow biopsy not possible as his platlets are so low, and at this point probably does not make a difference. He also has an enlarged submandibular lymph node which points to the diagnosis as well in some cases, this was never present before that we know of

We were able to take him home last night, thankfully. He is resting well and amazingly is doing better than the last episode for now. No clear source of infection, still on steroids and atbx.

As of now we are planning on rechecking his counts at the end of the week and administering chemotherapy. We did not do it while he was there as his counts were in a dangerous range to not make chemo safe. They say it does not have to many side effects for dogs (chemo) and with him turning around so quick we want to give it a go. As long as he is fighting through this and comfortable and happy, and we can have more time with him, we want to try it.

It will probably be Vincristine. Anyone have any experience with chemo in dogs?

It took me awhile to post this because it is honestly really hard to talk about. I alternate between being at peace with this and waking up in the middle of the night sobbing. I thought about not coming here at all. But everyone has been so helpful and kind and really helped us through this, the least I could do would be to tell you what is going on. It is just hard to say

The last few weeks were wonderful, we have had a mild mild winter with no snow at all, Kelso was having fun. He is a strong dog.

One of my favorite pictures, this was taken not even a year ago (last Feb). I just can't believe it really. Glad the snow has stayed away this year for Kelso

Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers. Our hearts are breaking but we just have to keep thinking that he will get better, at least for a little bit, he has not told us that he is to tired to do this yet

No experience with chemo, but sending lots of good thoughts and prayers for your boy.

Steph. I am so sorry I have been busy and just catching up with Kelso's status.

I understand how you feel with the alternating between calm and total sadness. You know your boy the best and will know when he doesn't have any more gas in his tank to fight back the disease.

Take all the good days you can. Lots of pictures on the good days.

I know it is hard to put into words, please know we are here for you.

Oh, Steph, I am so sorry. My experiences with dogs, lymphoma and chemo are from many years ago and thankfully the chemo has improved a ton. I will say that I would want my dog to also be under the care of a very good holistic vet while getting chemo. I think acupuncture especially can really help with chemo and homeopathy has some good things to offer as well. Many good thoughts going out to you, Kelso and to the rest of your family.

I'm so sorry Steph, hoping for the best for kelso throughout this

Steph, our first Gordon Setter was diagnosed with stage 5B lymphoma back in 1999 at teh age of 8. It was an unusual form of lymphoma and it didn't present as it normally does so it was difficult to get a diagnosis, even though he had been seen at the University of Wisconsin a few times. While they were trying to diagnose it he crashed one day and I brought him in on a Sunday afternoon to UW and he was wheeled in on a gurney. They started him on their lymphoma protocol and, while he was very critical that day and there was little hope of his survival, he came home two days later and was doing quite well. He went through the treatment and went into a full remission. He had very few side effects. Chemo does not affect dogs like it does humans because the doses are lower and the quality of life is the focus. He ended up having two more years with us. He did come out of remission once and started on the treatment again and did well for a while, but we had to stop it because he had a heart murmur and the chemo drug affected his heart. After that we did let him go. However, considering the late stage of his lymphoma, his recovery was nothing short of miraculous and they still use his case at UW in the classroom. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again because we were able to give Laddie the best two years of his life.

So, I would have no hesitation about going ahead with the chemo for another dog if I were faced with the decision. However, I would check to see if it is the UW protocol. The protocol they developed, that Laddie had, has become the benchmark for lymphoma treatment because of its success and I believe that most of the top specialty vets in the U.S. are using it. It shouldn't be hard to find out because it has become known as the UW protocol.

I send my sincerest best wishes to you and Kelso.

Sandy that is an encouraging story to read about Laddie - thank you for sharing. Hoping for more of the same for Kelso.

Hugs to Steph and family. I know how hard it has been for you to share this. so thank you for having the courage to do so anyway.

Steph, I am keeping Kelso firmly in my thoughts and prayers. Sending him a gentle little smooch on his head and big hugs to you and DH

I'm so sorr! I'll keep Kelso and you and Dan in my prayers.