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Just diagnosed.: how is disease progression measured? how to you determine course of treatement?

I am- Snowflake\\\'s- birth mommy!

Purred: Tue Apr 13, '10 8:49pm PST


	Hi Everyone... I am Gracie.. i am a 9 year old kitty... My mom took me to Univ of Penn for a thyroid followup .. it was sort of by accident my lymphoma was diagosed. i do not really have symptoms. i am eating, playing,etc. Mom noticed i had sniffles that didnt want to go away and she noticed i had a little bubble on my eye..the doctors barely noticed it... but they had me under while they took off the basel cell growth on my leg( that is being sent to the lab but hoping and praying its not malignant) but while they had me under, they took some cells from my eye and tested it at the lab and i have lymphoma. Mom is so sad as she just recently lost Snowflake ( my birth son). Anyway, the next step is having " stages" done which is a Cat scan, xrays, etc... to determine extent of disease. Did everyone go through that in order to get diagnosed? not only is it expensive for this diagnositic work ( $ 2000) it involves me being put under again. Is this the only way to really take next step as far as seeing the progression of disese? does everyone do this? I have read about prednisolne, but wouldnt the vet have to see the stage of the disease or do some paw parents ask for a treatment of predisolne? i am not a vet and dont know any of this stuff, but read a little. Mom just wants to give me the best care possible and wants me to get better.. but i am a very nervous girl and she knows i hate going through this stuff, but if its all that can be done to help me, mom has to do it. just wondering how everyone approached the diagnosis.. how you figured out the extent of the disease and how you decided on a course of treatment. Thanks everyone

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Miss Mittens- (Angel DG- #14)

I'm a soft,- gentle summer- breeze

Purred: Fri Apr 16, '10 9:34pm PST


	Hi Gracie, I'm very sorry you've been diagnosed with lymphoma. It certainly is frightening, isn't it? We've all been there and are here to offer support and comfort to you and your mommy during this difficult time. An excellent group you might want to join is the Yahoo Feline Lymphoma group, where you can ask questions and learn about all the different types of lymphoma. Here's the address to the group: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/feline_lymphoma Unfortunat ely, I don't know much about lymphoma in the eyes and what the normal chemo protocol is, so there isn't anything useful I can tell you about it's progression or the kind of treatment you will get. I have intestinal lymphoma. My oncologist did an endoscopy and ultrasound and the cytology was sent to a pathologist. It certainly cost my mommy a lot of money! I also live in southern New Jersey, where you live, and $2,000-$2,500 is within the normal range for these diagnostic tests and the lab costs. $2,000 is not at all out of line. There are different treatment protocols and drugs for different kinds of lymphoma and other cancers. Each oncologist has his/her own preferred procedure and drugs that may not be the same as what another oncologist would do or use. If you have a tumor, surgery might be necessary along with chemo but some tumors can shrink using chemo drugs alone. It all depends. Most treatment protocols use prednisone along with other chemo drugs. My treatment is relatively simple. I take prednisone twice a day and the chemo drug cyclophosphamide twice a week. I will take these medications for the rest of my life, until they stop working. My oncologist gave me 6 months to live without chemo and 1 to 2 years if I did the chemo. I opted for chemo. That was 1-1/2 years ago and I'm still here. Not all lymphoma and other cancers are as easy to treat as mine. Most chemotherapy is done for about 6 weeks and then there's a break, followed by off and on treatments for the remainder of your life. You will need to go for a blood test -- a CBC -- after each round of treatment. In general, according to statistics I've read about lymphoma, a cat with lymphoma will live 3-6 months without chemo treatment. With chemo, 70 percent of the cats will live for 7-12 months following treatment and the remaining 30 percent will live 2 years or more. You need to discuss all details of your treatment with your specialist before starting. Ask exactly what is to be done and when, what drugs are to be used and for how long. Will you need surgery? Will you need chemotherapy after surgery? How much will it all cost? As hard as this is to ask, find out how successful the treatment usually is for cats with your type of lymphoma. How long are you expected to survive if you don't undergo treatment? How long with chemo? If there are any more questions you think I can answer, please ask! Please keep us up to date on what's happening and how you're feeling. Stay strong and keep a positive outlook!

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I am- Snowflake\\\'s- birth mommy!

Purred: Sat Apr 17, '10 9:00am PST


	Hi Mittens thanks so much for your informaiton, you really gave mom a good insight and some good questions to ask. Mom wants to definately treat me because so far the doctors said that chemo would be a good option , but mom has to discuss this with oncology on tuesday at Penn where i will be undergoing my treatments. I am glad you gave mom a general insight as to frequency of treatment,etc. Mom knows all all cancers are different and treatment will vary, but that helped mom get a general idea, so thank you so much for your information. So far , i had a CT scan which was $ 976.. i was not able to do the chest xray or ultrasound becuase my blood pressure dropped while i was under anesthesia, so they had to wake me up.. they did not want to take any chances so they are suppose to do these tests on tuesday which will be about $ 1000... but mom knew the costs ahead of time before starting the staging. So we are all hoping the cancer did not spread and that i can get treatment and live as long as possible happily. I have no symptoms at all now.. this cancer was found sort of by accident,, no one was looking for it.. it was just that little pimple near my eye mom worried about. The cancer is occupying a large part of my left nasal area but has not spread thankfully .. to the right side or to my brain, thankfully. But they need to check to ensure its not anywhere else... then mom will talk about treatment options with the oncologist. Mom is a regular now at Univ of Penn veterinary hospital, they all know her, the business office , the guards... they see her so much! first it was Snowflake, now me.. anyway, mom is thankful such a great hospital is so close.. and mittens its close to you too! so thats great, did your mom take you there too? i am not sure how many hospitals do chemo for us kitties.... but that is where i am going. Anyway, thanks again so much for the information and i will keep everyone posted. Thanks for the support, it really is helping mom.. she is still grieving from Snowflake's loss... and now this. She is thankful Mussey has come along though to lift everyone's spirits. thanks , love Gracie girl

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Miss Mittens- (Angel DG- #14)

I'm a soft,- gentle summer- breeze

Purred: Sun Apr 18, '10 7:34am PST


	Hi Gracie! Hopefully your cancer was caught in an early stage, is still local and hasn’t spread anywhere else. It seems your vets have recommended chemo as a good option. That’s the least risky and least stressful of the options. If you were to do radiation, you’d need multiple sessions and would need anesthesia for each session. The anesthesia itself is risky, along with the side effects of radiation. Once all your diagnostic tests are finished and the specialists have all the results and can see the overall picture and what the best options are for you, that’s the time to ask as many questions as you can think of – progression of the disease with and without chemo, the name of the chemo drugs you’ll use, how often you’ll need chemo, what are the side effects of the drugs, etc. etc. We live close to the Univ. of PA too. My vet gave mommy a list of specialists she recommended. #1 on the list was Dr. Klag at the Veterinary Specialists and Emergency Center in Langhorne, PA. The Univ. of PA was #2 on the list but no particular specialist was recommended. #3 was Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Tinton Falls, NJ. My vet had urged mommy to make an appt. as soon as possible. Because the Univ. of PA is the closest and mommy didn’t want to drive up to Langhorne, PA and definitely didn’t want to drive to Tinton Falls, NJ, she called the Univ. of PA and made an appointment there. It’s an outstanding veterinary hospital and overall, the best in our area. Mommy then checked out the background of the specialist I was to see. When she found out he was still an intern studying internal medicine (i.e. still a student) and not yet a board certified specialist, she didn’t like that. She called Dr. Klag at VSEC in Langhorne and was able to make an appointment with him. She then cancelled the appt. at the Univ. of PA. We’ve been very happy with Dr. Klag! Good luck with your visit with the oncologist on Tuesday! Please let us know how the visit turns out and what you find out.

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I am- Snowflake\\\'s- birth mommy!

Purred: Tue Apr 27, '10 6:34pm PST


	Hi! Penn uses Residents as most teaching hospitals do, but they are final year med students and are already VMDs and the next step is taking their boards.. in my case, i had vets that were suppose to be the best around,etc.. but they missed everything.. my cat Snowflake died because these vets who were around for years.. just missed the boat entirely on the diagnosis becuase they werent familiar with the disease ( it was IBD which they should have been knowledgeable about) but they kept missing the diagnosis and when i finally did get to penn it was too late. THankfully though, the same Resident at Penn, Dr. Callahan, also saw Gracie and she decided while Gracie was under to have a wart removed.... she saw Gracie;s eye puffy in one area and decided to take some cells to send to the pathology lab and sure enough, it was lymphoma.. my regular vet would never have caught that or even thought to take a sample, but this doctor did ......and found this disease even before any symptoms surfaced. So it all depends on your vet and how good they are. I had bad ones... but it sounds like you have a good vet.. Today's chemo treatment went well for Gracie.. her tumor near her eye is gone .. but of course she still has her disease and has to go for at least six months ... I hope your baby is doing well........ its so hard when they get sick but we mommies are here to do our best to care for them! I hope alll is going well for your kitties!

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Misha Mouse- snuggle muffin

Purred: Sat May 1, '10 5:05am PST


	Hi Gracie, I am sorry to have to meet you here. I am glad your cancer was found so early. I also had lymphoma . It was in my abdominal cavity around the outside of my colon. My tests and drug protocol were pretty much the same as Miss Mittens. I will keep an eye on you and send you angel purrs that you have a healthy recovery.

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I am- Snowflake\\\'s- birth mommy!

Purred: Sun May 30, '10 6:11pm PST


	Thank you Misha! I am being a brave girl, doing as I am told.. taking my medicine, going for my weekly treatments and just doing everything the doctors tell me to do! I go again on Tuesday.. not a big fan of going for chemo! but when i come home, i am so happy to cuddle with my main man , Mussey boy! He makes me forget everything! Happy Memorial day everyone !

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