Frosty Paws - Yummmm!

Yes, Logan actually ate and enjoyed a Frosty Paws frozen treat! I've been offering these for about a week with no luck. Logan and his brother (Rudy) LOVE these! Logan finally didn't turn his nose up this time. Still no luck with actual dog food, but we'll get there.

I belong to two Yahoo Groups related to canine bone cancer, and I've seen posts on both of them about dogs that don't go back to dog food until after their chemo treatments are totally over. The chemo meds actually modify the way the food tastes. So, we might just have to stay stocked up on other things for a while.

So....still chugging along.....

(side note: if you're interested in either of the Yahoo Groups I referred to, you can find them at:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/bonecancerdogs/ and http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CanineCancer/?yguid=407592281)

Recheck Appointment and No Feeding Tube!

We took Logan back to the hospital to see the oncologist for his recheck appointment.
The doc took a blood panel to make sure the Cisplatin did not negatively effect Logan's kidneys and then talked with us briefly because he was in such a hurry and "late for a meeting". I wasn't too happy! So, we got a low dose of Prednisone to help with intestinal and appetite issues as well as an anti-diarrhea medicine (Logan had this issue the morning we went to the appointment). The doc didn't think that a feeding tube was needed at this time, but that we'd monitor him over the next few days to be sure. We then made it very clear that if we proceed with the next treatment that Logan must receive pre-treatment as well as meds directly afterward to prevent these effects from happening again. The doc said this wouldn't be a problem. He also stated that he only sees cases like Logan's (immediate and prolonged side effects of Cisplatin treatment) about once a year. Interesting...

So, Logan has been eating deli meats, hot dogs, lean beef and bread since the appointment. The vet and the specialist told us to basically feed him anything and everything that he'll eat (aside from dangerous foods like chocolate and grapes, obviously). I went on another shopping spree and grabbed some frozen BilJack dog food that we'll try tomorrow when it's thawed. Also switched the hot dogs to beef instead of pork because of the sodium content. Logan has been eating deli ham like a champ, and he's getting bogged down with salt! Not good.

Well, knock-on-wood things seem to be doing a turn around. I just think back to how things were on Tuesday and how I was second guessing all of our decisions and wondering if we were close to having to make a hard decision. ugh. Logan is such a trooper...and all the while...with tail wagging!

First Chemotherapy Treatment

The day after we discussed the chemo plan with the oncologist, we took Logan in for his first treatment. He had 6 - 8 hours in the hospital to look forward to..ugh. The first 4 to 5 hours I believe, they pump lots of fluids into a dog receiving this type of chemo drug (Cisplatin). They also administer fluids after the drug is given as well. This is done to protect the kidneys during treatment. I picked Logan up early evening from the hospital and he seemed so-so. Really lethargic and sort of out of it. And of course peeing every 2 minutes! I took the "back way" home as opposed to the highway in case I had to pull over to let him go pee.

It took us a long time to get home due to traffic and I kept glancing at Logan in my rear view mirror. For some reason, Logan has never wanted to lie down in the backseat of the car! He refuses to ever since we brought him to live with us. So, it broke my heart to see that he was trying with all his might to stay sitting up, but finally he just couldn't anymore and ended up plopping down on the seat with a huff and a sigh. He just looked plain miserable! Wouldn't look at me when I talked to him or sang silly stupid songs to him. Wouldn't wag his tail when I said his name. I cried the rest of the way home. Are we doing the right thing?

When we got home that evening, Logan passed out on the floor and slept the rest of the night. I'm sure he needed it.

It was explained to us that with Logan's first treatment, he would most likely experience "delayed side effects" that would begin 4 - 6 days after treatment and would consist of loss of appetite, diarrhea, nausea and lethargy. This would last for a day or two and then he should snap back to normal. Well.....definitely not the case! Logan wouldn't eat at all. Nothing. He turned his nose up to everything and anything...even his favorite treats..."Happy Hips"!
This lasted most of day one after treatment when finally he ate a few bites of canned dog food for my husband.

Day two after chemo....still no appetite. Thankfully no vomiting, though. We tried so many combos; baby food, cat food, all flavors of canned dog food, etc. Nothing.
I finally got him to agree to boiled chicken and rice! So for days, that was the only thing he would eat! Not good.

As the days went on we noticed even more and more the muscle atrophy developing on Logan's head. The top of his head was now pointed, and his temples were totally sunken. This really started to concern us, so I took him to the vet on the fifth day after treatment. I also wanted to talk to our vet about the appetite issue as we were now becoming very worried.

The vet took one look at Logan and became very concerned. He told us that the atrophy was not his primary concern and that Logan needed nutrition - stat! We weighed him, and he was down to 89.4 lbs. Logan weighed 102 lbs. prior to all of this mess. The vet felt around, did some food reaction observation, listened to Logan's lungs, etc. Everything seemed from that perspective. Finally the vet decided to give Logan an injection of Cerenia (an anti-nausea drug) hoping that the root problem was that Logan was just really sick in his stomach. He became very serious and explained that if we couldn't get the stomach and appetite issues under control in 48 hours or so, we needed to think about getting a feeding tube put in as Logan was now considered to be anorexic (which happens a lot in dogs as a result of chemo side effects).

That night I tried to feed Logan everything under the sun. After sobbing for about an hour, I was finally able to get him to eat some lean ground beef! My husband then gave him a few pieces of chicken / dark meat that he ate, but that was it for the night. You could just tell Logan was disgusted by anything we were holding under his nose.

And this brings us to today - the 7th day after the treatment. This is the day I really had my breakdown wondering if we're truly doing the right thing for Logan. At least my husband and I were on the same page and agreed that we would NOT put Logan through this 5 more times for the treatments! We were also still unsure about the feeding tube option. Today was the worst I've seen Logan thus far.

I worked from home again today so I could attempt to feed Logan every hour or so (and had luck only with bacon). I took him back the our general vet in the afternoon for his 2nd Cerenia injection and another weigh-in. Down another pound, just in a day. UGH! We talked about some other food combos to try. The vet then explained that the esophageal feeding tube (in the throat with the feed tube coming out the neck) is no longer an option because of Logan's size (we wouldn't be able to get enough calories in him via that method), so if we did go with a feeding tube, it would have to be gastric (directly into his stomach and out his side), which is more involved. Another bump in the road! We wrapped up with the doc and headed home once again.

Logan and I sat on the kitchen floor pondering what I could go buy for him at the grocery store. After another big sobbing party - I headed out.

So, after the shopping trip I had success with deli meat and hot dogs! So, things are looking up again. It's like a roller coaster! My husband was also able to get Logan to eat quite a bit of protein tonight with all of the different things I bought at the store. So, we're hopeful that Logan will show more improvement by tomorrow. We're taking him for a "recheck" appointment tomorrow with his oncologist to discuss this whole ordeal. I'm also finding out through research and talking to different people that most dogs receiving chemo are also given pre-treatment of anti-nausea and anti-diarrhea meds as well as pills to take home directly after the treatment. This wasn't even offered to us. If Logan continues to improve over the next few days, the only way we will go through with the next chemo treatment is if the doctor can help us figure out a way to NOT put him through these side effects again. We plan to stand pretty firm on this tomorrow. We have also decided that we will not go down the path of a gastric feeding tube.

Wish us luck!

Recovery from Mandibulectomy & The Chemo Treatment Plan

So Logan recovered very well from his surgery. He was such a good boy with the e-collar on all the time even though the healing was starting to make him itch like crazy. All he wanted to do was plunge his face onto our kitchen rug to scratch (like he used to do).


The one issue we ran into though was getting his medication in him! Not good considering one of them was his pain medication! Since he wasn't eating solids, there was no using cheese or deli meat or pill pockets! We tried crushing it into a powder and hiding it in his "flurry", etc. No go! We tried pilling him, and that was a nightmare since we had to be so careful not to tear his stitches and he fought us like a champ!! Finally, our general vet came to the rescue and suggested a pain patch and an injection for the antibiotic! Whew!! This took a huge weight off our shoulders - I can't even explain!


So, when they said "pain patch", I'm thinking...."hmmmm....patch....like a nicotine patch....they'll stick it on his belly where he can't reach it, or up under his front leg or something". Ummmmm....NO! Apparently it's necessary to shave an area the size of Texas right on his back to accommodate the patch! And they staple it to him!! Crazy. But hey...it worked! So, while we were there for the patch and shot, the vet went ahead and removed Logan's drain too (very minor 1 minute procedure).

Two weeks after op day we took him back to the hospital to get his stitches removed and he got to ditch the satellite dish (collar) too!! The surgeon said he looked great and that he could "graduate" to canned food for the next 2 - 3 weeks!

We went back a few days later to discuss next steps with the oncologist. It was explained that with Logan's type of cancer, the best option would be 6 rounds of treatment (3 cisplatin and 3 adriamycin). We were scheduled to drop Logan off the very next morning for his first treatment.

The Surgery

In mid-June our tough guy was taken to the "hospital" and dropped off one Thursday morning to stay for a few days. The procedure was done by a surgeon specialist that afternoon. The surgeon ended up having to do exactly what they predicted, and take the right half of Logan's lower jaw from the hinge up to the front/center - teeth, tissue and all. This sounds just horrifying, I realize. But our research told us, as well as the vet and specialists, that this surgery is fairly common and that dogs fair very well afterward. They adapt incredibly, as we're seeing with Logan.


The surgeon sent the removed portion of Logan's jaw to the lab to get input on whether or not she "got everything" related to the cancer. The lab confirmed that she indeed had, but again - there's no guarantee.


Of course we were on the phone off and on all evening with the hospital getting statuses on our boy, and thankfully he was pretty groggy and on heavy pain medication as well as a morphine drip, so he was resting comfortably.


We went to see him during "visiting hours" the next afternoon, and tried to prepare ourselves for seeing him post-op. I didn't even know if I wanted to go at that point. I didn't know if I could handle it. But the doctors told us Logan wasn't eating for them yet, and sometimes if the owners come in and give it a try, the dog will eat. So, we had to go!

Seeing Logan for the first time really wasn't as bad as what we had pictured. In fact, what bothered us the most wasn't even his jaw, or the appearance of him being in any kind of pain, but rather the fact that the poor guy couldn't walk!! He just has major jaw surgery, but couldn't walk?? He was unable to lift his hind end off the floor at all! The nurses were literally dragging him into the visiting room. We took him outside to try to get him to go to the bathroom, and it was heartbreaking to watch him try to get even to the door. The staff told us it was because of the hospital's "slippery floors". Ummmm....whatever! Yes, it's difficult for dogs to maneuver on shiny, tile floors, especially a dog with arthritis and joint issues, like Logan, but...this was ridiculous!


The staff mixed up some "dog flurries" in the blender and we got Logan to eat two bowls for us, which was great! We then had to leave him behind for another night. This was actually fine, though and would've been requested by us anyway because we felt more comfortable having him monitored one more night in a place where they can react quickly if anything should go wrong. We worried the whole way home about the walking issue. Then of course once again, I got online and read about how this type of sudden lameness can be signs of all sorts of horrible problems! We called a few times during the night, but the staff couldn't tell us much related to the lameness.


The next morning we talked to a helpful surgeon on call, and he explained that he sees this lameness a lot with larger dogs that have to stay in the kennels there at the hospital and do not get very much exercise or stretching throughout their stay. This made us feel a little better about things. He told us that if we can show him we can get Logan to eat that day, then we can bring him home! So, off to the hospital we went!


When we got there - Logan was walking upright! Yayyy!! Wobbly, but not dragging his back end! We were also able to get Logan to eat - and then some! So we got our discharge instructions and brought Logan home to start his recovery. He was wearing an e-collar, had stitches the entire way down the side of his cheek (inside and out), and a drain in the bottom of his jaw/neck. All things that we would have to monitor very closely. His tongue also now hangs out of his mouth from the right side of his mouth, and we were told that it always will. Kind of cute, actually! ;)


Luckily I was able to work from home the entire first week Logan was at home. We also boarded our other dog at the doggie "hotel" for a few days to make sure Logan has some peace and quiet. He didn't seem to mind the e-collar much, and the drain didn't bother him either. They were both kind of tedious to keep up with, but that's ok. It was very important to keep everything as dry as possible, which was difficult with all of his drooling.


Meal time was interesting. Logan was required to stay on "dog flurries" from the blender for two weeks (mainly canned food and water or broth). Our house smelled so bad (like nasty canned dog food) for those two weeks, and so did Logan (no offense buddy)!! We also had everything covered in sheets and towels. Even though we'd clean him up after every meal, he'd still be "leaking flurry" for a while after he ate. We were told it would take him a little while to teach himself how to use his "new mouth". This surgery causes "drift", which means - Logan's bottom jaw swivels back and forth left to right and is very difficult for him to control (considering there's now no hinge on the right side to hold anything in place). So, obviously this impacts his eating, drinking, the way he holds his tongue, etc.


I told my friends that although we didn't have any "human children"to know from experience, I was convinced that this must be what it's like to bring home a newborn baby! I was doing nothing but prepping food, washing dishes and dog bowls, doing dog laundry, shopping for the dog, and keeping a constant eye on the dog for days on end. Crazy. He's totally worth it all, though...don't get me wrong.


Not much more left to bring this up-to-date. Will post more later.

Get Up To Speed - From Diagnoses to Where We Are Today...

Ok, so - as requested, let me bring you up to speed with Logan's situation.
Back in June, my husband found a large lump (looked kind of like a balloon-like growth) along his lower gum line. We took him to the vet a day or so later and just by watching the vet's face when she first looked at the lump, I knew it wasn't good news. Logan had a dental scheduled for the end of the month, but we moved it up and during the dental, the vet did a biopsy (Logan was "knocked out" for the dental, so this procedure was not painful for him - he was just a little sore afterward and was on some mild pain meds and canned food for a few days). The vet also took x-rays of Logan's jaw, and from just the x-rays, was able to make a pretty good assumption that the outcome didn't look good. The biopsy results came back a few days later, and just as we all suspected - cancer. Our vet explained to us that it was "osteosarcoma" which is bone cancer. He said that during the dental, there was so much jaw bone deterioration, that one of Logan's teeth actually just fell right out when the vet touched it! There are different forms of osteosarcoma, and I have many links and much more detail. Please let me know if you'd like me to go into more detail about the disease in one of my entries, or contact me directly and I can give you the info. Otherwise, I'll compile the info and post it here sometime this week.

Our vet also explained that Logan had most likely been at a minimum, "uncomfortable" for quite some time, and perhaps even in some pain due to the cancer in his jaw bone. He noticed during the dental that there was much more tartar build-up on Logan's left side compared to the right. This indicates that Logan had been chewing his food on only the left side of his mouth (the side w/out the tumor) for quite a while. This is just what is so amazing about dogs, especially labs. No whining, no lethargy, no refusal to go do things, still eating, etc. These dogs just want to please you and they live to do so!! They'll push through the pain just so they can be there for you, and you'll never ever know there's anything wrong.

So my husband and I started doing a lot of researching, mainly on the internet of course. That can be good and bad. I eventually had to force myself not to look online anymore just because I started thinking the worst which doesn't help the situation. Osteosarcoma is the most common cancer among dogs. It typically begins in the limbs, though - whereas Logan's began in his jaw(which is also common, but not as much as beginning in the legs). It is a fast-spreading, aggressive form of cancer and needs to be addressed quickly. Obviously, the earlier the detection of the disease, the better. Our vet referred us to an oncologist (at Georgia Vet Specialists in Sandy Springs, GA, http://www.gvsvet.com - if you want to know any info about this place - let me know).

A few days later we took Logan to see the oncologist. We had tried to prep ourselves for what he would tell us our next steps were (our general vet sort of already explained what the typical process is). The oncologist told us that one of Logan's lymph nodes was swollen, and that concerned him a bit, but "not to be alarmed" (gotta love hearing that 100 times throughout this whole ordeal). So, the doc took x-rays of Logan's lungs (this is typically the first place the cancer will metastasize/ spread to) - and thankfully, he didn't see any cancer in the area. However, it's prudent of us to keep in the back of our minds that it's possible that the cancer could already be in Logan's lungs, but just not showing up on the x-rays yet. But...so far, so good.
Then the doc took cells from Logan's lymph nodes to be tested. These results came back clear as well. There are many reasons the lymph nodes can become swollen, so there was no further concern at this point.

Next steps?? Aggressive surgery. We were told that Logan would need to receive a partial axial mandibulectomy (removal of the 1/2 of his lower jaw where the cancer has stemmed from).

Must go feed the "kids". Will post the "next chapter" later today!
Stay tuned...

Greetings!

Hi all! Everyone has been suggesting that I start a blog about Logan (our labrador retriever), so I can post updates in one place instead of having to keep up with emails and vmails :) All of the questions, interest, well wishes and support are so appreciated, that I don't want to leave anyone out who has been curious about the latest and greatest.
For those of you who haven't been following the story.....
Logan is our 11-year-old yellow lab. He came to live with us about 3 years ago here in Atlanta and has been nothing but a happy, well-behaved, smart-as-hell, super sweet pup! We adore him and he seems to love us too ;) He has become especially close to my husband.
In May we found a tumor on Logan's gums and to summarize, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Time moved so quickly at that point and Logan has had a partial mandibulectomy (removal of 1/2 of his lower jaw) and has been through his first chemo treatment. I have received so many questions and concerns about this whole process from friends and family, as well as people I don't even know (who have found me online either from my website or from online forums I belong to about dogs with cancer). I'm learning so much and would've loved to have come across a full, detailed blow-by-blow of someone's experience with canine osteosarcoma at the beginning of this whole ordeal. Maybe I would've had something to relate to and perhaps something to help us know what questions to ask, etc. at the very beginning. So - I've decided to take my friends' suggestions, and post a blog! If for no other reason, maybe someday some other animal lover going through this same thing will come across these posts and find them helpful. I'll post the story up to this point later this evening! Thanks again to everyone for your support!