Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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For the experts: How long does it typically take to know if Palladia is working or not? I've seen varying lengths of time here and elsewhere.
Rocky started on it this week. His OSA has spread down his side; he now has two tumors confirmed to be OSA. The plan is to give it two weeks and then his oncologist will re-check the tumors. If they've grown, we move on to something else. If they're holding steady or have shrunk, we stick with the Palladia.
Is that enough to determine if it's working or not?
Thanks.
Edit: I should probably add he had five rounds of Carboplatin. The tumors began showing up after the fifth round. They're growing fast, so time is of the essence to try to slow them down.
David and Rocky (and Baxter now too!)
Rocky had his right front leg amputated on Valentine's Day 2017 after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
He joined the September Saints on September 3, 2017.
He is the toughest, bravest, sweetest and best friend I'll ever know.
Hi David!
Sorry to see that things are ... rocky ... for Rocky. (Couldn't resist!) My sweet pooch had AMAZING results with Palladia and Prednisone, but we were fighting a MCT. Izzy lost her leg to OSA and developed the mast cell tumor about 8-9 months post amp ... of course, the oncologist was SHOCKED when I brought her back for the MCT as we'd elected to do nothing but amputation and well, Izzy wasn't "supposed" to survive more than about 4 months.
We love beating the odds.
Anyhow, Izzy's super smart and wonderful family vet started her on pred right away while we were awaiting the consult a few days later with the onco, who is also a total rock star. Her tumor had already reduced after just five doses of the pred and after 14 doses of palladia, it was almost gone. I found my old post on it, but it appears that Photobucket changed the rules and so you can't see my pics anymore. So so sad. But to give you an idea, it was probably a 1 cm -ish tumor to start, perhaps just larger than that, and in roughly 4 weeks, it was almost down to nothing!
That said, I believe your vet is spot on ... if in two weeks there's no improvement, it's not working.
Paws crossed that it works!!!
Amy & Izzy, too!
Momma to the world's most beautiful American Bulldog, Izzy!! Lost her front leg to OSA 9/18/15. Diagnosed w MCT in June 2016. Celebrated her 1 year ampuversary with knee surgery on 9/18/16! MCT recurrence in Dec 2016. Happy & hungry til nearly 14, earning her wings on 7/31/17.
Thanks Amy!
So Izzy was on Prednisone too? Rocky's oncologist felt the Pred on top of the Palladia would be too hard on his stomach, so we're just doing the Palladia (with Tramadol) for now.
Did Izzy have any side effects? Rocky's only had two doses (40mg each) of the Palladia so far, but seems to be OK at this point. I may need to ask the oncologist again about adding Prednisone too.
David and Rocky (and Baxter now too!)
Rocky had his right front leg amputated on Valentine's Day 2017 after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
He joined the September Saints on September 3, 2017.
He is the toughest, bravest, sweetest and best friend I'll ever know.
David,
Izzy takes Pepcid (famotidine) wither her meals (am/pm) to help quell any GO upset. She did have diarrhea about 6ish weeks I to treatment (75 mg every other day), but I'll be honest and say we can't be 100% sure it was drug related ... she'd been at the family farm and could have gotten into someone else's kibble ... or ate goose/duck/chicken/goat/cat poop (she's a real charmer).
She's been on prednisone for a year and has significant muscle wasting as well as a pot belly and intermitten incontinence (she's also nearly 14, so some of that weeing could just be old lady stuff) but no tummy troubles.
I'm guessing Rocky is already on pepcid? They generally have you start that you few days in advance of adding palladia to help shield from GI issues. If your oncologist failed to mention that step, I'd have a serious discussion with him or her about the treatment protocol.
Let me know how I can help!
Momma to the world's most beautiful American Bulldog, Izzy!! Lost her front leg to OSA 9/18/15. Diagnosed w MCT in June 2016. Celebrated her 1 year ampuversary with knee surgery on 9/18/16! MCT recurrence in Dec 2016. Happy & hungry til nearly 14, earning her wings on 7/31/17.
2-4 weeks seems reasonable to me. You are looking for no growth or possible shrinkage of the tumors. If the tumors are still growing rapidly then they may choose an oral chemo such as Leukeran or Cytoxan although these generally will not shrink existing tumors. Unfortunately OSA is mainly a surgical disease and there is not a specific drug that will consistently shrink or delay the growth of tumors.
Pam
Thanks!
At this point, we're trying to mainly to hold them at bay to buy him a few more months. I'm not going to complain if they shrink a bit though. I'll keep Leukeran and Cytoxan in mind to ask the oncologist if the Palladia doesn't work.
I don't think she mentioned Pepcid, but I started him on it the same night he started the Palladia. So far he's had three doses of Palladia without any noticeable issues.
David and Rocky (and Baxter now too!)
Rocky had his right front leg amputated on Valentine's Day 2017 after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
He joined the September Saints on September 3, 2017.
He is the toughest, bravest, sweetest and best friend I'll ever know.
So glad to hear Rocky is tolerating the Palladia well! I'm sending good thoughts and prayers to Rocky with the soulful eyes that this help him mightily!
Hi David, great post! Good to know that Rocky is doing OK so far on the Palladia. I think Rocky is a rockstar and he's going to do just great. Please keep us posted
Chris & spirit Kylie xo
David,
Just an FYI - do not be alarmed if Rocky's nose starts to turn color. He's light colored like Izzy, so his black nose may turn brown ... then pink. It looks REALLY weird until you get used to it. Paw pads could change, too.
Fingers crossed that this works!
Amy & Izzy
Momma to the world's most beautiful American Bulldog, Izzy!! Lost her front leg to OSA 9/18/15. Diagnosed w MCT in June 2016. Celebrated her 1 year ampuversary with knee surgery on 9/18/16! MCT recurrence in Dec 2016. Happy & hungry til nearly 14, earning her wings on 7/31/17.
Rocky Palladia update:
The good: The tumor that had been rapidly growing has shrunk since he started the Palladia! The other tumor is holding steady. So it seems to be working. We also did an ultra sound, and all of his organs look good and seem to be cancer free.
The bad: The ultra sound found a third, bigger tumor further down his side. It's deeper and in a muscle, so it's not apparent as the other two just by looking and touching. Since we just discovered it, we have no idea if the Palladia is working on it. Logic would suggest if the Palladia is working on the other two tumors, it's working on this one. But when has cancer ever followed logic?
So two more weeks of Palladia, then back for more measurements. Hopefully all three will be smaller or at least not any bigger.
David and Rocky (and Baxter now too!)
Rocky had his right front leg amputated on Valentine's Day 2017 after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
He joined the September Saints on September 3, 2017.
He is the toughest, bravest, sweetest and best friend I'll ever know.
Fingers crossed and sending prayers for all to be smaller in two more weeks! Great job of taking it day by day! So I'm going to focus on your good news "yay" and know in my heart the Palladia is taking care of the the bad news along with the other two spots for Rocky with the soulful eyes ❤️.
Focusing on the good news too, because it is indeed, good news!!!:-) 🙂 One is smaller and the otther is holding isteady! Sounds like the Palladia is shpwing some promising results!
And who knows, maybe that third undiscovered tumor is smaller than it was before the Palladia! Logic just may prevail after all! 🙂
Thanks for the update. We're all following closely and hoping with allmour hearts these good reports keep comjng! 🙂
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
WAIT! You almost made a clean get away but we caught you!! We need you to come back WITH pictures of cutie pie Rocku! 🙂
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
benny55 said
WAIT! You almost made a clean get away but we caught you!! We need you to come back WITH pictures of cutie pie Rocku! 🙂
Check out his Share my Story thread. I found some old photos of him rolling on his ball (still looking for video).
David and Rocky (and Baxter now too!)
Rocky had his right front leg amputated on Valentine's Day 2017 after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
He joined the September Saints on September 3, 2017.
He is the toughest, bravest, sweetest and best friend I'll ever know.
This is an AWESOME update!!!!! Hoorayyyyyyy!
ANY time we can stop progression is a good day. It's an incredible day when we are able to beat cancer back and see tumors shrinking! SO glad you decided to give it a whirl! Izzy gives 3 paws up!
Momma to the world's most beautiful American Bulldog, Izzy!! Lost her front leg to OSA 9/18/15. Diagnosed w MCT in June 2016. Celebrated her 1 year ampuversary with knee surgery on 9/18/16! MCT recurrence in Dec 2016. Happy & hungry til nearly 14, earning her wings on 7/31/17.
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