Laura and Tai,

Sorry to hear of the incident and the problems with coughing. I never did do any follow-up x-rays to determine the state of Miss Cherry's lungs after the last chemotherapy treatment. Hopefully, you will get a response soon from others that did do the follow-ups and they can tell you more specifically to the symptoms you may see and what, if anything, can be done. We just wanted to voice support to what I know is a very scary/worrysome status. I will point you back to Nova's postings in January, February, and again in March. At least one of those involved extreme coughing and as we know, not only is Nova still with us, but recent xrays have shown no lung mets. We will pray that yours will be the same sort of situation.

Sending Pawsitive Thought, Prayers and Huggs,

Spirit Cherry's Dad

I hesitate to chime in, because Yoda's experience seemed a little out of the ordinary, so I don't know how helpful it would be... 

I was actually told not to expect a cough first at all, but rather lethargy, by Yoda's oncologist (though I'm not sure I've seen anyone share that experience here either).  Yoda's mets were discovered because of a cough, though and it didn't seem serious.  I didn't observe other symptoms and wouldn't for quite a while.  But Yoda was in for his chemo a couple days after the occasional cough started and so they x-rayed just in case.  Everyone was pretty surprised that there were three smallish mets.  Could almost have been a coincidence and the cough was something else, because it was gone a few days later.  Then the cough only returned and, was significantly worse, when Yoda had problems with his mets rupturing and his lungs filling with fluid.  Thankfully I haven't seen too many posts on met ruptures.  Not pleasant.  If you're worried and there is action you'd want to take with Tai's treatment, if mets have in fact developed, maybe it's worth going in to check.  It's a tough call.  If you trust your vet, maybe you could get an opinion over the phone, especially if you don't know yet what options you have if mets have developed.

Sorry that my answer seems to be, there aren't clear indicators of lung mets, which I know is totally frustrating.  Yoda's cough could have been something else entirely and he was supposed to get lethargic, but didn't until way close to the end.  And, as always, it probably varies from dog to dog.  I do think though, as general advice, as I look back, I might have benefited from chatting with Yoda's oncologist about what options she would suggest, if/when lung mets occurred ahead of time.  That way, you can think about it before you're hit with the overwhelming news that mets have appeared, during which time it's hard to process anything else.

I'll be thinking of Tai and praying that she doesn't need my prayers in the least   No matter what course you take, commit to quality time with Tai and limit the amount of time you let yourself worry!