Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello:
My dog Max is 2 weeks post-op left front leg amp and doing great. However, just received call from vet that grade tumor was marginally higher than thought and now recommending chemo post-op.
Is there anyone out there whose dog had fibrosarcoma, amputation, and then chemo? Trying to get all my ducks in a row before I meet oncologist. Somewhat confused as information that I have read on-line suggests that the amputation alone (from veterinary sites) is suffice for this type of tumor as there is no question of margins and slow to metastasize.
Currently have Max on artemisinin alternating with Apocaps , medicinal mushrooms, IP6, and turmeric.
In no way do I want to transport Max back and forth to vet and cause more stress. I'm looking at small study done where they used metronomic oral chemotherapy for soft tissue sarcomas. I believe it was through Colorado State.
Any information/experience will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Lisa and...
Max 7 y/o Norwegian Elkhound 2 wks. post-op amp with fibrosarcoma
Hi Lisa and Max, welcome to Tripawds. We're so sorry you had to join us, but we'll do what we can to help.
I didn't have fibro, but you'll see many others here have (and are) coping with it. I did some reading about it in Dr. Dressler's Dog Cancer Survival Guide. In discussing fibrosarcoma, he's mostly addressing dogs who don't go through amputation but here is the gist of what he says about treatment protocols:
"High grade STS (including fibrosarcomas) is more metastatic, with 40-50% of these tumors spreading to the lungs and liver." This is probably why your vet is now recommending chemo, to ward off the metastasis, correct?
Dr. Dressler's book also says that:
"In certain cases, the addition of chemotherapy may prevent or delay metastasis and possibly treat existing metastatic disease.
Metronomic, or low-dose oral chemotherapy, has recently been reported to delay recurrence in dogs with incompletely removed low and intermediate grade tumors. Using chronic, low doses of oral cyclophosphamide and piroxicam may be an alternative to post-surgical radiation therapy. In studies, dogs who did not receive metronomic chemotherapy had a median recurrence at seven months, whjile dogs treated with metronomic chemotherapy reached about fourteen months.
The bottom line: Low or intermediate grade STS is treatable with excellent long term control and survival rates associated with aggressive surgery or combined surgery and radiation treatments. The prospects are worse for a high grade tumor, which is more likely to metastasize, but treatment and tumor control is still possible. Combining surgery, radiation and chemotherapy can extend life and enhance life quality."
Chemo is not right for everyone and there's no law saying you have to do it. I didn't have chemo when diagnosed with osteosarcoma, but I did do metronomic chemo 17 months later and my folks really felt that it improved my quality of life and extended it. It's an easy thing to do at home without causing any stress from vet visits.
I put a call out on our Facebook page to ask others for their fibro experiences, so do check there as well. We hope this helps. Congratulations on making it through the amputation surgery by the way. And thank you for using tags in your post, this really helps when people search the forums !
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
My Spencer had a grade 3 fibrosarcoma. We did amputation and then 15 weeks of chemo. At first the plan was to do 12 weeks, 4 three week cycles, with week 1 being adriamyacin and cytoxan, then weeks 2 and 3 vincrisitine, then start over. We were doing 12 weeks because adria has been linked to cardio myopathy and dobermans are more likely to have cardio myopathy. So that was the point when the scales would shift to the risks not being worth it. But, at week 3, Spencer had some weakness episodes, we had a full cardio workup done and discovered that his heart wasn't functioning as well as it should be, so we took him off of the adria. In its place we swapped to mytoxin (also dropped the cytoxan). We also bumped him back to 15 weeks, so 5 three week cycles. Vincristine stayed the same.
Spencer has done GREAT so far. I worried that he would not feel well; but really, he seems to be just fine. He has been sick to his stomach a few times; but not even once per week. He does sleep more the day of a treatment (all are IV); but by the next day he is at full energy again.
Tomorrow is treatment number 15. So I don't know yet if the cancer is gone. But what I do know is that the estimate for how long he had before needing to be put to sleep if we did nothing (no amputation or chemo) was 2-4 weeks. The estimate for amputation only before a tumor would pop up was 3 months. We are now at the 3 month mark and so far no tumors! I'm hoping in 8 weeks we will go in and he will still be tumor free!
Jac and Angel Spencer. Spencer was 5.25 years old. He fought a grade 3 fibrosarcoma, started on his shoulder. Left front leg amputated in August 2011. 15 weeks of chemo finished 12/22/11 (mytox and adria). Lung mets found on x-rays 12/28/11. Started carboplatin 1/6/12. Went to Heaven on 2/27/12. I miss him like crazy every day. See his blog here: http://spencer.tripawds.com/
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