CA Wrigley  is planning on having 6 rounds . Her oncologist is recommending 3 rounds of Carboplatin and 3 rounds of Doxorubicin. I asked her why she wants to do the combo and she told me that even though there are no studies to prove it really matters if you use just one agent, or combo, she feels that if there is "one cell" that is resistent to the one agent, she hopes the other agent will get that cell.

She is being fairly aggressive because since Wrigley's cancer is  the aggressive osteosarcoma, her onclogists said there are other factors such as Wrigley's young age ( 3) and the location of her tumor ( on her scapula) that are not favorable.

After reading the side effects of Doxorubicin, I asked her many questions on her treatment plan and she explained her process very well so I am going to trust her. She did day that if the treatment changes the quality of life at any point we will reconsider what we are doing. So that is Wrigley's plan.

I hear ya on the credit card- I am racking up miles to Hawaii  thats for sure.

I talked about not doing the combo because I was so scared of the side effects.  She told me I could just do the one agent if I wanted, but she likes to do the combo so she  talked me into trying the combo and seeing how she does. She is under the assumption that if there is one cell that doesn't respond to one agent, she hopes by using another agent she will cover that one cell.  She assured me that Wrigley will have 2 nurses with her at all times during the administration of treatment to monitor her.  The Dr. also keeps telling me that chemo on dogs is not like chemo in humans- cause I agree, I don't know if I would go that route if it made them so miserable.

Wrigley's Dr. is planning on alternating the drugs on each treatment. She has only had one round so far, and that was the Carboplatin. We  will do the doxorubicin on the 29th.  Her Dr. wants to do chest xrays after 3 treatments, then after the final treatment.  Wrigley had the first round on  Thursday and as of today ( Sunday) she is acting normal. We have not had any signs of side effects. Her  Dr. told me that if they will come, they would most likely come between Sat and Monday.

We will see how the next round goes. It will be the Doxorobicin. We discussed that if that has terrible side effects on Wrigley we will discontinue and stick to one agent. Her oncologist feels very strongly in making sure the quality of life is number one for the dog- so she will evaluate each treatement as it happens. Hope that helps.

Seanne -