When Gus was first diagnsoed, we felt we caught his cancer early. We did do a biopsy which came back negative but the x-rays were looked at by 2 other doctors, one being from OSU, the other a radiology clinic in columbus and both felt cancer was present, so we went through with amputation. From the start I said I wouldn't put him through the chemo, partly with the hopes of having caught it early we would be ok, and I didn't want him to have to deal with the side effects, I also tried to weigh what others here had dealt with, pros and cons, you will find some here haven't done chemo and had excellent results, some have done it and still lost their buddy soon afterwards, others have had chemo and extended life quite well. 6 weeks post we found lung mets, even our vet was surprised at how fast they showed up, so we started the metronomic therapy with prednisone, cytoxin and doxycyline, not sure if they had much effect we lost him 3 1/2 months after the surgery. Did I regret it, no, would I do it the same, not sure. I think you need to consider all the factors, for me number one was quality of life, you know your dog best, so you need to make that determination about how you think he will handle it, although you really don't know until you do it. How much time do you have to dedicate to all that will be involved. Will it burden you financially, chemo isn't cheap, will YOU be able to handle the side effects if Hunter has some, including will you start having guilt issues with having put him through the treatments should he have tough going. Alot of people here have started chemo and quit early for some of those reasons. In a way it's a crap shoot, I don't know if I would have done chemo if Gus would have been around longer, but be able to live with your decision, there is really no time for second guessing, make it and move ahead with it. Trials can offer a treatment you otherwise couldn't afford or have access to, but you know where you stand if you leave early. This whole cancer journey can spin your world faster tnat you ever thought, and it will always be on your mind the rest of Hunters life, the good thing is they don't have a clue they have it. There is never a wrong decision, your making them on what you feel is best for Hunter, we just hope the outcome is what we intended. Paws up, Spirit Gus and Dan  

It's been said already and I'll just reiterate it: there is no wrong decision at all.

We opted to do chemo for Catie after her osteosarcoma diagnosis and subsequent amputation. Her protocol included a 3-week rotation of chemo medications. She didn't suffer too many side effects: some nausea, lethargy. Side effects were more pronounced after her doxorubicin treatments. We stopped after five because she felt quite ill after the second doxorubicin treatment and we simply didn't want to put her through the third and final one (her therapy was carboplatin; doxorubicin; carboplatin; doxorubicin; carboplatin; doxorubicin).

It's been almost a year now since Catie's amputation. She's done amazingly well. 

Despite the variation in survival, with or without chemo, we chose the chemotherapy route to enhance her odds. It did serious damage to our pocketbooks. It was stressful every three weeks taking her back to the oncologist for another treatment.

Would we do it again?

In a heartbeat, yes.

The only thing I would do differently would be to ask that the chemotherapy protocol only include carboplatin. We hated doxorubicin. It was harsh.

Good luck on making your decision; it will clearly be one made with love for Hunter. And, as Tracy said, go with your heart.

Carmen

Hunter and family,

Miss Cherry underwent a rather aggressive chemotherapy regement which included her first treatment occuring just hours after the amputation, after her body had warmed back up to room temperature. She had a large growth on her kidney as well as the osteosarcoma in her left fore-leg and I truely believe that this aggressive chemotherapy regement was the main reason why we had our additonal 405 days. Having said that, I know that the decision to undergo chemotherapy is not as straight forward as the amputation. In the case of a cancer like Cherry's, the amputation will remove the source of extreme pain, but with the usual risks of surgery and the recovery. However, chemotherapy is not as consistent at holding off the aggressive nature of the cancer. We were lucky that both the osteosarcoma and the growth on the kidney did respond and we had our wonderful 405 days. Miss Cherry lost all appetite during her regement, and I had to stuff nearly 85% of her caloric intake during that time. However, she never really showed signs of nausea, reduced white blood cell counts, or any other complications. As far as cost, well I stopped my accounting at $13,000. There has been great progress during the two years since Cherry finished her chemotherapy but I also know that the cost of the medicines had increased significantly. A great deal of Miss Cherry's cost delt with the increase diagnosis and test has we attempted to determine what exactly was going on within her body.

Having shared our experience base, I will tell you that I agree with all the above comments. That is the problem with chemotheapy regements and medicine as a whole - there is no simple action-reaction. Not all patients respond the same to the exact same condtions. What ever you decide, we know that you will make that decision based upon what you know is best for Hunter and this community will support you through that decision. Personally, I would be afraid that I would not be able to adapt the treatment once I started a clinical trial. However, once we started down the path with Charites, we never diverted from the original plan - accept to deal with the apptite problem.

We want to wish you the very best and send pawsitive thoughts your way,

Spirit Cherry's Dad