Hi Shilo

Sorry to hear they found questionable cells. On the bright side, my vet found questionable cells in an earlier lump (2 weeks before the OSA was originally diagnosed) that turned out to be nothing once they removed the lump and sent it to the lab.

I am wondering if subQ lumps are more common than the vets indicate to us. Maybe they turn up after other types of metastases in some cases, but I don't know. If people have lung mets, they probably don't worry about subQ mets

tazziedog Pam had a St Bernard in her clinic that had subQ lumps. The lumps did not seem to bother her and in the end (after about a year in her clinic after the original diagnosis), the dog died from lung mets, not from the subQ lumps. I don't think that dog had any chemo.

Once the subQ lump was found, we did lots of tests to determine whether other lumps were present. This included chest xrays, which seemed to be okay, and abdominal ultrasound, which was mostly okay except for two suspicious nodes in the spleen. Based on that, we decided to remove the subQ lump. Unfortunately it grew back. I wish we could have gotten it out immediately. It grew a lot in two weeks while doing the other tests and was anchored into the muscle by the time the surgery was done. On the other hand, maybe we should not have removed the lump, given other lumps have returned to that site. (If you have a small and movable lump, I'd probably try to get it out ASAP anyway, but not if other lumps are showing.)

My oncologist assumed that the mets would show lots of other places once we found the subQ lump. That was not the case and 8 weeks later, he is doing great. But of course there could be mets that were just not large enough to see.

On the advice of an oncologist, my vet stopped regular high-dose chemo after the subcutaneous lump was found. I don't know if that was the best decision or not. Maybe it would have grown more slowly if we continued chemo. But I have no idea. In any case, we changed to the metronomics protocol at that time. Another option was to switch to a different high-dose chemo drug.

So, if you are facing a subQ met, you and your vet might decide whether to continue the current chemo protocol or to switch to something like metronomics . I do not think there is a clear answer. I am just giving you a heads up.

Even though Tazzie's leg is really lumpy now, it does not seem to bother him one iota now. He was so amazingly active all day today! We did a few relatively long walks (probably a few km if you count out and back, and over rough and steep terrain) and a long time in the car sightseeing.

I used to distinguish before pre-amp and post-amp. I now find that I distinguish between pre-mushrooms and post-mushrooms.

Susan & Tazzie 2

Hi Shilo

Staying on high-dose chemo - if it agrees with Shilo - might be good. I am just guessing that Tazzie's leg lumps might have grown more slowly if we hadn't stopped that (they are really getting big now). But if you stay on high dose, they might want to switch the chemo. One option given to me was to switch to something called mytoxatrone (sp?).

But hopefully the lumps will not be related to OSA and you can stay the course.

It is premature for us to think the mushrooms will make a big difference. Tazzie has been lively, but he overdid it this weekend (he has bad hips and did lots of hopping this weekend) and is a bit sore this evening. Hopefully a few days of relative rest will help, although his mind seems to be on go go go these days.

My human friend took two of Tazzie's mushrooms today. No news to report there!

Susan & Tazzie 2

Shilo - I forgot to ask you one thing. Does the vet have any idea why Shilo has been feeling badly? I assume that is probably not related to the lumps (???).

Susan & Tazzie 2