Scooby & Lymphoma

[Scooby]

Hey all, just thought I'd update you on how Scooby is doing This might be kind of long! I tend to ramble...

A little background I guess... I adopted Scooby when he was about a year and a half old when his old owners abandoned him. He was wild and unruly, but has really grown into an excellent dog. He's had problems in the past with mast cell tumors; he's had a couple surgeries to remove them. He hasn't had a problem with those for years now. Anyways, last December I was home from school and petting him and something just didn't feel right. There was a hard lump in his throat, about the size of a quarter. My heart sank. The next day, I took him to the vet and they took a sample. That night I got a call back that it was lymphoma. The next day it was diagnosed at T-cell lymphoma, as my vet said: 'b for bad, t for terrible!'

I did a lot of research, and being a broke college student, I didn't have the thousands of dollars a year to spend on chemo! I found out about these medical trials being held for canine lymphoma at my school, which I jumped on immediately. After being cleared to start, Scooby started these in January. He was with me during my whole semester in my tiny apartment (did surprisingly well!). Every month for three days he had to stay at the vet where he got a continuous IV infusion of the drug. This went on for three months, and by then, the tumors had gotten enormous. You could see his throat bulding, and there were tumors in the lymph nodes on his shoulders. After three months of infusions, he was switched to CCNU, an oral chemo drug. After his first dose, within the first week, all the tumors had completely dissapeared!

He's been on the CCNU through the summer, and though the tumors are getting back, they're staying relatively small. He's tolerating the chemo surprisingly well, my vet is really amazed! About three weeks ago he was feeling horrible. No energy, tired from walking around the block; I knew it was the chemo killing his blood cells. Thankfully, he bounced back the following week. After a blood test, we found all his blood cell levels at a normal range, so his bone marrow is still functional and able to repair the damage done by the drug. Last week, he had another dose of his chemo and he's doing great so far!

We'll see what the next weeks bring!

[Doreen]

Wow, that is amazing... I hope and pray he continues to do well with the treatments!!

[Spyglass Sally]

Quite a journey. Our prayers are with you guys. Glad he's doing great so far.

[Marylou Mader]

Sending healing prayers to Scooby...

[Scooby]

Thanks you guys, for all your kind words. He's a very willfull dog, I think he's still got quite a bit of living to do
He's feeling good this week, though still tiring easier than usual. Took him to the dog park yesterday. He's not a fan of many dogs, but he's got a best friend golden retriever that he runs around with haha. Good day!

[Ruby Red]

Poor Scooby, I do wish him all the best, chemo isn't easy for anyone. I'm so glad you were able to get him into the trials. It's great he has a friend to play with - makes the world a happier place.

[JoeV]

Wishing Scooby all the best.

[purplelori]

This sounds promising--how great that you were able to have him with you and fortuitous that the trials were at your school! FIngers crossed for Scooby and hope he has many years ahead of him!

[Ron]

Boxers are tough! I'm sure he's going do great with the treatments

[Scooby]

Hey all! Scooby's doing well, been a bit stressed out lately.
I haven't been around much, I just moved into a new apartment two weeks ago, and Scooby's adjusting to his year old white german shepard roommate. They're finally starting not to hate each other!
Another exciting even, I recently purchased a puppy a few days ago. After a whole summer of search for a pup, we're blessed with the addition of a flashy brindle female. ADORABLE! I'll put some pics of her up eventually =)

All is well here! Thanks for all your kind words!