Butchey Hudson’s Momma here.  Just a quick update, as we are fresh back from our visit from our oncologist to consult on the Hemangiosarcoma tumor removed from Butchey’s neck last week.

First the good news:  No metastasis to spleen or heart.  They did new ultrasounds and x-rays and no masses were found in those areas.  For this we can feel like we can come off of panic mode, at least for a little while.

There are a few routes we can take for treatment.  We could do chemo treatments using ifosfamide or dacarbazine.  Or we could use Palladia, Palladia/Deramaxx/Cytoxan as maintenance, or go back to metronomic protocol but replace Deramaxx instead of Piroxicam.  Let me footnote this with I am pretty sure I have all the drugs correct, but the brain is swirling and we agreed not to make a decision right at this point in time.  She is going to consult with her other veterinary oncologists and we are going to discuss again maybe this Friday. 

We have some concerns with going the chemo route again, after doing the Adriamycin last fall.  We also have some concerns with GI upset after having some vomitting issues under the metronomic protocol over the past couple of months.

So our heads are spinning on a decision of what is the best route to take.  A difficult aspect of this is that this isn’t a textbook case of Hemangiosarcoma (HSA).  While we are extremely happy that the HSA hasn’t acted like it normally would and have gone to his organs (and have a much poorer prognosis) there really isn’t much to compare it to.  I believe she told us 5% at best of HSA show up subcutaneously.  But to have two spots is quite unusual.  Her concern is that this is metastatic, of course.  The thought that this was a separate HSA tumor is just too coincidental.  I almost feel like we might be playing whack-a-mole with HSA.  Where will it pop up next?  But these are my own layman’s terms.

In other news, he is doing very well recovering from last Wednesday’s surgery.  He is off the Tramadol now and seems to be in no discomfort, other than itching at the incision site.  We had a bad bout of Montezuma’s revenge over last weekend following the surgery, but that seems to have been resolved.  We are trying to contain his energy and keep him from whipping his toys around and playing too rough with Lola.  However, we think that he might end up being a little sore tonight though, from wrestling with the vet techs for his ultrasound.  But so far, so good.  He is a happy boy, feeling well and still doesn’t know he has cancer (of course).  He thinks life is grand and he’s most concerned with where and when his next piece of cheese is coming from or which squishy ball to choose to lounge on the couch with.

So that is it for now.  We are going to take a long nap now and try to have a relaxing 4th of July holiday.  Well as much as we can with the Butchmeister hating fireworks and thunderstorms.  =0/

Hope everyone is enjoying a well deserved day off!  Thank you all for your good thoughts, emails and kind words.  Time is precious; enjoy EVERY day!!