Hi Michelle! Thanks, again, for all of your sage advice and encouragment! My regular vet is going to call me back, I will ask her about the stronger steroids...what are their full names and how were they administered and how often?
**************************************************** "But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world; You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed..." --Antoine de Saint-Exupéry "If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them, and what you do not know you will fear. What one fears one destroys." --Chief Dan George ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Friday, December 16, 2005 2:36 pm Subject: Re: Jen-- how is Ewok doing?--Another tumor > > I'm sorry, Jen! That's horrible. Josephine did get tumors in her > intestines > secondary to tumors on her kidneys, and she lived a couple months > with them > just getting those shots, without even any chemo. The dex would > visibly > shrink the tumor within just a few hours. The day that the shot > did not do that > or make her start eating, I knew it was the end, and she went into > respiratory distress a few hours later. > > You can also ask the oncologist about CCNU. It is a chemo drug > that they > use when cats come out of remission from the other chemo agents. > It is > synthetic, so cats get resistant to it more slowly. When the > dex/depo shot got > Simon to the point he could get more chemo, he got CCNU. That and > the shots are > what made him feel so great for the month. A few weeks after > getting the > CCNU, when his blood work showed him near remission again, he got > Adriamycin for > the first time, and a week later had a sudden auto-immune reaction > and > killed all his red blood cells and died. I do not know if it was > a reaction to > the cancer or to the Adriamycin. But I do know that the dex/depo > shots and the > CCNU worked wonders on the cancer together, and I wished > afterwards that the > oncologist had given him CCNU again rather than Adriamycin (though > he > insisted the auto-immune response was to the cancer and would have > happened > anyway). I read that about 50% of cats who have come out of > remission go back into > remission from CCNU, I think. I also do not think it is as harsh > on the > system as Adriamycin. > > I think that Belinda's Buddie, who had intestinal lymphoma I think > (not > sure), did well on CCNU also. But I think she had the small cell > slow-growing > kind of lymphoma, which is different than what Ewok has. > > Jen, I think there is little hope that Ewok is going to be cured of > this. > But I do think there is hope that might be able to feel well for > another few > weeks or months, and that there is some chance that with stronger > steroids and > something like CCNU he could go into remission, and a smaller > chance that > the remission could last a year or more as has happened in some > cases. I would > not expect this to happen, because I do not think it is the norm > with > positive cats, but I do not think you are expecting it. But I would > certainly hope > and pray for it at this point (and I am hoping and praying for > it), because > it could and has happened. > > Michelle > > In a message dated 12/16/2005 3:15:53 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > Damn! I should have checked my email before I left...thanks for > that,Michelle...I'm going to keep that one in mind! Ewok and I > just got back > from the oncologist's and it's as we all pretty much expected: a > mass in > his intestines (a lymph node I believe, but I'm so tired I can't > thinkstraight right now...). So he was actually given a round of > elspar to > see if the tumor responds...I guess we'll know in the next 24-48 > hours.Please continue to send out those healing vibes! > > Jen > > > >
