Cancer clinical trial

[connie]

Still rooting for Max, what's the procedure for his further treatments?

[maxs_mommy]

His white cells are back up so we're on a week of Doxy. Apparently this is not abnormal but we won't be doing another treatment this month based on the bloodwork and life's schedule. He yelps in pain like something's poking him in the mouth once in a while and it's clearly uncomforatable but of course he won't allow anyone to look into his mouth without sedation. Sigh. I have a appointment on Monday for a nail trim and I"m going to have a convo with his regular vet about this.

[connie]

Paws and fingers here are all crossed for you and Max, it's got to be like walking on a high-wire.

[SherriA]

I hope your vet has some ideas. Poor Max and poor you. This is such a balancing act.

[maxs_mommy]

So the next treatment was supposed to be on Friday but I nixed that idea because we're going on vaca on Sunday and I didn't want to have side effects for the inlaws and pet sitter to manage. Last time the side effects manifested for about a week after and now he's stable. Now the next treatment is the 7th of Sept. As much as I hate waiting, I'd rather be the one to manage any weirdnesses.

[connie]

Sounds like the side effects are a consideration in planning the treatment -- that's too bad, but probably to be expected. What are the objectives of the clinical trial?

[SherriA]

That sounds like a sound plan. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the side effects are manageable and this treatment helps sweet Max

[MaisyPancakes]

Good plan! Sending no-mo-side-effects vibes to the softest curly curl boy!

[maxs_mommy]

Connie, the study goals are to kill, or at least substantially reduce, the mouth tumor and reduce the mets. I took him in for a nail trim and my vet got a glimpse of the tumor this morning. She thinks it's gotten flatter and smaller but we'll see for certain when he goes on the 7th and can get a good look at it under gas. The main tumor was growing toward the back of the mouth toward the throat so that's why the intubation and gas. He is gaining weight, up 1.5# in a month which is huge, he needed to gain because he had nothing to lose and was. Ideally he'd be between 23-25 lbs so we're in range with the weight gain. Nausea was the known side effect for this which we had some of but because the tumor is in the mouth there was some sensitivity and pain which we've got a handle on but I'm not going to ask someone else to manage any weirdness.
Sorry this is rambling. I'm exhausted from getting my butt kicked with work last night.

[MaisyPancakes]

YAY for weight gain and shrinkage/flattage!!! That's huge! Hope you get some rest!

[JudyL]

I'm glad you are seeing some positive results out of this despite the side effects! At least you have ways to minimize those, and I completely understand your decision to not place that burden on those caring for him in your absence.

[maxs_mommy]

Today was the 3rd treatment and, after two weeks of normal range white cells, the tumor has shrunk 1 cm in both directions. Hooray! They said it's not uncommon for the tumor to become infected at some point during treatment but I'm hoping we won that rodeo already with the first round. I'll pick him up shortly and let him sleep off the anesthesia.

[MaisyPancakes]

Yessss!! That is a ton of shinkage!! Go shrinkasaurus Max! Hope he has some awesome dreams sleeping off the zonks.

[JudyL]

Wonderful news! I hope you continue to see more shrinking. How many sessions are left?

[Jen]

Wow, that's awesome!!!

[maxs_mommy]

I was told there's not a definitive number of treatments, we'll go until it doesn't work or the tumor is gone. He was so zonked from the anesthesia yesterday that he was snoring as I carried him to the car. Something about the treatment also seems to cause diarrhea because he had 4 bouts of poopsplosion last night. He seems to have rebounded today with alertness and the gut aliens have mostly moved on, thanks dog. Blood draw on Tuesday for white cell count and maybe another treatment toward the end of the month.

[connie]

Wow, how great that he's gotten that result so far! Sorry about the poop situation, I guess you have to take the bad with the good.

[SherriA]

Those are amazing results!

[maxs_mommy]

In this week's edition of "weird bloodwork" we have slight anemia and higher ALT & ALP. ALT is always out of range because of the Cushing's but it's higher still, apparently. Hepatic support and B complex vitamins on board. Recheck on Tuesday.

[emmas_mom]

Glad to read the tumor is shrinking. I hope the side effects diminish quickly.

[SherriA]

fingers crossed for better liver numbers tomorrow!

Oliver had ALP through the roof the entire time I had him. I tested for everything under the sun and we never found what was causing it but it also never seemed to affect him. Hopefully this is a blip, but if it isn't my fingers are crossed that Max will not be bothered by it.

[maxs_mommy]

The trial vet was nice enough to send all the labs to my vet for a comparison arc/graph. Max is doing well on his supplements and did a blood recheck today.

[MaisyPancakes]

Yaaay, I'm so glad that this trial has been yielding super great results for the Max!!

[SherriA]

Excellent news!

[maxs_mommy]

And now something else is weird. I expected to have another treatment Tuesday but it looks like we're going in for more blood work instead. I just got a call from the receptionist today to schedule. I'm going to follow up with the vet on Friday.

[MaisyPancakes]

Sending "just too much Maxness in the blood and nothing bad-weird" vibes! You'll do the bloodwork on Tues?

[maxs_mommy]

We do more bloodwork Tuesday. I got a call today, his RBC's are back to WNL, the ALP is coming down but still high.

[SherriA]

coming down is good, though!

[maxs_mommy]

Another treatment today, another 1 cm of shrink radially across the tumor and some shrinking of depth of the tumor so we forge on. No infections of the tumor and if we can only get the liver levels down we'll be good. Boy wonder is snoozing like the dead but did much better with the anesthesia. He was ambulatory when I picked him up which is an improvement over last time, .

[SherriA]

I missed this when you posted it, but hooray for continued shrinkage! I'm glad that the anesthesia was easier on him this time. Fingers crossed for those liver levels.