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well, I certainly understand your decision. Oncologists are usually
pretty optimistic, at least in terms of months, with treating lymphoma with
chemo, unless there is something particular about the case and how advanced it
is. Are they pessimistic because he is positive, or because they think
he is very advanced? Being positive does not affect response to chemo, but it
does seem to shorten the length of remission in many cases.
I wish that I had done chemo with my two that I did not, but
sometimes I wonder if I did too much with Simon, unless I focus on the few
weeks of really good time that he had at the end. There is no real
answer. Whatever you do will probably seem wrong afterwards, as that is our
nature. If you are comfortable with the decision now, that is really all
you can go by.
I would definitely not taper the dexamethasone unless you are going to
start giving a shot of depo periodically as well. If he is not getting
chemo, then it is unlikely he will have more than a few months at most, which
is when side effects from steroids normally set in if they are going to. So I
don't think you should be worrying about that right now.
cancer sucks.
Michelle
In a message dated 9/14/2006 3:21:32 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I just
called to cancel my appointment today and send the message about my
disappointment that the vet was unwilling to discuss things over the
phone. They put me on hold and the vet came on with apologies for the
misunderstanding. She said she had some blunt advice for me and
thought it better to discuss it in person. Of course her "blunt"
advice was no worse than the conclusions I'd already come to on my
own. They do, as does Michelle, suspect strongly that he has
lymphoma. They are still hesitant to treat for it without further
confirmation, but I got the distinct impression that if I insisted, they
would. Both doctors feel that aggressive cancer treatment would, at
best, buy him limited time, and disrupt the quality of life he is
experiencing now. She said that she has, in cases like this, tapered
the steroid dose, (after initial daily dosing), to eod in an attempt to
avoid prolonged use reactions. Unfortunately, the result in these
cases is usually the same, the cat crashes and there's no way to tell if
it's a result of prolonged steroid use, the tapering of the steroid, or the
lymphoma itself. Nasty business this.
So, even with discussing
things over with the vet, my decision made this morning stands for
now. I wish there were some way to make Spencer "all better", since
that doesn't appear to be possible, (at least not without Divine
Intervention, and I don't need a vet for that), I will make the time he has
the best quality that I can.
Nina
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