Liver Cancer

[stewartslucy]

Hello fellow Yorkie LOVERS,

I was researching for information on liver cancer and treatments, prognosis, for my beautiful 10 year old girl, Molly Muffins, when I came across this forum.

In January of this year, she became ill over New Year's. We took her to her doctor, the same vet who has treated her her entire life. Her liver enzymes came back elevated. 2 weeks later, another blood test, and we are told they have returned to normal. Vet says when she comes back in April for her annual visit, we will check again.

We went in April 24th for her annual exam. By that weekend, he called to say liver enzymes are high again and that he is concerned enough to bring her back in for more tests.

To make a long story short, the x-ray showed quite an enlarged liver. From there we had an ultrasound. 2 of the vets in office concur with "98%" guess that she has cancer of the liver, that has possibly spread to the neighboring organs.

At this point they have told us that having a surgical bioposy is a possible option. This would determine which TYPE of cancer, and let us know exactly what the situation inside is. If it is a type of cancer that responds to chemotherapy or radiation, then that would also be an option. However, it is major surgery that she will need 2 weeks to recover from. And do we want to put her through all of this? Our vet said that his educated guess gives her 6 months to live WITH chemo, 2-3 months without. If it were his dog, based on his experience with other families who went for the chemo, etc, they often regret putting their pet through it all and he would not do it for his own.

We have decided to take her to the Michigan State Veterinary Teaching Hospital, as they have a specific oncology clinic that recently opened that is supposed to be state-of-the-art. She will go in May 8th for her evaluation. We have to be prepared to go immediately into surgery if they decide this is an option for treatment. Maybe they will tell us it is hopeless, in which case we will have the peace of mind knowing that an oncologist has given us a second opinion.

Has anyone out there been through this? Can you give us any information? Any feedback on whether or not to go through surgical bioposy, chemo? All other results show normal. Molly's vet said that he believes she would make it through the bioposy.

IF we don't go through with treatment, does anyone know what we can expect as far as her health condition, deterioration? I tried to ask my vet, but he just said she would have good days and bad days, maybe some days diahrrea, loss of appetite. I think he knows exactly what stages she will go through, but doesn't want to give me the grizzly details because he can see how devastated we are.


Thank you all for your help,

StewartsLucy

[kim_yorkiemom]

We are so sorry to hear about your baby under these circumstances. I, personally, have no experience with this but wanted to welcome you to the forum. We hope that you find some helpful info here to help Molly Muffins! Adorable name, by the way. We will definitely think good thoughts for her in her fight!!

[Kenzies Grandma]

I know how devastating this must be for you. I haven't had quite the experience you are going through, we never got as far as the biopsy stage. My 12 1/2 yr. old Tori was taken ill last summer (then I found lumps all around her nipples). Her vet said that he was quite sure that she would survive surgery to remove them and that it could give her more time even though there was a possibility that they would come back. We decided to go ahead with the surgery and took her in. However when they did the pre-op blood tests he discovered that things were worse than he thought. He felt she wasn't in good enough shape to have the surgery (very anemic) and suggested waiting a month and giving her vitamins to build up her blood.
Unfortunately we didn't get that far. She started to go down hill very rapidly, couldn't keep the vitamins down, seemed to be in pain and very lethargic. Our vet looked at her again and said that of course it was up to us but if she were his dog he would consider ending it for her. he was pretty sure that the cancer had spread further inside. I was heartbroken, in only about 3 - 4 weeks she had gone from a sweet lively little girl to a sick, sad little old dog. I couldn't bear it, she just wanted to be held all the time and seemed to be looking at me saying Help me, Mom. It was the hardest thing I've ever done but I took her in and held her while Dr. Greg put her to sleep.
I'm sorry this is so long and it probably won't help you much but I guess what I'm trying to say is that the important thing is the comfort and quality of your little girl's life. Whatever you decide I know you will do what's best for her.
I'll be thinking of you.

[SnowWa]

Sounds like going to the Michigan Vet Hospital is going to answer all your questions. I would go along with whatever they say and believe they know what's best for your little dog.

Even if people here have had similar problems, none of us would know as much as the doctors you are going to have seeing your little dog. I think you are fortunate that you can take advantage of such modern, state-of-the-art diagnosis, and care.

Good luck - please keep in touch! Carol Jean

[stewartslucy]

Here is an update on what happened with our Molly Muffins.

We took her to the Michigan State Animal Cancer Clinic.

They did repeat every test her regular vet had given her, as well as a few more, such as a needle biopsy of her liver (came back benign, but this is inconclusive, as the outer 'rings' are usually what are malignant, so we may have sampled an inner part.)

Also, the ultrasound equipment there was far superior to what was used in our vet's office.

The bottom line is that in all likelihood, she has liver cancer, but we cannot have a definitive diagnosis unless we were to do the surgical biopsy.

If we do the surgical biopsy, we can do 2 things;

1) sample the cells, close her up, make a determination as to what it is and then they could give us a prognosis from there

or

2) sample the cells, have oncologist start scraping away cells as much as possible, which will require quite a convalescence on Molly's part. She would be hospitalized for a length of time that the doctor cannot give me a ballpark for. The risk also involves 'upsetting' the cancer and having it become more aggressive, spread. Also that she will never fully recover from this surgery to the state that she is now in. Or the doctor may see that it is too far spread and not surgically treatable.

Right now, Molly is mostly her wonderful old self. She still can go for walks, move around the house to her favorite spots, patrols the yard for squirrels, rabbits and other invaders, and now that she has bounced back you would not even know she is ill other than a slight decrease in her appetite.

Because the ultrasound images seem to show the right side of her liver is what is inflicted, this would indicate cancer vs. if it was spread throughout her liver evenly this might indicate some sort of live disease.
If her left side is what was affected, they could surgically remove that part of her liver. But the right side of the liver is the side that has critical veins and arteries that link to other organs, so we cannot just remove the right side.

If we chose to do the surgical biopsy, followed by chemotherapy, this would NOT cure her. It would just slow the cancer down and prolong her life.

The doctor cannot predict how much more time this would give Molly until they have a sample that definitively tells them what kind of cancer it is.

That is when they can start telling us whether or not this is the type of cancer that responds well to treatment or not or how long she will have to live with or without treatment.

We feel much better having gone in for a second opinion, even though none of what we learned there is encouraging news. In fact, it is almost what the doctors are NOT saying that is notable.

No one is saying even if this is liver cancer there are good treatments with successful outcomes, and to go for it.

At this point, we don't feel the outcome is worth putting Molly through major surgery which she may never recover from. We are going to let nature take its' course.

There is comfort in knowing that we have given her the best life we possibly could. She travelled everywhere with us-all over the USA and to Europe 5 times! We love her sooooo much. We have simply been in her orbit for 10 years. Our world really revolves around her.

For now, we will continue to give her the best care, enjoy her, and hope that God will give us as much time as He can with our precious girl.

Thanks to all for your kindness.

I hope this information might help another Yorkshire family.

[Lexi Rae]

i am so sorry,, god bless you and god bless your baby... yu will be in my praryers. we are here for you

[Patti]

I know how difficult a decision that is. I know a person who tried the chemo on their little chichauua for some other type of cancer. She said the treatment was too hard on her baby and stopped treatment after 2 sessions and she lived another 5 years without treatment. I think you are doing the best thing fo her.

[RMKC]

I am so sorry over your sick Baby, i will be praying for you all !

[whispersmom2]

This is a hard decision to make, I am sure. Chemo and radiation do work sometimes but I would consider the length and quality of her life before putting my dog thru it. And, yes, it is easier for me to say since it is not my baby; I don't know what I would do if she were mine.
I know we will keep all of you in our prayers...

[stewartslucy]

When my husband took Molly to MSU, the whole waiting room were dogs (cats have their own side) waiting to receive chemo treatment. He said you could not tell they were even sick, they seemed happy & energetic. He was shocked when the staff told him why these dogs were there.

According to them, animals accept chemo without the side effects that humans get. They accept it very well. On their website, they have success stories posted with photos of dogs who have good outcomes with the chemo.

Unfortunately, liver cancer is not one of the types that can be 'cured'. I would not hesitate to consider chemo if it were another type of cancer.

Molly is still doing very well! She has me playing 'chase her'-she puts her hedgehog baby in her mouth and I try to catch her running around the living room. We haven't played this since before her diagnosis a few weeks ago. I am so happy she has returned to her old self! She is eating her regular dog food again, twice a day, and really milking us for the milkbones again too!

[stewartslucy]

I just wanted to let you all know how the last 8 months of Molly Muffins life went, in case any of you ever face this dreaded illness.

Molly had an excellent quality of life until just before the New Year.

She was her regular old self, doing everything she normally would. You really would not have known that she was ill, except for the small decrease in appetite.

We were pleased that because we chose not to have the surgical biopsy she was able to enjoy her life to the fullest for much longer than the doctors thought. We had some bonus time with her.

But right after Christmas, she started vomiting and having diarreah occasionally. Though she almost always managed to make it outdoors and keep her dignity, right up until her last day.

In the afternoon of 1/1 she had a mini seizure outside in the yard.

The evening of 1/2 she had a mini seizure in our home.

We were going to put her down when our vet returned to the office on 1/3,
but he called in sick. Which ended up being a good thing because she started rebounding big time.

She was well enough that you wouldn't think she had to go down. So we took her in so our doctor could just exam/see her, since the last time had been in November for a regular vaccination (and they were amazed at how well she was then-pink tongue, bright and alert!). But this time her tongue was not pink, but grayish pink, and so were her gums and eye tissue. He said she was very anemic. He gave us an antibiotic to give her to help settle her stomach, and it did help.

But by 1/16, she was sliding downward again. Her belly looked like she had a regular size melon in it. There was a lot of fluid along with her enlarged liver. She was losing fat tissue and muscle mass. She was skin and bones. It was difficult for her to walk without stumbling-it was an effort for her to balance that belly. It was an effort for her to greet my husband when he came in from work. Sometimes, when she was weak, her back had a sharp 'V' shape.

Then she had a bigger seizure the morning of 1/19. I took her out ot go potty at 4am and it was snowing. She had a seizure and collapsed unconscious in the snow. I picked her up and I thought I had lost her, but no. She was breathing, and started to come to inside. But she was lying there so limp all morning.

We took her into the vet to put her to 'sleep' at noon. On the drive there she started to perk up, and in the office she was really rebounding, awake and curious about what was going on. Going through with the decision will haunt me forever. If I would have brought her home and continued to nurse her, maybe she would have had another rebound? I will never know. I don't like playing God and deciding who gets to live and who gets to die. This is so difficult for my husband and I to live with. Truly the hardest thing we have ever been through.

I prayed for God to give me the strength to know what to do. I prayed for Molly to please let me know when it was time. But honestly, I can't say I feel either 100%. If she had not started perking up in the car and the doctor's office, I would have more peace with my decision. Everyone says we did the right thing, including our vet, but it doesn't feel like it.

I had researched pet euthanasia online, and there is a movement out there that believes in letting them go naturally. All I know is we were in limbo and it is hell. The bottom line is there is no cure and no miracle that was going to save her, but we had her comfortable. She was not in pain, according to our vet, but living with discomfort, as many of us live with discomfort everyday. but how far down could we stand to see her go? The seizures were very upsetting to witness. She wasn't eating much at all, she was not enjoying any of her favorite things anymore, except being with us. Molly would have been 11 years old on February 9th. She will never be a teenager...

We are having her privately cremated and she will be returned to us within 2 weeks. I am waiting for my angel. I will feel better when she is with us again. When I die, I want her with me so we can always be together.
For now, all I have is a small amount of her beautiful hair clippings.

I hope that my experience can help someone else out there. We could have really used support form another family that went through this.

God Bless our Yorkies.

[YorkieMom55]

Hugs to you both. It's never easy. You didn't rob her of days, you gave her the gift of months. Months of loving her and holding her and caring for her. Just remember the joy and happiness that she brought into your lives. Chuck and I had to make the same decision for our dear Jack. He was only 6. I have his ashes in a little wooden urn that Chuck made in his woodshop. It's by my bed and I say "goodnight" to him every night. (I call him my Jack in the Box) I have instructions: he's going with me.

[Yorkiedaze]

She will know when it's time for her to go, and with the way she will look into your eyes, you will too. I wouldn't let her suffer in any way. Bless you both. I will say a prayer for her.

[RoxyJosMom]

I am so sorry your precious Molly has crossed the Bridge. Please don't let the "what if's" eat away at you. I've done that too many times and it will take it's toll on you. Just keep thinking about the extra time you were able to share with Molly and the happiness she brought to you. She knows you loved her and did the best thing for her. Hugs to you and your husband. God Bless.

[stewartslucy]

I guess I am beating myself up over it. My husband was too much of a wuss to make the final call, so it was up to me (and he is usually the big decision maker in our family-I like to roll with the flow.)

It is ruff.

No dog bowls to wash, no one to let in and out a thousand times a day, no one to tuck in with us at night. No licks or snuggles together during the day. No one to go for rides in the car with me to the mailbox, grandma's, etc.

No one to milk me for milkbones all the live long day--oooh how she loved her milkbones!

I have no regrets as far as the life she led. She was the Queen!
She went to Germany 3X, Switzerland, Austria, Finland 2X to visit grandpa. She went to northern Michigan, Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Hilton Head to visit her auntie.

I try to comfort myself with the hopes that we saved her from declining so far that she would suffer greater than what she may have. Sigh.

I have found so much comfort on yorkie talk this week.

Thank you all for your kindness, understanding, and support.