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stewartslucy · 05-07-2006, 06:49 PM

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

05-07-2006, 06:49 PM	#1
stewartslucy Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: May 2006 Location: Farmington Hills, MI Posts: 183	Liver Cancer 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