Update on Maggie's meningioma

[maggiefromnj]

I guess I never updated? Maggie was diagnosed with a meningioma in December 2020. Her whole treatment was done during Covid and we never even met her radiation oncologist in person until her 6 month follow up.

Maggie is doing really well! We chose SRT (radiation). She had 5 treatments with Dr Lewis at Red Bank animal hospital in Tinton Falls NJ in January 2021. The outlook was 12-18 months (or more) with SRT vs 18-24+ with 20 treatments of standard. Every treatment requires a brief anasthesia so we chose the SRT. It turned out that the anasthesia was very well tolerated and didn't bother her at all.

There was a rough couple of months with inflammation from the tumor dying. It's not likely to have been killed 100% so it will probably be back. We are now at 15 months and she is doing really well. She gained weight from steroids. She was on a pretty high dose for a couple of months and is still on a tiny dose to help keep any inflammation from the tumor down. She is acting happy and normal. She still has some head tilt, which was the first symptom we really noticed, but that never went completely away. It did get much better than when she was finally diagnosed. We found out that steroids are the cure for a picky eater!! Her muscles are still weaker so she doesn't want to walk as much, plus she wants to stay near home where the food is.

Every day is a gift with her! She is such a great little girl

If anybody needs info, there is an active Facebook group for Dogs with brain tumors which can be very helpful.

[ladyjane]

Wow! What a journey! So happy to hear Maggie is responding well to
the treatments.
She is a lucky girl to be so loved and cared for.
Thank you for sharing/updating. I hope she continues to do well!

[Lisa and Pic]

Glad she is doing well and that you are such a great pet parent.