"Average, happy lymphoma"

"Average, happy lymphoma" was the description from the specialist this morning. She said it's a great place to start. It means we did catch it early and have good treatment options. Interestinglly, statistics show that dogs who are older when they develop lymphoma have a better response to treatment than dogs diagnosed at a younger age. Also, this lymphoma is the most common form of cancer in dogs and cats, which is good because the vets have a lot of experience treating it.

We have decided to start Trapper on the "Wisconsin/Madison protocol" which is a chemotheraphy regime of 4 drugs. Treatment will last 13-25 weeks. If Trapper takes it all in stride, we will push ahead with a treatment every week, meaning we'll be finished the first week of January (13 weeks). If the treatment really wipes him out, we'll stretch out to every other week after the first month and be finished at the end of March 2013.

Each treatment lasts about 25 minutes, plus time for sedation (at least it's my predication that Trap won't lay still while the nurses touch him (!) for 25 minutes, therefore the need for sedation). His first month will also include prednisone, not Trapper's favorite med, but a necessary evil. The specialist said we hope for Trapper's cancer to be "slow and stupid", so that's our mantra.

There will be no surgery or radiation, as they're simply not effective at treating lymphoma. On that note, we are only pushing the lymphoma into remission, not curing it. However, if all goes well, we'll have a year or hopefully more of happy, healthy Trapper. This is opposed to likely losing him before Christmas if we didn't treat. Not an option--I want a Trapper dog under my Christmas tree!! :)

Trapper will also be on probiotics and supplements to neutralize the toxins created by the dying "normal bacteria" in his gut.

So long as he feels good, Trapper can continue playing agility. I will have to keep him away from other dogs since he will be in an immune-compromised state. Luckily, Trapper's not a dog who goes around giving kisses to strange dogs ;-)

The last several weeks I've been saying "every run is a gift" when Trap & I step onto the agility field. Now I'm reminded that "every day is a gift" no matter what we're doing together.

That's all for now. Headed out soon to pick Trapper up.