Thanks for the outpouring of support after yesterday’s update on Beau. Here’s some more info.

Beau is currently on the “MOPP” chemo regimen: Mustargen, Oncovin (aka vincristine or VCR), Procarbazine, Prednisone. I did some reading up on it today and found some very useful information here. (I can’t imagine how people/dogs got through any of this prior to the Internet...)

Obviously, I’m no doctor, much less a veterinary oncologist. I can’t say whether it’s due to the prednisone (steroid) or the chemo, but today I can’t even find Beau’s lymph nodes. Yesterday, the two nodes below his tonsils were roughly the size of golf balls. I hope that’s a good sign.

Aroooo’s,

Ken

Sorry I’ve been remiss in putting updates here. The words have been there, but they just wouldn’t leave my fingers.

Most importantly though, Beau continues to be happy and energetic. His appetite is excellent, and he’s had no nausea or diarrhea. That’s all good.

The bad news is that his lymphoma continues to progress. After some mild coughing, he had a chest x-ray last week that revealed an unknown mass between his heart and lungs. His doctor put him on a different chemo last week to try to kick the lymphoma back a bit. As of today’s follow-up x-ray, that doesn’t seem to have helped or hurt. The lymphoma and the chest mass are about the same.

So, today they’re aspirating the chest mass to find out what we’re dealing with. It could be lymphoma, although his oncologist said it doesn’t look like a normal lymphoma mass. It could be another type of cancer. (After all, several of his chemo drugs have themselves been carcinogenic.) Or it could be an opportunistic bacterial or fungal infection. But we have to know what it is before we can decide what to do.

We also decided to try another, slightly more aggressive chemo that he has NOT yet been exposed to. It has about a 40% success rate with only mild and infrequent side effects. That will likely be augmented with some other treatment, depending on what the mass turns out to be.

Our feeling is that he’s happy, energetic, etc. We want to give him every chance to stay happy and energetic as long as he can. As much as we’d love to see another remission, and one that lasts for (say) a century or so, that’s not likely to happen.

So we proceed one day at a time. My goal is to keep that tail wagging as much as I can, and for him to never ever doubt how much we love him.

Your thoughts, prayers, and aloha are greatly appreciated!

Aroooos,

Ken

FOLLOW-UP: The vet was NOT able to reach the mass in his chest via his esophagus, so we’re proceeding (with the new chemo) under the assumption that it’s the most likely thing, the lymphoma. Oh, and the radiologist mistakenly thought Beau would also be getting an ultrasound, so he’s gotten another “Brazilian” cut... He’ll be home sometime around 5 or 6 PM and will get LOTS of TLC then.

Hi all,

Yesterday was Beau’s week 4 (of third cycle) in his chemo treatment. His white cell count was fine and the chemo was administered.

However, the doctor noticed he had some swollen lymph nodes, and a quick aspiration of one confirmed it was the beginning of another lymphoma relapse.

My heart sank when she told me the news, as I’m sure you can all appreciate.

After a phone consultation, they ended up using a different chemo medication than any he’d previously had. Since the cancer cells were no longer responding to the previous chemo, this is the best course of action at this time.

We won’t know until he goes back in for an exam next week if the lymphoma responds against the new medication, so please keep sending Beau your best wishes, prayers, and aloha. He’ll have a restful week here in front of the fireplace, and with gobs and gobs of TLC from his food slaves.

(Maggie, on the other hand, appears to be doing just fine re her bladder issues.)

Aroooos,

Ken

Happy new year, everyone. If you’re still reading here, I know you must be a Beau Diddley fan. Thank you for all your positive thoughts, prayers, and genuine aloha you’ve all sent here to Beau.

Beau had his week 3 treatment this week, but we had another scare as well. His sister Maggie was at South Paws today. I’ll explain...

Maggie has been on urised for quite some time now to help keep a chronic urinary tract infection under control. It’s been working just fine, but now is being taken off the market by the manufacturer. So, we contacted the dogs’ vet to come up with a new course of action. She requested a urine sample which we provided. But when she looked at it under the microscope, she saw something odd and asked me to come back into the office.

She saw some cells that were not normal. My heart stopped. She said that they *could* be pre-tumorous cells. My heart stopped again. She suggested getting an ultrasound on Maggie’s urinary tract to see if there’s anything odd there.

I made Maggie an appointment immediately with South Paws and took her there today. After getting her customary “Brazilian,” they invited me into the exam room to see the ultrasound in progress. The doctor showed me her bladder and surrounding areas.

Everything looked pretty normal. The only anomaly is that one side of her bladder wall was slightly thicker than the other (5 mm vs. 3 mm). This could indicate some mild irritation and UTI-like activity, but there was no indication of any tumor activity at all.

We all breathed an enormous sigh of relief and I brought Maggie home. Now on to figuring out her next course of treatment...

But back to the Beau front, his treatments are continuing normally. Dare I say “routine” even...

It was a year ago this month that Beau was diagnosed with lymphoma. Had it not been for the chemo, he wouldn’t have made it until the summer solstice, much less the winter solstice. And, since he continues to be happy and energetic, I have to say it’s been a great success for all of us. To be blessed with *any* more time with such a wonderful creature as Beau is one of life’s greatest treats. Here’s to the treatments continuing to be successful and Beau continuing to be happy and enthusiastic!

Cheers,

Ken