Lymphoma - Info/Experiences Needed

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Wendy & Tiger

Wendy & Tiger

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One of my civies, Oreo (11 years old), was just diagnosed with Lymphoma. :cry:

A little background: We've had Oreo (and 2 of her littermates) since she was 5 weeks old. She has always been healthy - she had one URI about 3 years ago (that all of the cats had) and that's been her only health issue. She's always been small, and a good weight (she's always been a light eater). For the past year or so she has spent most of her time in the basement - to get away from one of the other cats that delights in terrorizing her. We had noticed that she had been gradually losing some weight over the past 6 months or so. But attributed it to her hiding and eating less since she'd abandon her food & run back to the basement as soon as other cats so much as looked at her. About 5-6 weeks ago she started losing weight dramatically, and began eating less and less.

At this point she is eating very little, if at all, even with an appetite stimulant & Pepcid. She's down to 6# now, from ~10# a year ago.

Her bloodwork showed only 1 thing that was of concern to her vets. Her Albumin is slightly low: 2.2 with a reference range of 2.5-3.9. That would not have been a particular concern except that in both 2008 & 2010 her Albumin was slightly high: 4.1 with the same reference range.

An X-ray showed a mass in her lung (she hasn't had any symptoms, coughing, etc, from it). Everything else appeared normal. The vet did also feel a couple suspicious areas on the abdominal physical exam though.

Ultrasound confirmed the mass in her lung. Also a large mass on/in her stomach. Which explains the inappetence... It also noted 2 nodes (jejunal & gastric) as being "large & hypoechoic".

The cytology from a fine needle aspirate of the stomach mass came back as Lymphoblastic Lymphoma.


I know many of you have gone down this road. I'd really appreciate any information and experiences that you could share with me... We have an appointment with an Oncologist today (Monday). Any suggestions of particular questions I should be asking?

Thanks!
 
((((Wendy and Oreo)))) I haven't any experience with this yet, but I wanted to stop and give you a hug.
 
HI Wendy

So so so sorry to hear about Oreo's diagnosis. One of my foster civies was just diagnosed with Small Cell Intistinal Lymphoma as well. This was FIANLLY diagnosed after I took money out of my own pocket to pay for exploratory surgery. She had a chronic vomit problem for the past almost two years and we could never figure out why. Needless to say after the hysteria and the crying I finally pulled myself together and found a course of action. The vet told me that she has lymphoma in her intestines, liver, and lymph nodes. He told me that typically a kitty will only live a couple years if they are treated.... Well Paws has had this problem for a couple years and it was untreated and she seems to be doing really well. Her fist chemo was last weekend and she should no signs of slowing down. She is now on Prednislone stroid once a day) and then Lekuran (chemo of two pills every two weeks). Because Paws has small cell this is our only course of action as they is too many and too small to go in and remove. The prognosis is unfortunately terminal this is all I can do. She is now MY KITTY and I am trying to integrate her into my home completely. I will love her completely and do what I can to make her life happy and comfortable and that she will know love until she crosses rainbows bridge. Really I don't see any difference than if she were not diagnosed.

As for her treatment I think the Prednislone has been a God Send for her. Not only has she still not had a vomit episode but her appetite is better than it has ever been before. She eats TONS now and has already almost gained a pound in just the two weeks after surgery. Some will try to give grain free or special food but as nothing is going to stop the cancer I am giving her whatever she wants to eat. She is eating Friskies Grilled Medley.... I know crap food BUT she is isn't it alot. Before the surgery I couldn't get her to eat anything. At one point she would only eat human canned tuna and not anything else so at least this has the vitamins she needs.

Typically when diagnosed the treatment they usually recommend is what Paws is on.... My only advice might be to make sure they give you Prednislone and not Prednisone. Paws did not do well with the other steroid but is doing great on this one. I don't know how long she will be doing this well all I know is that I will love her for her entire life.

Ronda
Ginger's foster mom and Paws new mom
 
I have also had a foster that had stomach cancer.... extremely large mass in her stomach there was no room for food. She was too far gone for me to help her much more than to let her go. I did not want to give her appetite stimulants if she just didn't have room in her stomach. If Oreo is strong enough for surgery maybe they can remove the mass. Shiva ( the foster I lost) was too weak and I knew she would not survive the surgery so we let her go. I held her and told her how much I loved and wanted her and she passed while she was still purring in my arms.

I still miss her so much but carry her every day in my heart
 
(( Wendy & Oreo )))

Winnie had gi lymphoma (t cell ), and was an exceptional case -- she had some chemo and 5 years later when she passed, it had still not returned. She was dx'd via full thickness biopsy(exploratory surgery) and had immunohistochemical testing to confirm and type the cancer. ( severe IBD can mimic lymphoma, including tumors and enlarged nodes-- although treatment is often the same.)

Wolfie had both gi lymphoma and liver adenocarcinoma . He was 19 at dx and we offered palliative care. It was aggressive cancer(s) and w/ his age and 2 different cancers, treatment was not a viable option. It was like suddenly a switch went off in his body and it was everywhere. I put him on large dose dexamethsone and he rallied and had a couple weeks of high quality happy cat days, followed by 1 week of decline........

I guess what I am trying to say is the old ECID. Oreo is a fairly young cat and has been otherwise healthy, so those are good factors on her side.

In Oreo's case, what concerns me most is the lung mass. If this is cancerous -- either mets from the lymphoma or a second cancer,imho the outlook for treatment is not good, I'm very sad to say. (((( wendy )))
If it is gi lymphoma only, there are many on board besides Winnie, who have had good success with chemo.
The best treatment protocol would depend on the classification ( large or small cell or intermediate grade; T or B cell)

For me I would really want to know from the onco more about that lung mass and it's relationship to the gi lymphoma. I would want to talk about the value of any major invasive testing (ie surgical) vs. treatment that would be done dependent on outcome. In other words, will major invasive testing make a difference in what you do ? I wrote major, cause imho, a needle aspirate is not major . They often will do a trach wash to get cells out of the lungs to do pathology on..... that is something to ask about-- can be helpful.

I hate to get into more specifics about chemo vs. palliative care at this point. I will say I'm a big believer in both ! 'roids and supportive care -- pain meds, etc... for palliative care. As for chemo...... it worked wonders for Winnie and you can never tell what cat is going to get lucky like her and if gi lymphoma alone I would think worth pursuing.

chriscleo treated harry for lung cancer. she is well researched on that. I'll drop her a note for you .


Best wishes for Oreo's appt w/ the onco. Can you take someone along to write notes for you ? or a tape recorder so you can listen to what they said later ? It's hard to take it all in when it is such an emotionally charged situation. I found it helpful to do one or the other so I don't miss anything and can review and ask follow up questions later.
That is something to make sure they are willing to do. --- Answer questions on the phone a day or so after you have been able to digest the information. Ask about their policy on that sort of thing.

Also, if you need a day or two or so to sort things out ( or if more tests are to be done) ask what you can do to make Oreo more comfortable NOW. ( pain med like bup, antiemetics( zofran, cerenia) , appy stims(mirtz), subQs, etc..) If you are going to be doing more biopsies starting steroids will skew results.

Please let us know how the appointment goes.
I will be thinking of Oreo today and sending out some good vibes.
If there is more I can help you with, once you have more information, please let me know.
 
Hi,

It's been many years, but my GA cat, Mr Kitty, had a rare form of lymphoma that showed up as a tumor in his hind leg. At the time, there was a very active Yahoo discussion group for Feline Lymphoma, and they were a life-saver for me. You may want to check them out.

Mr Kitty isn't a good example, though, due to varying circumstances, including the fact that his form of lymphoma was just so odd.

I see you're in NJ. Which oncologist are you going to? We went to Red Bank for Mr K (and we're able to do most treatments at our local vet), but from what I hear, Cares in Langhorne PA is fabulous. Lymphoma does respond well to chemo, and the kitties are treated with just enough to make them feel better and not worse.

Best wishes to you both.

Amy
 
TrixieCat said:
...It's been many years, but my GA cat, Mr Kitty, had a rare form of lymphoma that showed up as a tumor in his hind leg....
Click to expand...

Was it a lymphosarcoma - lymphoma in the bone? That is what took Pepper from us.

Chemo seems to be intended mainly to stall or possibly regress any cancer. Although they say cats don't get side effects, Pepper always did. She'd begin vomiting and having diarrhea about 8-10 hours after the chemo. I finally got them to give me stuff to reduce that. The lymphoma invaded her kidneys, causing kidney failure, which is what finally took her out.

If the cancer is widely disseminated, chemo will be a long haul, if it is even successful.
 
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