Heather & Angel (GA)
Member
I've been reading about the return of Cleo's lymphoma :sad: , and I'm worried about my civvie Zoe who has had it in the past. I'd like to hear from others who've dealt with lymphoma, both with aggressive treatment and without.
Zoe was dx'd with lymphoma in her 3rd eyelid 4.5 years ago. Supposedly, that's very rare in cats, although common in dogs. At the time of dx, her bloodwork didn't show any signs of spreading it elsewhere, and she was active and playful. Still, the vet (the same crappy regular vet's office that treated Angel so poorly -- we don't go there anymore) said that she had less than a year to live, and that chemo is only 50% effective in cats, and at best, it might buy her a couple more months of poor-quality life in the end. Since Zoe wasn't acting like she felt sick at all, DH and I decided to go with the most conservative treatment option, and only have the eyelid removed and not to do chemo or other drugs unless it seemed necessary.
For 3.5 years after this, Zoe had no more problems. Then last year, she had runny discharge from her other eye, and that 3rd eyelid also had to be removed, again with the dx of lymphoma. Again, we only had the eyelid removed and did not do chemo or steroid therapy. She's seemed fine for the past year, since that last surgery -- so that makes 4.5 years after the first lymphoma dx, with no chemo. A few weeks ago, she had runny discharge from the eye that had received the first dx. I took her to the ophthalmologist, but he said he thought it just looked like normal eye discharge and he didn't think it was necessary to do anything further diagnostically, unless it got worse.
Her eye actually looks better now -- the discharge seems to be gone, and she seems fine. I worry that we're tempting fate by being too complacent about things, but Zoe seems fine, her weight has been stable, and she has good appetite.
Have other kitties here managed to do this well after lymphoma dx without chemo or other treatment? What about those who've had chemo -- did it cause bad side effects, weakness, sickness, etc? The biggest reason we chose not to do chemo for Zoe was because of the horror stories of how awful it is for humans, and how it weakens the immune system. We didn't want to make Zoe sicker.
I've been saying for months that I want to take Zoe for a checkup with Angel's internist, since I trust her to know what to look for and I don't want to miss anything. I don't want to borrow trouble by taking her to the vet unnecessarily. But it HAS been a year since her last surgery, and she's WAY past her predicted life expectancy at this point, so I kind of want to get an idea of how she's really doing now. We're still looking for a good regular vet, and Angel's internist is the only one I'd trust anyway for serious problems. Am I just being paranoid, or should I go ahead and make that appointment?
Zoe was dx'd with lymphoma in her 3rd eyelid 4.5 years ago. Supposedly, that's very rare in cats, although common in dogs. At the time of dx, her bloodwork didn't show any signs of spreading it elsewhere, and she was active and playful. Still, the vet (the same crappy regular vet's office that treated Angel so poorly -- we don't go there anymore) said that she had less than a year to live, and that chemo is only 50% effective in cats, and at best, it might buy her a couple more months of poor-quality life in the end. Since Zoe wasn't acting like she felt sick at all, DH and I decided to go with the most conservative treatment option, and only have the eyelid removed and not to do chemo or other drugs unless it seemed necessary.
For 3.5 years after this, Zoe had no more problems. Then last year, she had runny discharge from her other eye, and that 3rd eyelid also had to be removed, again with the dx of lymphoma. Again, we only had the eyelid removed and did not do chemo or steroid therapy. She's seemed fine for the past year, since that last surgery -- so that makes 4.5 years after the first lymphoma dx, with no chemo. A few weeks ago, she had runny discharge from the eye that had received the first dx. I took her to the ophthalmologist, but he said he thought it just looked like normal eye discharge and he didn't think it was necessary to do anything further diagnostically, unless it got worse.
Her eye actually looks better now -- the discharge seems to be gone, and she seems fine. I worry that we're tempting fate by being too complacent about things, but Zoe seems fine, her weight has been stable, and she has good appetite.
Have other kitties here managed to do this well after lymphoma dx without chemo or other treatment? What about those who've had chemo -- did it cause bad side effects, weakness, sickness, etc? The biggest reason we chose not to do chemo for Zoe was because of the horror stories of how awful it is for humans, and how it weakens the immune system. We didn't want to make Zoe sicker.
I've been saying for months that I want to take Zoe for a checkup with Angel's internist, since I trust her to know what to look for and I don't want to miss anything. I don't want to borrow trouble by taking her to the vet unnecessarily. But it HAS been a year since her last surgery, and she's WAY past her predicted life expectancy at this point, so I kind of want to get an idea of how she's really doing now. We're still looking for a good regular vet, and Angel's internist is the only one I'd trust anyway for serious problems. Am I just being paranoid, or should I go ahead and make that appointment?
