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Posted by LM on July 18, 2009, 6:03 pm
71.177.34.19
PatB!! I'm so glad to hear about kitty kiddy. I love that B-enign word!
BWT, cancer files now has it's own URL. http://www.k9cancerfiles.com
After stumbling over remembering the SPR url version while in agility class, I decided I needed something more streamlines.
Pssst, Lexy, PatB! sent me. I am not a vet either, but I've got some experience in handling scary veterinary stuff with my dogs, including cancer.
Posted by Lexy on July 16, 2009, 8:24 am, in reply to "Not a vet"
212.225.105.253
Hi Pat,
Glad to hear your little one is OK, that has got to be such a relief.
I would like your advice/opinion regarding by 5 year old boy. He's having his stitches out Saturday (18th) and I'm assuming the vet nurse will do it.
Last Saturday (3 days after the op) we had to take him just to get his wound checked on and the nurse read the report that someone had entered onto his file on the computer. When the VET phoned me the day before (Friday) she said the report was back and no more treatment was required and said what the lump was.
I tried to establish from what she had said if it was only probably good margins and she said oh no they were DEFINITELY good margins. The report the nurse read out said it had got jagged edges. Also, that it could grow back at the site of the scar within 12-15 months and it would need keeping an eye on. But it did say that no further treatment was required.
I'll guess that jagged and clean of cancer cells might be two different concepts and not mutually exclusive. Like you could have a jagged cut from that thorn that may or not may be infected...
I am now not sure whether he is clear of cancer or not, could some cells still remain? They don't seem to take too kindly to being much interrogated and become somewhat evasive if I try to labour a point. I just have my dog's welfare at heart. I would like to know the right questions to ask.
"Doesn't take too kindly..." huh? Well, maybe you can change that.
Vets are truly partners with you in caring for your critters, they cannot do it for you. They also cannot fully educate you in everything you might want or need to know in the depth that you want or need to know it. After all, it took them several years to learn it themselves, plus it takes a lot of their time to teach you basics. So you have to educate yourself as well as much as you can. Once you can start speaking more knowledgeably about your dog's conditions, and have shown that you are willing to do your own homework as much as possible, I'll bet that attitude on their part will change.
If after that, the vet and his staff are still are resistant to your questions, then this is not the best vet for your dog to see. That attitude can put your dog's life in danger.
Did I pick up somewhere in that thread that your dog is not purebred? For instance, my dog is half vizsla which is prone to melanoma, and that was her first one. Her other half is probably beagle, and beagles are prone to the other cancer she's had, mast cell. (She's been clear of everything 5 years this month!!) So if that particular cancer is common in boxers, checking with the boxer clubs and akc health foundation might really get you some good info. You may want to call your local boxer club and see if they have any recommendations on local vets with lots of experience in boxers, since, like most german breeds, they're very prone to certain diseases like cancer.
For now, the very first thing you need to do is get your own copy of the pathologist's report. Then you need to find the definitions for every word you don't know. There's lots of online resources to help you. One of my links about my dog has how I started researching her pathology report with her first cancer scare:
http://www.wonderpuppy.net/melanoma.htm
This is about melanoma, but the concept is the same. Start cracking the books! There's some preliminary questions there for melanoma and some could possibly be valid for Myxosarcoma. The only link I had about it on any of my K9 cancer sites is gone since the site closed down.
Get copies of every report and test. Learn what they mean. I've not heard of that particular brand of cancer, but now that you have, you can start looking up everything you can. Buy books or get them from a library when needed.
Keep copious notes too. I found it easiest to keep them on a webpage, which is how that melanoma page started. But paper/pen, notepad, MS word, excel spreadsheet, use whatever works. You read something about a study? Note it!
Start figuring out what else you can do to help his immune system, such as feeding him better. This part of the research will make you just crazy, but at some point you'll find what works for you and your dog.
I am convinced that educating myself is why I still have my wonderpuppy almost 9 years after her first cancerous tumor. I caught every single tumor very very early, some almost too small to be aspirated. Yeah I'm paranoid, but I earned it fair and square. She still sees the onco vets for followups and so far so good. She'll be 13 next month and will happily be doing agility class tomorrow. 
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