Tanner Tuesday

Well, I have made it back to the US, and trying to get everything sorted our from my wonderful trip to Kenya.  I'm hoping the boys will let me steal the blog a couple of days to tell you all about it! 

 

Today,  I know you are wondering about Tanner.  Here goes...I called the vet school on Tuesday, July 22nd to set up his appointment for when I returned, but they insisted I not wait.  I had taken Wednesday off work, so I took him over that morning for a consult.  Tanner has Renal Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, to be exact, and is considered an oncology emergency.  The Lymphoblastic part makes his cancer rare and aggressive.  The prognosis is guarded even with treatment, but since Tanner came to the clinic not having any real symptoms of being sick, they hope this will increase his survival chances.

 

He started chemo the day before we left, and had a second dose yesterday.  He has also now started on Prednisolone twice a day.  His chemo protocol is called CHOP.  He receives 4 different medications, one chemo each week for three weeks, while taking the pred all the time.  Then repeat.

 

Week One - Vincristine (IV)

Week Two - Cyclophosphamide (pills)

Week Three - Doxorubicin (IV)

Week Four - Rest week

 

On chemo day, I drop him at the vet school where they do a CBC to make sure his blood values are ok to receive chemo.  The team consult to make sure he is still doing well, then the chemo is administered.  I pick him up in the afternoon.

 

So far, he is doing well with the meds.  We have nausea and diarrhea meds at the house to use as needed, but so far, so good.

 

Tanner is going to need lots of purrs to pull through this, but as long as he is feeling well, and tolerating the meds, we will continue to fight for him.  We will do a repeat ultrasound after either the first of second rounds of treatment to see how he is responding, and make more decisions at that time.