With a brain tumor time is of the essence. He was going downhill fast and we needed to decide what we would do. Within a week's time of Jake's diagnosis we investigated all our options and find amazing resources so we thought we'd share the story of how we chose his treatment.
Maybe we should drive to Minnesota for a clinical trial???
We're researchers at heart (and profession) so we scoured the internet and come across a dog clinical trial for the exact type of tumor Jake has being done by Dr. Liz Pluhar in Minnesota (http://www.cvm.umn.edu/newsarchives/2009/BrainTumorClinicalTrials/home.html). She actually calls us back personally the same day I leave a message, agrees to review his scans and get back to us which she does in no time. She is the kindest, most knowledgeable and honest dr I've ever spoken to!!!
We speak about the potential benefits, risks and also the challenge of driving him to Minnesota 20 hours away. She's honest about the success rate of prior cases exactly like Jakes and we decide collaboratively its not the best choice for him. Her work is amazing and I vow to myself that I will 'like' her facebook page, scream from the rooftops, do whatever I can in the future to let more people know about the work she's doing. She gives options to people and their dogs who have no other options in the world- and with kindness and compassion rarely seen by drs of any kind. AND, she takes the time to conduct actual research just like human randomized clinical trials that make head to head comparisons of different treatment regimens to advance vet medicine and give us real data to guide treatment options. Rarely do vets ever conduct clinical trials so her work is a HUGE benefit to the field and will undoubtedly help improve treatment options for many dogs in the future. A big paw's up for Dr. Pluhar !!
The Animal Cancer Foundation is giving a lecture on new treatments in canine oncology the week we find out about Jake's tumor- maybe it's a sign!
We knew NOTHING about cancer except for the human experience of misery and harsh treatment side effects. The week of Jake's diagnosis we find out Dr Gerald Post, a vet oncologist and Founder of the Animal Cancer Foundation (http://www.oncovet.com/about) has decided to move his vet specialty practice to Newtown, CT about 10 miles from me! He's holding a cancer talk in my town and I decide to go and see what I can learn. This was a hugely important step in deciding what treatment we would pursue because his talk was about the myths and realities of canine cancer treatment. Most importantly it taught me that cancer treatment is NOT the same in animals as it is for humans. The side effects are so much more minimal and in fact he showed pictures of a dog he treated who actually won agility trial championships while taking chemotherapy meds!
When you get a cancer diagnosis its natural to think "Do i really want to put my dog through that?" "Is my dog going to be throwing up and having diarrhea, burned from radiation and miserable for his last days?" Dr Post's talk was enlightening and so relieving to hear. It wasn't a choice we had to make out of fear of side effects, we could move forward just considering what is the best treatment for the type of cancer he has. Huge relief. Dr. Post - another paw's up!
Maybe we should go with Cyberknife radiation treatment at the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers, NY .
We learn from our local vet that we happen to live within 1 hour of one of the best vet specialty centers (Animal Specialty Center - Yonkers, NY); http://www.vcaspecialtyvets.com/animal-specialty-center). They have specialists of all kinds- neurologist, oncologists, dermatologists, dentists, physical therapists, etc all under one roof. We visit with their neurologist Dr. Joseph and within seconds he tells us he knows its a brain tumor, later confirmed by MRI (see picture, top left base of brain). The tumor is large and in the base of the brain - the area responsible for breathing and all basic life functions so surgery is NOT an option.
We hear from Dr Joseph that if Jake gets strong enough and responds well to steroids we can schedule him for cyberknife radiation- a special type of radiation that was pioneered at this center and is the only machine in the world (yea, that's right.........not country, but world that has it). Now, let me tell you, this is some high tech stuff. From what I understand, regular radiation requires 15-20 treatments with anesthesia EVERY treatment and can leave your dog sick and with radiation burns, etc. The cyberknife radiosurgery uses a high tech robotic arm to deliver laser like precision doses to the exact location of the tumor and treats the tumor in 1-3 treatments. This is a HUGE improvement, more efficient and precise.
So, we're told there's only about 400 dogs who have had this treatment before in the last 2-3 years and no published data is yet available. These are the facts we're also faced with: Dogs who do not get treated for meningiomas have about 2 months to live,dogs with cyberknife can get 1 to 1 1/2 years if all goes well and you follow up with chemotherapy. For us it was a no brainer (poorly timed pun I know). We schedule the cyberknife to start on April 18 for 3 consecutive days.We go on a tour to see the robot that will be delivering the radiation - I affectionately call it "Johnny Five" from the 80s movie Short Circuit.
After reviewing many excellent options and finding many kind and knowledgeable people along the way to help us we've decided on our treatment. Johnny Five here we come!!!!
 |
| Jake's MRI |
Disclaimer- I am a distraught owner of a dog with cancer and although I pride myself on being smart, I'm at about half strength right now with the emotional roller coaster of this all so I may not be fully explaining cyberknife treatment in the best detail. For full, accurate medical info see: http://www.vcaspecialtyvets.com/animal-specialty-center/departments-doctors/departments/radiation-oncology
 |
| cyberknife machine, AKA "Johnny Five" |
No comments:
Post a Comment