Living with Lympho Sarcoma

Hello, My name is Holli. I’m a Chocolate Lab. A nice lady, Julie, asked me to write to you about Lympho-Sarcoma, which according to statistics, 1 in 4 of us dogs will get. It happens at young ages, too, as I was only 7 ½. My mom took me in to our vet (Dr. RUFFner, how cool is that?) as I was not eating and was moping around…wouldn’t even play ball, and I love to play ball!! Dr. RUFFner got down on the floor with me and felt my lymph nodes, which he had noted were slightly enlarged at my last annual physical. One was very big, so he ordered blood tests, which came back showing strong liver enzymes. Oh Oh, he says, “It is Lympho-Sarcoma, which is NOT an instant death sentence, “

He had a Jack Springer Terrier that was treated early and lived well with it for 7 more years. Many have high quality lives for 5+ years. He referred us to the Animal Diagnostic Clinic, as it had the only Oncologist in NE Texas (and most of Texas we later found out.) Since there was only one in the area, I had to wait a long time for an appointment (there are more now) and was really, really sick by then. I had to stay several days with them, where they nursed me back to health with fresh chicken breast, yummmm!! And, of course meds.

Then the Doctor/Veterinarian showed my dad and mom all the tests, most importantly the sonogram. My liver was very enlarged, So he laid out 3 treatment options for us, and my parents chose the middle one. First I had to go in every week for several hours of chemo, then just every 3-4 weeks. Now I am in ‘complete remission’ and have been in treatment for 16 months, going for chemo with my friend. Vet Technician, Julie (another Julie). She is very nice and gentle and takes such good care if me.

Dr RUFFner says that cancer is smart and will eventually figure out how we are fighting it and how to grow in spite of all they are doing for me, But he will help us when the time comes so that I do not suffer.

Oh, my mom did some research on the cause and many sites written by Vets say that Dogs in the Wild do not have diets rich in grain, so our Lymph Systems are not built well to take care of the parts of our food that our bodies don’t need. So please have your mom and dad read the cans/bags of the dog food to be sure that there is a good bit of PROTEIN in your food. Iams Puppy Chow came in as a Champ on those sites, so my mom started giving me that and boiled or canned chicken or lean beef to help. And she also gives me vitamins.

Thank you for allowing me to visit with you today. Good luck and health to you!

Holli Newsom