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#1
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chemo
I need advice.
I have a chemo appointment scheduled for my cat (yes, I know I am posting to two dog NGs) on Friday. She had a radical lateral mastectomy on Wed. September 17. Her incision from the first surgery several weeks before that was slow to heal and this incision is too. I've removed about 30 of the stitches for her comfort, but at least 15 are not ready to come out. That area still has open wounds and red crusts instead of brown. She's on clavamox and a topical antibiotic ointment, and I have devised a sweater for her out of nylon tights that I change daily in order to keep her from licking or scratching the wounds open. In addition, she picked up the sniffles from somewhere, and is still congested. She does not have colored mucus, only clear. Do those of you with experience in chemo (ESPECIALLY VETS OR TECHS) recommend she needs to defer her first chemo treatment? I called her oncologist and she told me basically that if she was better it would be fine. But I don't know how much better she needs to be, or what the risk is if she is not better. And I'm concerned about the possibility of chemo interfering with the closure of the wound. HELP please! |
#2
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Betsy wrote: I called her oncologist and she told me basically that if she was better it would be fine. But I don't know how much better she needs to be, or what the risk is if she is not better. And I'm concerned about the possibility of chemo interfering with the closure of the wound. HELP please! I have been told by several Vets recently to be giving my dogs Vitamin C and Vitamin E to boost their immune systems. This may be something you may want to ask this Vet or you may want to make an appointment with Holistic Vet before the treatment to talk about supplements, vitamins and change in food that may help with boosting the immune system. One of the concerns with Chemo treatment is how it affects the immune system. Please do realize though that animal chemo or their reaction to chemo treatment is nothing like human. I hope for the best for you kitty. Gwen |
#3
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Betsy wrote: I called her oncologist and she told me basically that if she was better it would be fine. But I don't know how much better she needs to be, or what the risk is if she is not better. And I'm concerned about the possibility of chemo interfering with the closure of the wound. HELP please! I have been told by several Vets recently to be giving my dogs Vitamin C and Vitamin E to boost their immune systems. This may be something you may want to ask this Vet or you may want to make an appointment with Holistic Vet before the treatment to talk about supplements, vitamins and change in food that may help with boosting the immune system. One of the concerns with Chemo treatment is how it affects the immune system. Please do realize though that animal chemo or their reaction to chemo treatment is nothing like human. I hope for the best for you kitty. Gwen |
#4
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Betsy wrote: I need advice. I have a chemo appointment scheduled for my cat (yes, I know I am posting to two dog NGs) on Friday. She had a radical lateral mastectomy on Wed. September 17. Her incision from the first surgery several weeks before that was slow to heal and this incision is too. I've removed about 30 of the stitches for her comfort, but at least 15 are not ready to come out. That area still has open wounds and red crusts instead of brown. She's on clavamox and a topical antibiotic ointment, and I have devised a sweater for her out of nylon tights that I change daily in order to keep her from licking or scratching the wounds open. In addition, she picked up the sniffles from somewhere, and is still congested. She does not have colored mucus, only clear. Do those of you with experience in chemo (ESPECIALLY VETS OR TECHS) recommend she needs to defer her first chemo treatment? I called her oncologist and she told me basically that if she was better it would be fine. But I don't know how much better she needs to be, or what the risk is if she is not better. And I'm concerned about the possibility of chemo interfering with the closure of the wound. HELP please! My dog and my sister's dog both went through chemo....they always did blood work before a treatment and if the white cell counts were too low, they deferred treatment. In the dogs' cases, if the WBCs were low, it was generally as a result of the chemo. I seem to remember that if the WBCs were high because of an infection they'd also defer treatment and treat the infection first. I think that as long as the animal is "stable", they'd prefer to get any non-cancer stuff dealt with first.... Good luck - |
#5
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Betsy wrote: I need advice. I have a chemo appointment scheduled for my cat (yes, I know I am posting to two dog NGs) on Friday. She had a radical lateral mastectomy on Wed. September 17. Her incision from the first surgery several weeks before that was slow to heal and this incision is too. I've removed about 30 of the stitches for her comfort, but at least 15 are not ready to come out. That area still has open wounds and red crusts instead of brown. She's on clavamox and a topical antibiotic ointment, and I have devised a sweater for her out of nylon tights that I change daily in order to keep her from licking or scratching the wounds open. In addition, she picked up the sniffles from somewhere, and is still congested. She does not have colored mucus, only clear. Do those of you with experience in chemo (ESPECIALLY VETS OR TECHS) recommend she needs to defer her first chemo treatment? I called her oncologist and she told me basically that if she was better it would be fine. But I don't know how much better she needs to be, or what the risk is if she is not better. And I'm concerned about the possibility of chemo interfering with the closure of the wound. HELP please! My dog and my sister's dog both went through chemo....they always did blood work before a treatment and if the white cell counts were too low, they deferred treatment. In the dogs' cases, if the WBCs were low, it was generally as a result of the chemo. I seem to remember that if the WBCs were high because of an infection they'd also defer treatment and treat the infection first. I think that as long as the animal is "stable", they'd prefer to get any non-cancer stuff dealt with first.... Good luck - |
#6
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In article ,
Lisa Belec wrote: Betsy wrote: I need advice. I have a chemo appointment scheduled for my cat (yes, I know I am posting to two dog NGs) on Friday. She had a radical lateral mastectomy on Wed. September 17. Her incision from the first surgery several weeks before that was slow to heal and this incision is too. I've removed about 30 of the stitches for her comfort, but at least 15 are not ready to come out. That area still has open wounds and red crusts instead of brown. She's on clavamox and a topical antibiotic ointment, and I have devised a sweater for her out of nylon tights that I change daily in order to keep her from licking or scratching the wounds open. In addition, she picked up the sniffles from somewhere, and is still congested. She does not have colored mucus, only clear. Do those of you with experience in chemo (ESPECIALLY VETS OR TECHS) recommend she needs to defer her first chemo treatment? I called her oncologist and she told me basically that if she was better it would be fine. But I don't know how much better she needs to be, or what the risk is if she is not better. And I'm concerned about the possibility of chemo interfering with the closure of the wound. HELP please! My dog and my sister's dog both went through chemo....they always did blood work before a treatment and if the white cell counts were too low, they deferred treatment. In the dogs' cases, if the WBCs were low, it was generally as a result of the chemo. I seem to remember that if the WBCs were high because of an infection they'd also defer treatment and treat the infection first. I think that as long as the animal is "stable", they'd prefer to get any non-cancer stuff dealt with first.... Good luck - Our dog Oliver is in the midst of chemo now. He's at the point where he takes antibiotics daily because after 6 months of chemo he is quite prone to a variety of infections. The most important thing is to try to stay on schedule with the chemo as cancer is a progressive disease. We started chemo right after major surgery on his muzzle and nose while he was still healing and still had some swelling, draining and stitches. It was slow going and there were some difficult times but the cancer is what we're all most afraid of so we tried to move quickly as possible. If I can offer you any advice it would be to keep the area as clean as possible where she spends the most time. I'd ask my vet about how to keep the lesion/s clean and if it's doable to remove the sweater, do so to let the air dry out the wound. Could you make a second one so you can wash and sterilize them? (this is assuming you can remove it with no harm). You can counter the imbalance of antibiotics with probiotics like yogurt or acidobacillus (sp?). I tried to avoid using them so frequently, but Ollie came down with a serious urinary infection that progressed very quickly and later he had couple of skin infections. You'll find that the blood workups are really helpful in preventing major infections from setting in, by addressing raised white blood count levels immediately. We're always battling infection - the downside of chemo. |
#7
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In article ,
Lisa Belec wrote: Betsy wrote: I need advice. I have a chemo appointment scheduled for my cat (yes, I know I am posting to two dog NGs) on Friday. She had a radical lateral mastectomy on Wed. September 17. Her incision from the first surgery several weeks before that was slow to heal and this incision is too. I've removed about 30 of the stitches for her comfort, but at least 15 are not ready to come out. That area still has open wounds and red crusts instead of brown. She's on clavamox and a topical antibiotic ointment, and I have devised a sweater for her out of nylon tights that I change daily in order to keep her from licking or scratching the wounds open. In addition, she picked up the sniffles from somewhere, and is still congested. She does not have colored mucus, only clear. Do those of you with experience in chemo (ESPECIALLY VETS OR TECHS) recommend she needs to defer her first chemo treatment? I called her oncologist and she told me basically that if she was better it would be fine. But I don't know how much better she needs to be, or what the risk is if she is not better. And I'm concerned about the possibility of chemo interfering with the closure of the wound. HELP please! My dog and my sister's dog both went through chemo....they always did blood work before a treatment and if the white cell counts were too low, they deferred treatment. In the dogs' cases, if the WBCs were low, it was generally as a result of the chemo. I seem to remember that if the WBCs were high because of an infection they'd also defer treatment and treat the infection first. I think that as long as the animal is "stable", they'd prefer to get any non-cancer stuff dealt with first.... Good luck - Our dog Oliver is in the midst of chemo now. He's at the point where he takes antibiotics daily because after 6 months of chemo he is quite prone to a variety of infections. The most important thing is to try to stay on schedule with the chemo as cancer is a progressive disease. We started chemo right after major surgery on his muzzle and nose while he was still healing and still had some swelling, draining and stitches. It was slow going and there were some difficult times but the cancer is what we're all most afraid of so we tried to move quickly as possible. If I can offer you any advice it would be to keep the area as clean as possible where she spends the most time. I'd ask my vet about how to keep the lesion/s clean and if it's doable to remove the sweater, do so to let the air dry out the wound. Could you make a second one so you can wash and sterilize them? (this is assuming you can remove it with no harm). You can counter the imbalance of antibiotics with probiotics like yogurt or acidobacillus (sp?). I tried to avoid using them so frequently, but Ollie came down with a serious urinary infection that progressed very quickly and later he had couple of skin infections. You'll find that the blood workups are really helpful in preventing major infections from setting in, by addressing raised white blood count levels immediately. We're always battling infection - the downside of chemo. |
#8
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EXCELLENT post!
Jo Wolf Martinez, Georgia |
#9
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EXCELLENT post!
Jo Wolf Martinez, Georgia |
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