Chemo
Just as I was getting up this morning at 6am, I discovered that Ein was really struggling to breathe. So, instead of taking him up to Northbrook to see the internist at 9am, we rushed to the closer ER, where they gave him oxygen and tapped his chest again. The ER vet was pretty pessimistic about the prognosis, but when we spoke to the internist, he was quick to disagree. He said he's seen some pretty impressive recoveries in cats on chemo.
So, Ein's starting his first treatment this morning, and they're keeping him overnight to monitor his breathing. He'll be on what seems to be a standard lymphoma treatment cycle: 4 weeks on, each with a different drug, one week off, for 19 weeks. If he has B cell lymphoma, he has a real good shot at remission. If it's T cell lymphoma, the odds aren't so good. We may not find out for sure which he has, since the PCR they're running isn't very accurate in cats (Bad primers, I'm guessing? How hard is it to design new ones???) and the sample they got from Ein wasn't of great quality, but the way he reacts to the chemo might give us an answer.
We were very concerned about his quality of life, but the internist told us that there's a very good chance he won't need another chest tap if the chemo starts working, so we thought it was worth it to try. With his chest empty again, he was in good spirits. He's a fighter and we're not ready to give up on him!
So, Ein's starting his first treatment this morning, and they're keeping him overnight to monitor his breathing. He'll be on what seems to be a standard lymphoma treatment cycle: 4 weeks on, each with a different drug, one week off, for 19 weeks. If he has B cell lymphoma, he has a real good shot at remission. If it's T cell lymphoma, the odds aren't so good. We may not find out for sure which he has, since the PCR they're running isn't very accurate in cats (Bad primers, I'm guessing? How hard is it to design new ones???) and the sample they got from Ein wasn't of great quality, but the way he reacts to the chemo might give us an answer.
We were very concerned about his quality of life, but the internist told us that there's a very good chance he won't need another chest tap if the chemo starts working, so we thought it was worth it to try. With his chest empty again, he was in good spirits. He's a fighter and we're not ready to give up on him!