Hello
I have a dog that has got cancer and I have some questions for you. I really hope someone will replay to it because I really don't have anyone else to ask.
My dog is a female Howavart, 6 years old, and she has cancer in her chest. The cancer type is called fibrosarcoma.
I discovered it in December 2008 and the tumor (a very big one) was removed from her chest in January. It came from the structure around the lung (pleurae?) and had compressed almost all of her left lung so she had problems to breath, although it had not infected the lung. They also removed about 2 inch each of two ribs since the tumor had grown into them. Since then she has been treated with chemotherapy (carboplatin) once every three weeks. After the surgery she got much better, after one week she was running and playing in ways she had not done for a long time.
But unfortunately the last weeks she has gotten worse again. She doesn't breathe as good as before and last time we were at the veterinarian they took x-ray pictures of her chest. They show that she has a new tumor
I asked the veterinarian what we could do. Her answer was 'I don't think we should do anything'. She means that a second surgery will be more difficult than the first time and that there is no point in trying again. And she doesn't think chemotherapy or anything else will work either. The dog will die and there is nothing to do.
I did not like what she told me. I really don't want to give up. I like to try another surgery. And then maybe some other kind of chemotherapy, possible with higher doses than before, or maybe radiation therapy. My dog has been so happy and full of life since the surgery so I really want to try and treat the tumor again.
Worth noting is that I live in Sweden, and here there are not many veterinarian clinics that can do this kind of surgery (since it is in the dogs chest). There are also very few clinics that do chemotherapy and even fewer (just two) that do radiation therapy. The common opinion here is that when a dog gets cancer we don't treat it, we just let the dog die. I think that sucks. What I have heard it is much more common in outer countries, especially in USA, to try and treat cancer.
The few times a dog gets chemotherapy her in Sweden the goal (according to my veterinarian) is to extend its life for a little while. It is not to cure the cancer. Thus the dogs get much smaller doses of the drugs compared to humans. I think that is strange way of thinking. I'm not sure that is the case in USA?
My question for you is, what do you think I should do? What would you have done if the cancer came back after a surgery?
I'm also interested to know if anyone here has a dog with this kind of cancer (fibrosarcoma) in the chest and what kind of treatment that dog gets?
I have thought of trying some alternative cancer treatments but have not done that yet. I have read about 'Essiac' and thinking of trying it. Has anyone here tried it for your dog?
Finally I also wonder if anyone here knows about a veterinarian or clinic with good knowledge of cancer treatment in USA, Europe or anywhere else that I could contact and ask questions? I feel kind of desperate when there are so few veterinarians here in Sweden that knows anything about cancer, and that the ones I have talked with think my dog is a hopeless case. If I could get in contact with a veterinarian that really knows about cancer maybe he could recommend my dog a different treatment. At least that is what I hope.
Regards,
Johan