I know that some of my friends have been following Teddys story in his fight with cancer. And, some of my friends are new, and may not know the story, so I will give a brief summary first. Those who know the story can skip the next 13 paragraphs, and go straight to the newest news. Last spring, my ferret Teddy had a large tumor grow almost overnight on one of his left rear toes ( it actually grew up over about 10 to 14 days). I immediately called the vet when I discovered it, because anything that grows that quickly is usually bad. It was removed as soon as I could get him and appointment. When the pathology report came back, though, it said it was a mixed cell tumor and benign. So, I happily went on my way. Then, at the Ferret Buckeye Bash in August, one of the judges found a large lump in the left rear leg. It was roughly where a lymph node is located, and so new worries arose. Teddy had been in to see the vet 2 or 3 weeks before the show, and at that time, my vet had checked his lymph nodes. Once again, he had a growth that grew suddenly. And, given its location, I was afraid of lymphoma. So, as soon as we got home and I could set up a surgery date, we had the lump removed. It was not a lymph node, and in fact was very much like the tumor we had taken off his toe. That one had been benign, and so I felt relieved, but still had pathology done. I was shocked when the report on the second tumor came back saying it was an unusual and very aggressive form of cancer that generally was known to metastasize rapidly. Also, the physical description of the tumor was identical to the earlier one that was declared to be benign. So, my vet called the lab and spoke with the pathologist who did the second report. They pulled the earlier report, made comparisons, and admitted the first report may have been incorrect when it stated benign. So, Teddy and I went back to the vet to discuss options. My vets first thought was to amputate the leg, but because he was not familiar with the type of cancer involved, he wanted to speak with a veterinary oncologist. The one he spoke with said that she did not advise amputating the leg - that most likely the cancer was already in his body, and taking the leg would just cause stress that would make him more susceptible. She recommended Chemo, but added that she did not treat ferrets - only dogs and cats. So, we started searching for a veterinary oncologist that would treat Teddy. In the meantime, since the oncologist had suggested it, we did a full body x-ray, and there were several shadows that my vet felt could be lesions or small tumors. Also while waiting to find an oncologist, we did an ultrasound. My vet does not have an ultrasound machine, but instead uses the services of a travelling radiologist. This doctor has a very nice machine, and he is also extremely experienced at reading ultrasounds and x-rays. He did a thorough exam of Teddy, and identified several things that appeared to be lesions that could be cancer. Finally we found an oncologist willing to treat Teddy, and I took him in for a consult. She looked at everything (x-rays, ultrasound, previous path reports) and then explained to me that the prognosis was not good. Unfortunately, because this is an uncommon cancer in animals, there have not been a lot of reports written about it, and the only ones there are involve dogs and cats. So, she didnt really know how the cancer would progress in a ferret, but gave me the information as though he was a cat or dog. She said without chemo, she would only give him 2 or 3 months to live. And, even with the chemo, she did not think we could hope for remission. The best she would hope for is to slow the progress of the cancer, so Teddy could have more quality time with me. She said maybe 6 months to a year. Teddy has always been one to fight the odds. And, at the time, he was otherwise healthy. He did not act at all sick, so that was in his favor. So, I decided to try the chemo. He got his first chemo treatment in early October, and it made him very sick for about 36 hours. Fortunately, after that initial sickness, though, he returned to his normal self. His second treatment was in November, and they reduced the dosage, hoping to spare him some of the side effects. This time he lost his appetite a little, but otherwise was OK. In December they had to lower the dose again because his white cell count was low - not dangerously low, but low enough they did not want to give him a full dose. OK, here comes the new information. On Friday (January 9), I took Teddy to my vets office to get another ultrasound done by the traveling radiologist. He brought all the files and reports from the previous ultrasound with him, and spent about 20 minutes studying them so he would know exactly where he had previously seen possible problems. I like him, because he lets me be in the room while he does the ultrasound, and he explains what is visible on the screen. When he was all through looking and taking videos and still pictures of things, he looked at me and said, I see no evidence of any cancer. All of the places where I saw lesions previously are now completely clear. CLEAR! NO LESIONS VISIBLE! This was better news that I thought I could expect. On Wednesday, January 14, Teddy will go in to see the oncologist, and have a chemo treatment (maybe). I will, of course, be taking the report as well as a CD with videos and still pictures from Fridays ultrasound for her to see. The radiologist could not declare Teddy to be in remission, because he is not an oncologist. But, that is what I am hoping she will say. And Teddy may still need some additional chemo to be certain we have everything. I am OK with that. But, right now, I am on top of the world because I have reason to hope that we are doing better then just slowing the cancer - we are beating it. If I have time tomorrow, I will be gathering all the photos I have taken of the toe tumor and the second tumor, and putting them in a folder in my photos area. I will add to that folder the images from the ultrasound CD. I know that most of us will not be able to understand much of what they show, but since I am friends with several vets, they might be interested. I was actually going to wait until I had done that before posting about this. But, the news is so good that I wanted to share it. I was out most of today, so tomorrow will be my first chance to do it. Anyway, we are doing a happy dance here at the DeVore residence.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 07:24:49 +0000
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