Ginger is very ill Wed Jan.13

Wed Jan 13

For those of you who do not know already, my Irish setter Ginger is
very ill. Last Thursday, she was fine, running,playing,energetic.
Friday she didnt want to eat but did. (she is normally very
enthusiastic about food) Saturday she refused to eat, stopped pooping
and started losing energy. I then noticed a small swollen area in her
abdomen by her back leg, by this time it was afternoon and all vets
closed. Her temp was normal, she still hadnt pooped, I thought perhaps
an obstruction, anyway I took her to emergency vet in Augusta Sunday
after church, by this time the swelling was much more pronounced,
xrays and bloodwork showed possible cancer (lymphoma) Finally got
referral to Upstate oncologist for Wednesday (due to the ER vet not
referring and instead sending me back to my regular vet Monday who
said (rightly) the ER vet needed to do the referral, I didnt get appt
til Wed as I couldnt go Tuesday due to a hearing). Mon and Tues she
got weaker and weaker, I managed to get her to eat a little pureed raw
chicken livers mixed with water and thats about it


Ginger update Wed Jan 13
Last night was a bad night. Ginger could no longer get up on 'her
couch' without help. She woke us every 2 hours (by shambling into the
bedroom and sticking her nose in my face) to go outside to potty.
About 4 AM she also vomited and pooped (first poop since Friday). In
the AM it took everything she had to get up, get into the car and make
the long drive to Greenville (normally 2 hrs, road work and a detour
added another half hour). She had her appointment at 11, they did an
ultrasound (had to shave her abdomen) more Xrays, bloodwork and
aspirated the by now hugely swollen lymph nodes. Around 3 PM we were
called in to talk to the vet. Basic diagnosis lymphoma, the nodes so
swollen were pressing on her kidneys and uretha which is why she is in
renal failure and colon. No tumors on liver (as the ER dr had thought
possible). The mass is the swollen lymph nodes not a tumor Her blood
work was basically the same as on Sunday. I left her there to be
hospitalized as they need to give her IV fluids to try to help the
kidney failure, we'll know by AM if this works sufficiently for chemo
to be possible. He said her prognosis (because of the multiple nodes
involved) was probably 6 mo if the weekly chemo sends cancer into
remission. (I was hoping for a year, but OK///) He assured me that
we'd know fairly quickly if the cancer went into remission and her
quality of life would be back to normal, until the cancer recurred,
(in 6 mo or whenever) and it would probably recur in the same fashion
it started (fine one day, wont eat and slight swelling the next,
listless etc,near death in 3 days) At least I would KNOW the next time
what was going on]and could act quickly to help her over the bridge before

she got this
sick again. I would probably NOT opt for a second round of chemo (as
its my understanding the success rate is smaller and the time shorter)
or radiation. But we'll see when that happens. So, basically, I said
go for it, if I can buy her 6 good months, I will (and it looks like
it'll cost about $10,000 if we make it thru the whole treatment, as of
now its around $5,000.) I feel so stupid for not getting health
insurance on my dogs, I now have it on the other 3.

One good thing, he put my mind at rest about my not spotting this
earlier, he said that lymph nodes can do this, swell up that
quickly, what was unusual about Ginger is the 'normal' lymph nodes you
think would be affected are not, and these in the groin area usually
are only affected AFTER the others. He actually said that a vet could
have examined her Wednesday (before she got sick) and seen nothing
wrong unless for some reason they did bloodwork.

I will know in AM if her renal failure resolved and they can do chemo.
When we saw her after the appt, they'd given her sub-c fluid and she
was quite a bit livelier, we walked outside, etc. Everyone commented
on how unusual it was for a dog with this bad bloodwork and this bad
Xrays to be still walking at all, and relatively alert, and commented
on how sweet she is and how much she loves people (tail wagging etc).
(I told them she's my therapy dogs for children, as she is so sweet
and gentle with them.) The nurse (or vet tech) was crying right along
with me. Ginger is indeed a sweet soul, and has affected many lives,
not just mine. I'm grateful for the year and a half I have had her,
and God willing, another few months