About Beezer

After my last post I thougt I should explaine about Beezer.

Beezer also has Lymphoma.


"Lymphosarcoma (lymphoma) is the third most common cancer diagnosed in dogs. It is a cancer of lymphocytes (a type of blood cell) and lymphoid tissues. Lymphoid tissue is normally present in many places in the body including lymph nodes, spleen, liver, gastrointestinal tract and bone marrow.
The average dog with lymphosarcoma is between 6-9 years although dogs of any age can be affected. Certain breeds (Boxer, German Shepherd, Golden Retrievers, Scotties, Westies and Pointers) may be more likely to develop this type of cancer. Males and females are equally at risk. In most cases, we cannot tell what causes lymphosarcoma."


I came home from work one night a couple of weeks age, to find both of the lymph nodes at the bottom of his neck swollen to the size of golf balls. As well as the lymph nodes a the back of his legs were inflamed. I went on line to see what could cause this and everything I read said cancer. I contacted the emergency vet and after not being able to sleep made an appointment to bring him in at 4:00am. After trying to convince me that he needed testing and biopsies I asked her to give me her opinion to which she stated Cancer. I allowed her to aspirate one of the lymph nodes on his back leg and she sent that out to pathology. In my denial I asked her to send him home with antibiotics just in case it was an infection. I know how silly that sounds now, but hey, I did not want to admit I was loosing my dog.

2 days later the test results came in stating he with out a doubt has lymphoma. At that point my regular vet contacted me and said that I also had 3 options: 1) I could leave it untreated. He would decline quickly and live about 4-6 weeks. 2) I could start a course of prednisone. Dogs treated with this steroid often see a reduction in the lymph nodes and return to a similar lifestyle but still are only given 2-4 months. Or 3) Chemo.

I declined chemo. I did go with the prednisone. We keep in contact with the vet on a regular basis. He told me to watch for signs of him getting tired, not eating, or just not seeming like himself. He stated that they can adjust the dose of prednisone but to remember after time that even the medicine will not be enough to help. From the looks of the pathology report the cancer is bad enough that Beezer is on the 2-3 months rather than the 3-4 months. But I try to keep his daily routine as normal as possible. That only thing that I have really changed is the amount of food he eats. Keeping weight on him is proving to be tough.

Currently Beezer is comfortable and doing ok. He has bounced back to about 80% from the way he was feeling before the prednisone. We take it day by day and wait for him to let me know when his time has come.

He knows he is loved!