Jill's Journey

Amputation: Check! IV Chemo: Check!  Now onto Metronomic chemotherapy…….

My biggest hope in writing this blog post is that it will help another kitty mom one day, if they find themselves in the same situation that I find myself in.

A brief background as to how we came to the decision as to why metronomic chemotherapy is the right path for Jill as this time:

OSA in kitties does not spread as rapidly as it does in dogs, so in almost all situations, when a kitty gets OSA, they amputate the leg and that’s it.  No chemo of any kind is recommended.  Jill’s case, however, presented differently.  Her primary tumor was in her toe and her toe was amputated (upon amputation, clear margins were achieved, so no further treatment was recommended).  6 months later, however, a met appeared under the skin (not in any bone) in that same leg.  So, we know Jill’s case spreads more rapidly than it typically does in a cat.  Her leg was then amputated as we all known and then she was treated by four rounds of IV chemo (2 rounds of carbo, 2 rounds of doxorubicin, alternating the two).

Since I have learned so much about metronomics on this site, I brought it up to her oncologist, and we decided to give it a try.  Jill’s bone marrow has had a rough time bouncing back from the IV chemo, it is now 12 weeks later and her white blood cells, specifically her neutrophils, are still on the low end.  We know from CBC’s done prior to chemo that she has naturally low neutrophils, but they are still lower than “Jill normal”.  Since this is the case, instead of cytoxan (Cyclophosphamide), which many with OSA are treated with metronomically, Jill will be taking Leukeran (chlorambucil).

I absolutely love Jill’s oncologist and trust every recommendation she has given us.  However, the problem with Jill’s rare tumor, as I stated in my previous post, is that there is just no research, case studies or information on treatment.  So once or twice, her recommendation has really been: “we just don’t know”.  This can be confusing, terrifying and maddening all at the same time.  So we’ve chosen this path, knowing that we can stop the Leukeran at any time, with the best information we have, which unfortunately, is really no information at all.

So my goal is that one day, someone will google “cat metronomics” and my blog will pop up and offer someone some hope and information.  Jill is my hero, and hopefully one day, she will be another kitty’s here as well.

 

Update: Just gave Jill her very first dose of Leukeran.  Was a little nervous as it comes in a capsule and I’ve only ever given her small little pills before.  She is obviously very mad at me now and not happy about this (read: sarcasm):