“Radiation Vacation” for Dogs??!!

Harry October 30th, 2013

After what seemed like we had run poor Harry through a gauntlet of medical tests our wonderful boy, just shy of 14 years, was diagnosed with Thymoma Cancer. Never heard of it? Yeah, me neither. Apparently it is a very rare cancer in dogs, the cause of this type of cancer is unknown.

Thanks to the web site “wise GEEK” below is a brief synopsis of the Thymus glands function:

The Thymus Gland

The thymus gland is an organ in the upper chest cavity that processes lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that fights infections in the body. This organ is part of both the lymphatic system, which makes up a major part of the immune system, and the endocrine system, which includes all glands that produce hormones. The thymus is most important in children and young adults, when it programs lymphocytes to attack antigens, like viruses. People who do not have this gland, or in whom it does not function correctly, usually have compromised immune systems and difficulty fighting disease.

Anatomy and Function

Two irregularly shaped parts make up the thymus, which is located directly just below the throat, behind the sternum. The gland releases a hormone that stimulates the production of a certain type of white blood cell in the bone marrow; these cells, called thymocytes are transported by the bloodstream to the thymus. There, the organ “programs” the cells to attack antigens that invade the body and to not attack normal cells in the body itself. Once matured, these T lymphocytes, or T cells, circulate through the bloodstream and collect in the lymph organs — the spleen and lymph nodes — for future use.

So, a couple of days before Halloween, Harry started coughing so hard it was as if he might actually vomit. I shot a video of him to take with me to the vet, just in case he didn’t present with a cough once we got there. Kind of like when you take your car into the mechanic and suddenly that light that was flashing on the dash board or that odd sound coming from beneath the hood all but disappear the instant you pull into the shop. Below is the video.

Harry October, 30th 2013

On the 31st, Harry and I headed over to Spencer Springs Animal Hospital. The vet on duty, Dr. Larson entered the room and after a brief exam, she watched the video and promptly ordered a chest x-ray. She led Harry to the back and I went to sit in the waiting room crossing my fingers for good news. She called me into the back to show me Harry’s x-ray. Quietly we tiptoed passed a dog on the floor covered in a pink blanket who had just come out of surgery and was sleeping off the effects of anesthesia . We entered a semi-dark room and there hanging on the wall was a picture of my boys chest. It looked like a softball was growing inside of him. She explained that she thought is was a pericardium tumor (cardiac tumors, may be related to the heart muscle or pericardium.) I was crushed.

Just recently two of my friends dogs died of that same thing. One a Golden named Nikie and the other a Leonberger named Mike. I knew the severity of this type of tumor and how quickly they die.

His vet led me back to the waiting room, she highly recommended an ultrasound of his heart as the next step in officially diagnosing my boy. She asked me to wait there while she called the referral center to set up an appointment for the next day.

I sat down on the grey vinyl padded bench with my head bowed down trying to hide my face from the looks of strangers in the waiting room. I thought, if only I can keep it together until I get into the privacy of my car…and then this women carrying a small dog passed by and was about to exit the office, she even had her hand on the door and then suddenly we caught each others eye.

Oh God no she is coming over to give me a hug I thought. Just what I don’t need. I mean this women meant business, “hugging business.” I could tell there was no way I would be able to escape her. She did hug me and it seemed to go on forever, my brimming eyes couldn’t hold back any longer. She asked if I wanted a glass of water, I said “no thanks,”which was weird because I really could use a glass of water, but I just wanted her to go away. I was mentally willing her to leave me alone. She was swimming in empathy and I couldn’t be strong with her arms of compassion holding me.

She turned to leave and actually opened the door slightly and then, suddenly turned and marched back in for a second hug! Agh! What is she doing, why won’t she just go… and that is when my tears, now mixed with black mascara really started to flow down my face.

I appreciated her kindness don’t get me wrong, but this, this kindness,was just to much right now. I needed to be alone.

Finally the vet came back and my tall blond private stranger of empathy left. The vet said that the cardiologist at the Las Vegas Veterinary Referral Center was off until Monday. MONDAY??, today is only Thursday, I thought. She said he could be seen by an internal medicine specialist as a critical care patient over there, although this will raise the price of the ultrasound from $600.00 to a thousand dollars. My mind is quickly calculating the dollars as they began to add up. It seemed silly to take him to an internal medicine vet and to spend an additional $400.00 to me, so I said, “can I wait until Monday for Harry to be seen by the cardiologist?” She said and I quote, “Harry may not be alive by Monday!” I just sat there feeling numb, it was all happening so fast. Up until a couple of days ago my Harry appeared to be just fine

The doctor left to fill his prescriptions and to collect his digital x-ray, I just sat there with my head just so full of sadness I couldn’t make any clear decisions right now.

She came back with Harry along with Lasix tabs and Prednisone, the total for today, $184.46. After paying for it all, I hoisted my old boy into my SUV and began our drive home with blurry tear filled eyes.

After talking to my husband we decided to call Desert Inn Animal Hospital, I knew they had a highly developed pet hospital. Maybe they would have ultrasound equipment available there. Unfortunately they did not but they did work with Dr. Laughlin who has a mobile ultrasound lab of sorts. We then scheduled Harry for an appointment the following day.

Friday, November 1st: After his ultrasound we were informed by the doctor that Harry’s tumor was not in the pericardium sack but located outside and pressing on the heart and trachea. (The trachea is responsible for transporting air for respiration from the larynx to the bronchi. That would explain the terrible coughing that he was experiencing, it was about the size of a softball. He also had fluid in his chest cavity. They did a needle biopsy and we would get the final lab results the next day.

Saturday, November 2nd, I just got off the phone with Dr. Arn and the cancer is malignant…
“Chemotherapy will not help this type of cancer,” he said, in addition, “Harry probably would not survive Thymoma tumor surgery.”

(The most common surgical incision through which to remove a thymoma is a median sternotomy. This is a vertical incision through the breast bone-Stanford University.)

Dr. Arn highly suggested that we take him to the University of Colorado for radiation treatment. If I am remembering correctly he said it would be a five day treatment and I gathered by his positive enthusiasm about U of C that the treatment would save his life. Colorado, my head was spinning! We live in Las Vegas…isn’t that about a 28 hour drive round trip I thought. The cost! What would the cost be?! I can’t go to Colorado, maybe Tom could drive him there. Just so much to think about. What about Harry, how painful is radiation I wondered.

Monday, November 3rd I emailed U of C for a consult on Harry. A Dr. La Rue responded by phone the next day. Turns out, the five day radiation treatment would not cure him, it would only make Harry feel better. What he really needed was 30 days of radiation. This too would not cure him but possibly extend his life 2-3 years. Hello! I wanted to scream, he’s turning 14 in three months! In her defense, she had not seen any of his lab work yet. Yet still, 30 days of radiation on a nearly 14 year old dog, seemed ludicrous to me.

I explained that we could not take a month off from work and that we lived in Las Vegas, she actually said to me in a sing song type of voice, “well some people come here and take a radiation vacation!” I thought this is the dumbest thing I had heard in a long time. She is trying desperately to make this sound fun. Besides, I was certain that a “radiation vacation” was way out of our financial league, so to speak. Cost for this treatment, $6500.00 plus boarding fees at approximately $40.00 dollars a day, that would be another $1200.00 dollars. I was sure that there would additional cost in follow up appointments and after care medication.

All combined a quick rough estimate in my head came to about 10K. I didn’t want to make it all about the money and my husband actually said to me, “Would your life be worth 10K for another couple of years?” Of course it would be! It is just that this is a lot of money and even more important a lot to put our old boy through. All for something that would not cure him.

I asked about side effects, she stated that he could get a sore throat. She went on to say that the dogs liked the radiation because they get to eat afterwards. Translation, food is withheld. No bed and breakfast on this vacation. Besides all of that, he would be in a cage at the hospital without us for a month. The other alternative was to be boarded in someones home, still away from us and possibly kenneled even there for an entire month. I had read briefly on the Internet about burning at the site of the radiation she did not mention that or any other side effects. It felt as if the side effects of radiation treatment was being way underplayed.

Between you and me, I have to wonder, how ethical is it to even suggest, that a nearly 14 year old Labrador should be considered for this type of treatment. Nothing on this planet would cure him. Even if the “radiation vacation” served its purpose, surely Harry would die from some other disease before the potentially granted two to three year life extension. I mean, how many 17 year old Labs do you know of.

If you are really interested about what happens on a “radiation vacation,” see below.

Exploring Radiation as a Treatment of Cancer for Dogs


By: Malcon Cares

Finding out that your dog has canine cancer is one tough experience. There is no easy way to hear the news. Likewise there is no easy way to deal with the ramifications. Consequently, it makes good sense to explore all of the available options to find what method of treatment is optimal in dealing with cancer for dogs. One of these options is radiation therapy. However, be forewarned that this approach is intense. In fact, the treatment of cancer for dogs is different from that of humans in some ways. Treating canine cancer with radiation therapy is extreme and will be tough on all involved.

Radiation therapy, as the name clearly indicates, is serious stuff. In fact, it is often characterized as menacing and intimidating. The concept is to shrink tumors by bombarding them with electrons,

photos and good old-fashioned gamma rays. It should be noted that gamma rays are some of the most energetic rays known to nature. Or in other words, gamma rays pack a powerful pulse. If a gamma ray burst hit Earth from outer space, all life would end.

Radiation therapy destroys the DNA of cancer cells, and over time this can destroy the cancer as well. Yet, there are numerous problems with this approach in treating cancer for dogs. As the name would dictate, radiation therapy uses radiation. Clearly, this is very hard on any dog’s body and can have serious long-term health consequences. Additionally, it is extremely important to note that there are special considerations that must be made with using radiation therapy for treating cancer for dogs . The fact that dogs must be anesthetized in order to receive treatment greatly complicates the situation. Radiation therapy is usually given at least a couple of times a week or even every day. This could mean that your dog will have to undergo anesthetization several times a week for several weeks. The combination of anesthetization and radiation therapy may be more than many dogs can handle.

Clearly, radiation therapy is every tough. But it should also be pointed out that while radiation therapy might have sounded cool to people in the 1950s, it is deadly serious business. During the treatment of cancer for dogs, radiation therapy doesn’t just hit the cells that have canine cancer. Instead, all cells, regards of whether or not they are cancerous or healthy, are hit. Therefore, DNA is effectively damaged. There is little doubt that radiation therapy has been used successfully for years. However, it is also important to note that radiation therapy is very demanding physically. In terms of treating cancer for dogs, radiation therapy can be particularly tricky.

So, after the phone call with Colorado U we thought we would take Harry to our wonderful Holistic vet here in town. Dr. Stefanatos was able to see him on Wednesday November 13th.
As it turned out Dr. Laughlin was kind enough to meet us over there and perform a second ultrasound on his liver and abdomen for free. We paced for about 30 minutes until they waived us back into an exam room. Dr. Laughlin did detect a suspicious spot on his liver. When he went to perform a needle biopsy he discovered that in addition to the fluid in his chest he now had fluid mixed with blood in his abdomen. He was holding up a vile of liquid tinted with blood and a little box which held a slide with cells aspirated from his liver. He wanted to know if we would like it all sent to the lab for testing. I think we both just sat there looking stupid, both of us unsure on how to proceed. Personally, I was thinking, wow this is much worse than we originally thought. Why spend more money on lab work at this point, the writing seemed to be on the wall at this point so to speak.

We told Dr. Laughlin we wanted to speak with Dr. S first and see what she thinks. Dr. Stafanatos came back into the room and Dr. Laughlin left. The topic of sending his biopsy’s off to the lab for testing was never brought up again. I do remember her saying, “he is fighting for his life right now”. For some reason that really stuck with me. I wanted to believe that Harry would win that fight, but I intuitively knew that was her polite way of telling us that Harry was dying.

She drew blood for testing and prescribed a bunch of meds, herbs and potions and even told us to go and get special water for him to drink. We did it all for our boy.

She brought Harry back to the exam room and by now his front right leg and also ballooned up. It just looked so terribly painful and we took him home with yet, another bag full of medicines. Today’s visit $330.50.

We took him home and carried him into the house. I decided I would elevate his right front leg in hopes to alleviate some of the swelling. I rolled up some towels, laid Harry on his side and put the towels between his front legs.

The following day, November 14th, Dr. Stefanatos called me with Harry’s blood work. He had a raging infection of unknown origin. I left right away to go pick up some Amoxi tabs for him. Yet another pill to add to his growing collection. My kitchen was starting to look like a pharmacy. Today’s cost, $18.40, I considered myself lucky…

Over the next three days, he ate well and took all of his medicine like a champ. His breathing was continuing to be more and more labored and the swelling in his chest, abdomen and leg remained mostly unchanged.

On the 18th of November I remember being so happy because he got up on his own and went outside to go to the bathroom. When he came back in he laid back down on the right side of his body, I really didn’t give it much thought. A few hours later, I came in and decided I had better roll him over so I could once again stuff towels between his front legs and keep that right one elevated.

As I rolled Harry over I was mortified…his elbow callus and virtually come off. It was absolutely horrible and looked terribly infected. Trying not to panic I called my husband and told him, “Harry needs to go to the vet.” He said, “I’m on my way.”

Harry’s right front elbow

A short while later we carried Harry into DI Vet Hospital on a makeshift blanket gurney. He had wet himself on the short drive over. We laid him on the floor in the room and waited for Dr. Arn. Our poor boy was laying in a mixture of urine, blood and puss. It was just such an awful site.

It was so clear that it was his time, his breathing was so labored and now his skin was just sloughing off. Yet still, I wanted to hear it from the vet. It seems when they agree with you to end your pets life, it is just a tiny bit easier to let go.

Doctor explained to us, now that he was laying on the other side his left leg would also start to swell. It seemed that despite all of our best efforts and everything that modern medical science had to offer there was just no hope for Harry.

We all agreed it was time…Dr. Arn left to go get the IV needle and as we waited we fed Harry fist fulls of treats and rubbed his head gently. I wish I had something more to offer him. Something that he never would have been able to eat normally, I don’t know like a candy bar or cheeseburger with everything. Maybe onion rings fries and a chocolate shake.

It took the doc several attempts to get the IV line in and with each prick of the needle, Harry would lift his head and look down at his ankle. I don’t think it was hurting him, I think it was more out of curiosity than anything else.

As the vet injected the medication to end Harry’s life, he let out one last little breath of air and his pain ended.

There would be no “Radiation Vacation” for our boy, in fact I am pretty sure none of our pets will ever have a “Radiation Vacation.” It all just seemed too much, way too much of everything.

In loving memory of Harry Houdini Wegis, born to humans Chris and Helen Velvin February 14, 2001. Named this as he was the first puppy out of the whelping box.

Harry loved to lay with his front legs crossed, the vet once said he was praying.
Harry never walked down the stairs at home, rather slid down them on his belly. He loved to play in the spray of a garden hose, chase the tennis ball and swim…

See you at the bridge Harry…

By: Nancy Wegis