• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Sasha (Siberian Husky) Update: Misdiagnosis Does Happen

RoseRed

RoseRed

New member
The vet undiagnosed Sasha of having cancer. I could try to explain this in one big, unorganized paragraph but lets start from the beginning.

January
I took Sasha into the vet because I had noticed a significant weight loss. The vet took a blood test and x-rays and diagnosed Sasha with cancer (most likely Bone Cancer) due to the following:
1) High Phosphorous Level
2) Something appearing in the lungs on the x-ray
3) Weight loss
4) Not lively, like normal
The vet offered to take more x-rays to try to find the origin of the cancer. I declined, because I didn't want to put Sasha through more x-rays just to find the origin (remember at this time everyone believed she had cancer).

March
About mid-March I notice that something was wrong with her left eye. I was able to get her a week later. The eye began to swell between the dates. The vet put her on eye drops and Cephalexin 500 mg twice a day (for 10 days). This was to decrease the swelling and to help with infections if she had any.

April
The swelling had gone down, so the vet preformed a test for Glaucoma. The test came back negative. The vet also noted that Sasha gained a few pounds and was looking a bit healthier. But her energy level was still low. The vet took an x-ray and the stuff in her lungs had not moved at all (which the vet expected the stuff to move).

May
Between the beginning of April up to her vet visit (May 20th) I noticed that Sasha was appearing to be gaining weight and her eye was not swelling anymore. But it was obvious that she had lost a great deal of eye sight in her left eye and it was causing her pain.

On her vet visit several things were discussed. The first being, that Sasha was not showing the typical signs of a dog with cancer. She had gained even more weight and was getting healthier. Except for the left eye, which she had very little vision in (almost to the point of being blind), she was healthy. At this time I had to make a call, were we to try to save the eye or to remove it. After discussing with the vet, it was determined that it was in Sasha's best interest to remove the eye. The eye was causing her a great deal of pain and at best she might regain a little eye sight, but her eye would never recover completely. I was not going to put Sasha through more pain just for slim chances of getting a little bit of eye sight back. Her surgery was scheduled for the beginning of June. The doctor gave me more Cephalexin for Sasha to take before the surgery and after.

June
I called the vet and requested that Sasha be re-tested for her Phosphorous level before her surgery. The Phosphorous level came back normal (no longer high as in January). After removing the eye, the vet sent it off to be tested. The official results for the left eye was Chronic Glaucoma (which she had tested negative for in the past).

The only factor remaining for the official diagnosis of Cancer was the x-ray (which the vet is still trying to figure out, in July she may take another x-ray to see if anything has changed). Sasha now has normal Phosphorous level, is at a healthy/normal weight, is completely herself again (<< day/night difference after her eye was removed), and is much healthier than she was in January.

This has been quite the experience. I am glad that I listened to my gut and not put her down the moment I heard the diagnosis (if I had, Sasha would not be here). In highnsight, I should have asked to find the cancer's origin. Got a second opinion. I feel guilty because Sasha did lose her left eye. Maybe if I would have asked for a second opinion earlier on, maybe her eye could have been saved. But I am grateful that she is going to be here longer than I was thinking in January.
 
Wait on saying 'not cancer' until you look at those x-rays again, though yes misdiagnoses do happen in human and animal medicine.


When my first dog was 12, he developed a cough. I took him in to the vet and we did an x-ray. There was a distinct mass in his left lung. We did a biopsy and it came back as necrotic tissue. We stuck him on a 2 week course of antibiotics and steroids to see if it would make a difference, and in a month we'd retake the radiographs. We did, and it had shrunk. A month later, it was smaller. A month later, it was even smaller. For 7 months we took x-rays every month to monitor this 'mass'. It started out a little larger than a walnut and shrank down the size of a pea. We stopped taking radiographs at that point. He was 'undiagnosed' with cancer.

Two months after we stopped taking the radiographs, Aussie had a seizure. I took him in and we took x-rays again. The mass had gone from pea to basically his entire left lung in a 2 month span. A month later, after his second seizure, I put Aussie to sleep. The lung mass came back as a primary pulmonary adenocarcinoma, a particularly aggressive form of lung cancer. My vet had a friend whose mother was diagnosed with the same cancer. She was given *maybe* a year to live with surgery and chemo. And this is when I learned the phrase "Cancer can do whatever the **** it wants." It can go slow, it can go fast, it can go away entirely.

So be optimistic, but cautiously so.
 
Shiari said:
Wait on saying 'not cancer' until you look at those x-rays again, though yes misdiagnoses do happen in human and animal medicine.


When my first dog was 12, he developed a cough. I took him in to the vet and we did an x-ray. There was a distinct mass in his left lung. We did a biopsy and it came back as necrotic tissue. We stuck him on a 2 week course of antibiotics and steroids to see if it would make a difference, and in a month we'd retake the radiographs. We did, and it had shrunk. A month later, it was smaller. A month later, it was even smaller. For 7 months we took x-rays every month to monitor this 'mass'. It started out a little larger than a walnut and shrank down the size of a pea. We stopped taking radiographs at that point. He was 'undiagnosed' with cancer.

Two months after we stopped taking the radiographs, Aussie had a seizure. I took him in and we took x-rays again. The mass had gone from pea to basically his entire left lung in a 2 month span. A month later, after his second seizure, I put Aussie to sleep. The lung mass came back as a primary pulmonary adenocarcinoma, a particularly aggressive form of lung cancer. My vet had a friend whose mother was diagnosed with the same cancer. She was given *maybe* a year to live with surgery and chemo. And this is when I learned the phrase "Cancer can do whatever the **** it wants." It can go slow, it can go fast, it can go away entirely.

So be optimistic, but cautiously so.
Click to expand...

I was going by what the vet said. But you are probably right, it may be too soon to tell. I'm just hoping so much that it is not cancer.
 
The best news is that Sasha's gained weight and is no longer in pain. fingers crossed for you
 
How is Sasha's other eye? A you giving her eye drops in that one now too?

My Boston had glaucoma which was diagnosed and treated with eye drops for years. She was diagnosed when she ran into something in the backyard causing an injury to one eye. Than eye was removed and she continued with eye drops in the other eye for years. Eventually her remaining eye was removed as we were advised that not only were we dealing with the glaucoma now but she was also developing a cataract.

The reason why I ask is the drops can be expensive and I found I was able to get them cheaper with a Walgreen or Walmart drug membership as the eye drops for dogs are the same used on humans for glaucoma.
 
So she went to the vet today (my mother actually took her since I was feeling ill). The stuff in her lungs is almost completely gone, the vet guessed it may have been pneumonia, but what ever it is/was it's going away.

Bad news is that she will need another surgery on her left eye (technically just an eye socket now) since she is having a little blood coming out. The vet thinks it is due to something not being properly closed on the inside, or something with an octave nerve. Sasha will be going to an eye specialist.
 
the cancer can be cured easily and quite fast actually with a natural medicine. visit phoenixtears.ca for info
because dogs have a faster metabolism and a greater # of CB1 and CB2 receptors the medicine works faster. Rick Simpsons facebook page is open to the public and there are testomonials posted daily on how this medicine has helped them and saved their loved ones. have a peek and feel free to message me with any questions you may have.
 
Although I think the appropriate step right now is to take her to a vet that has more experience with cancer. Her current vet has undiagnosed her, but with no support to back up the pneumonia claim (during this whole process pneumonia was never mentioned until now), I think it best to get a second opinion. Does anyone know of a vet with experience with cancer in the Chicago suburbs?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top