# Lymphoma timeline without treatment?



## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

We did the non-chemo route with a very rare, aggressive kind of T-cell lymphoma (panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma). Sadly, we only got about a week out of the prednisone. However, in our case, the strange symptoms, combined with an inconclusive aspirate test, delayed treatment, so our guy had lesions (lumps) on his skin and apparently one starting behind his eye when we started prednisone. It seemed to be working for a few days, but then the lumps started growing again, so we let him go before it got truly painful.

In other cases, I've heard of dogs getting a reprieve from symptoms for six months or more.

The large lump under his jaw is probably a lymph node. Lymph swelling is a common symptom of lymphoma, but it usually doesn't cause problems until they get very large (golfball sized and larger), as it can cause discomfort and problems with eating.

I hope nobody judges you for not going through with chemo. It's not for everybody.


----------



## rbi99 (Jan 4, 2014)

I have to ask (without judging), are you self diagnosing your dog? Don't understand "unofficially diagnosed". I can definitely understand someone who simply does not have the funds to do things for their dog that they would otherwise, or life situations that are even more pressing then the needs of a loved pet, but a vet visit if possible should be in the cards. My dog has both lymphoma and acute leukemia, and though we tried chemo we stopped it after one session because he didn't react well to it. My dog should have died in January according to our vet and our oncologists, and basically all we have done for him is give him prednisone. He is still alive and doing great. That being said, we have still spent thousands of dollars with vet and oncologist visits, other meds when necessary, etc. My dog still being with me though is the greatest of exceptions. Our doctors say that he is a living miracle.


----------



## JeanieBeth (Jul 13, 2013)

rbi99 said:


> I have to ask (without judging), are you self diagnosing your dog? Don't understand "unofficially diagnosed". I can definitely understand someone who simply does not have the funds to do things for their dog that they would otherwise, or life situations that are even more pressing then the needs of a loved pet, but a vet visit if possible should be in the cards. My dog has both lymphoma and acute leukemia, and though we tried chemo we stopped it after one session because he didn't react well to it. My dog should have died in January according to our vet and our oncologists, and basically all we have done for him is give him prednisone. He is still alive and doing great. That being said, we have still spent thousands of dollars with vet and oncologist visits, other meds when necessary, etc. My dog still being with me though is the greatest of exceptions. Our doctors say that he is a living miracle.


Nuff said. ? I would definitely get a diagnosis. What if it's an infection? 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

My guess is that "unofficially diagnosed" probably means that the doctor is fairly sure it's lymphoma but they haven't actually biopsied cells and seen the cancer under a microscope. If you're not pursuing chemo, it may not be worth it to put the dog through a biopsy procedure. That's just my guess.


----------



## Jersey's Mom (Nov 25, 2007)

tippykayak said:


> My guess is that "unofficially diagnosed" probably means that the doctor is fairly sure it's lymphoma but they haven't actually biopsied cells and seen the cancer under a microscope. If you're not pursuing chemo, it may not be worth it to put the dog through a biopsy procedure. That's just my guess.


That makes sense, but having recently experienced the "assumption" of lymphoma turn out to be an aggressive infection that was completely treatable -- I'm kind of with rbi99 on this one. 

I'm guessing since there has been no "lump" to be found that there probably hasn't been anything to biopsy up to this point. However, now that the lymph node is enlarged, there's a good place to start. The most reliable test would be to have the lymph node removed and biopsied. I can understand, though, if you don't want to put your dog through this major procedure. If that is the case, consider having an aspirate taken (they use a needle to take some of the fluid out of the lymph node and have it examined at a lab to determine the types of cells that are present). It's generally an affordable test and it has a decent chance of telling you what's really going on. That's what I did with Jersey (full disclosure -- he also had masses in his nasal passage that were sampled and biopsied. The fact that we got the same types of inflammatory cells from both without any evidence of irregular cancer cells was pretty good evidence. But even then, my internal medicine doctor did tell us that they could not fully rule out that there was also a lymphoma going on that was being essentially hidden by the infection and if his lymph nodes had flared up again while on treatment we would have removed one and biopsied. They never did and now he is back to 100%.) Whatever you choose, I wish you and your dog the best of luck and many happy days together.

Julie, Jersey and Oz


----------



## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah - we had a similar issue with Gus. Lymphoma was on the table as a possibility, but the symptoms were weird (panniculitis-like lymphoma is almost unheard of in dogs and rare in people). An aspirate of a swollen lymph node was inconclusive. We did finally biopsy a node and one of the skin lesions, and that's how the final diagnosis was made, but that was many thousands of dollars and a major surgical procedure just to find out there was really nothing we could do for him. We ended up letting him go before the stitches even came out. 

So I completely understand not wanting to take the huge financial hit and/or to put the dog through a biopsy surgery. I do agree with JM that a needle aspirate test might make sense, now that a node is swollen, just to see if you can find out for sure that it's lymphoma before moving on to palliative care, since if it's _not_ lymphoma, it may be curable and prednisone may make it worse.

But again, without knowing OP's financial situation, how sick the dog is, and how confident the vet is that it's lymphoma, even a needle aspirate might not make sense here.


----------



## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Here are some threads that might be helpful to you-

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...cancer-diagnosis-what-should-you-ask-vet.html

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...vers/71049-vet-colleges-oncology-clinics.html

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...on/114409-donations-financial-assistance.html


----------

