# Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia-9yr old



## Artnlibsmom (May 8, 2013)

So very sorry to hear of Viceroy's diagnosis. We are dealing with cancer as well, only ours is multiple myeloma. Our boy, Artemis, was diagnosed (strangely enough) like yours when we took him to the vet for facial paralysis. We lost our Liberty to hemangiosarcoma in May. We wish you all the best and many more days, weeks and months with your boy. You will find much support here in the forum as many of us have travelled or are traveling the same path. I try to remember every day that Artemis doesn't know that he's sick. He enjoys every day to the fullest and I am trying my best to follow his lead. 

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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

*Viceroy*

Here's some pix of my little guy


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## Artnlibsmom (May 8, 2013)

Such a handsome boy! 

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## rbi99 (Jan 4, 2014)

Other than a temporary loss in appetite, our dog has been perfectly fine - and this is our "one month anniversary" from the day we were told Grin might only live for a few weeks. He is still perfect, but we know that when his time comes it will come quickly. You will hear this over and over, but it is so true - don't worry about tomorrow - if Viceroy has a great day today, savor every minute of it. As horrible a disease as leukemia is, at least it does not cause pain. We tried chemo even though we knew it would only add a few weeks perhaps to his life, but his first session made him miserable. Grin is on Prednisone only now, and I do not regret making the decision to stop the chemo.

Grin was rescued by an organization that also wanted him to work with handicap people. He had one little problem that they could not break him of - he chases squirrels!!! He still has that bad habit, but because of it I have had the greatest 4 1/2 years of my life regarding my dog and I.


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## rbi99 (Jan 4, 2014)

Fish oil will help his immunity, and a tablespoon or so a day will be good for him. Because the Preds make my dog extremely hungry, I add a small bowl of oatmeal to his morning meal. While oatmeal is a grain and cancer cells seek out grains, oatmeal is also known to help with immunity. I feel it is better to add the oatmeal vs. giving him too much regular dog food. The oatmeal helps fill him up. We have started adding a little boiled chicken to his meals also. He gets Orijen, which is the best dog food out there period, but it does have a high protein amount and would add too much weight to him. Yes, I know my Grin is dying, but I will spoil him with love which comes without excess calories!!! I am not endorsing K9 Immunity, but it is a product specifically made to help dogs with cancer. We give Grin four wafers a day, the first one (here is my only exceptions to the treats thing) is wrapped in cheese because he won't eat them otherwise. He then eats the other three as is. Viceroy and Grin are very susceptible to infections (not as much since we aren't doing chemo, but Prednisone kills good cells also), and many dogs die from something other than their leukemia. That is why I am giving Grin fish oil, oatmeal and the K9's. There are many other products and foods out there, but these are the three we decided to add. 

We will take Grin in every couple of weeks for blood work to see how he is doing internally (unless we see a change and then we will obviously get him in immediately). Since the original blood work was done and revealed this horrible situation to us, he has had two other ones following the Prednisone treatment. Both of those were excellent. Unfortunately for you and I there is no Prednisone 2 or other drug that can be used once the Preds stop being effective, so once the cancer cells regroup and multiply that will mark the end of the trail for our dogs. That is why we will get the updated blood work so that we have a better chance of seeing this coming. Once it does come I don't think we will have much time for our goodbyes, so we want to be aware of it as soon as we can be. This whole blasted thing sucks like nothing else, but I know that you, like myself and my wife will see to it that our best buds go out with a smile on their faces. In the past, before any of this came about, I would think of what I would do when Grin got too old to continue. I would actually tear up thinking about it. My solution to that problem was to immediately get him in the car and head out to the woods for a long hike. Even back then I realized that I only might have Grin for eight years more and knew that I had to make each day count. Now I come to find I might only have eight weeks. As you can guess, we are headed out to the woods again today!!! Without any kind of hesitation whatsoever, if I could give up some of my years and give them to Grin I would. Since that isn't in the cards, I have always been Grin's best friend - and he mine - and we will go down this terrible path together. The tears still fall, but Grin and Viceroy deserve all we can do for and with them.


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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

Artnlibsmom: You mentioned your pup, Artemis, also had facial paralysis?? What did your vet think the cause was? My vet said that facial paralysis is usually from an unknown cause and an clear on it's own. But in this scenario, it may be cause from the leukemia. If I had opted for the chemo, and the paralysis cleared, we would know it was caused by the cancer. We opted against the chemo, so his face is still droopy and he can't blink his eye (we put ointment in to prevent them from drying out) The paralysis doesn't seem to bother him, though


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## GoldenMum (Mar 15, 2010)

Please know my heart goes out to you. I lost both my Bonnie, and Clyde in the last three months; both to different cancers. Enjoy every moment, takes lots of walks to special places. We never have them long enough, so enjoy every minute you're given with your precious boy.


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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

rbi: Thank you so much for sharing your stories and kind words. It is so nice to read about the bond the two of you have. 
I will look into the fish oil and K9wafers. 
It is so sad that dogs have short lives as it is, and even worse when they don't live to their breed life expectancy. I am not looking forward to the day that the prednisone stops working either. 
Thank you for the words of encouragement!


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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

*To Grandmother's house we go*

Viceroy was happy to go for a car ride today to visit grandma! He always loves car rides, so it was nice to see him get so excited to go out. He was always very excited to visit my grandma. He rested on the floor while we worked on a puzzle.


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## Artnlibsmom (May 8, 2013)

Artemis' facial droop is believed to be idiopathic (unknown cause) although it is still possible that the cancer caused the inflammation in the first place. Artie's face had mostly cleared up and there is little noticeable droop left although if I give him a marrow bone he will wear a rub mark on his upper lip where his canine tooth catches his lip sometimes. We did opt for chemo, as, with it the median life expectancy is around a year and a half. Artie has been very fortunate. He takes a pill a day for ten days on, then gets a ten day rest period, before going back on the pills for another 10 days. He hasn't had any ill effects. This treatment will continue until it either stops working or he passes away (as long as his quality of life is good). As of today's blood work which he has every 20 days, he is officially in remission. I'm hopeful for a very long remission!

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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

rbi: So you give Grin the K9 wafers AND fish oil as well? I looked in the ingredients for the wafers....
*Omega 3 Concentrate™* - 400 mg – yielding EPA 66 mg and DHA 44 mg – Active Ingredient
I am thinking of trying the wafers on Viceroy too, so it is ok to also give fish oil?


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## rbi99 (Jan 4, 2014)

We are giving our dog Pure Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil by Bravo. For dogs weighing 25 - 50 lbs they suggest adding one teaspoon a day over their food. Since Grin weighs 80 lbs, we know we aren't overdoing it. His dog food (Orijen) also has Omega 3/6 in it. One site I found said that you would have to approach 4000 mgs over a long period before the risk of acute pancreatitis becomes a possibility. The wafers are specifically made for dogs like ours that have cancer. The wafers aren't a preventative for healthy dogs. Since Grin does not have a high chance of living more than a few months I want him to have all of the immunity protection I can give him. It is bad enough that he even has luekemia, if we were to loose him to an infection before even this disease takes him, I would never forgive myself. Your vet can probably clear up any concerns that you have.


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## rbi99 (Jan 4, 2014)

Here is a good article regarding fish oil and dogs. One of the things it mentions is that dogs sick like ours stand to gain more than they risk if given too much oil. My Grin weighs nearly 80lbs, and at 55mgs per pound that works out to 4400mgs a day.

Fish Oil: The Dangers of Too Much | petMD


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Shell*

Michelle

Praying for Viceroy-what a beautiful boy!


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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

*Viceroy gets a visitor*

Viceroy is still doing ok on his prednisone. We have since started him on a grain free dry food, fish oil tablets and the K9 immunity plus wafers. He is willing to eat almost whatever we put in front of him. In addition to his dog food, we're giving him apple, spinach, cottage cheese to taste, pumpkin, green beans, salmon and marrow bone. He gets an assortment of a couple of these items each day. Today, he started on a lower dosage of prednisone. He has been getting 30mg daily. His vet gave 2 options, either drop down to 20mg daily or give 30mg every other day. I gave him 20mg today and we'll see how he does with that.
Viceroy had a very good weekend. My fiancé came down from Rhode Island to visit and Viceroy was very happy to see him. He even picked up a toy and greeted him when he came in, something he hasn't down much lately. We took him for a short walk, which he enjoyed, even though he was a bit slower than normal. 
Not much change overall with him, but it's nice that he is still eating and pretty mobile.


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## rbi99 (Jan 4, 2014)

Sounds like Viceroy is getting closer to being his old self!!! How often are you going to have blood work done? We started going every two weeks, but might extend that as long as Grin continues to do well. What brand of dog food did you decide on?


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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

I found a grain free food by the brand NutriSource. He seems to like it. I wasn't going to take him back for blood work, I figure that it won't really change the way I am treating him. He is 9 years old, and hasn't been the same since he started showing symptoms on January 16th. He doesn't really play anymore, while he will go for a walk, he lost the bounce in his step. His appetite is still very good, likely due to the prednisone, so we are just keeping him comfortable the best that we can.


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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

Viceroy is not doing well today. He wouldn't eat his food this morning, I tried treats, cheese, wouldn't take it. I did get his prednisone in him. He has loose stools and threw up some food twice today. He is even more lethargic than normal. 
Hoping he's just having a bad day and that tomorrow will be better.


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## rbi99 (Jan 4, 2014)

Hope Viceroy does better.


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## shell8422 (Jan 22, 2014)

*Viceroy's Last Day*

We had to put down Viceroy this morning. He was diagnosed on January 20th with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and was slowly deteriorating ever since. He lasted 3 weeks and 2 days on his prednisone, which gave him a great appetite up until last Thursday. I tried everything I could, fish oil, K9 immunity wafers, super healthy foods (spinach, pumpkin, tuna, salmon, apples, carrots) If anything, I think he felt very spoiled getting all these treats. 
I knew that today was the day when Viceroy started panting alot last night and seemed agitated. I had been sleeping downstairs with him for the last week since he couldn't get up the stairs anymore. Each night I had become used to letting him out to potty at least once overnight. At sometime around 3am he started panting alot and even crying a little. I knew he probably needed to potty. So, I helped him get up and we made our way to the back door. He was having alot of trouble walking, like it was a huge effort for him to just walk. He didn't make it to the door before he sat down and had an accident on the floor. I cleaned him up and got him back to where we were sleeping, he was panting heavily. It was then that I knew his time had come. I didn't want him to get so bad that he would have a heart attack. I also didn't want him to get upset while no one was home if he wanted to get up and couldn't. When morning came I called the Mobile vet and explained what was going on. They were able to come out at 11:30. I had decided on the mobile vet because I thought it would be less stressful on Viceroy. I would of had to carry him to the car and into the vet if we had taken him to Mt Laurel Animal Hospital, and by that point I think he would have been in distress. 
He rested quietly on his pillow most of the morning, I tried taking him out back to potty but I could tell he wasn't able to go much farther than the patio without sitting down, so I brought him back in. 
The vets finally came. They travel in a converted ambulance and see patients for normal checkups but also provide euthanasia services. Viceroy didn't even seem that happy to see them, when he is normally thrilled to have guests over. They were very nice young girls, a vet and her assistant. They gave him an injection to calm him and make him sleepy. His head rested on the blanket and he seemed to be in a sleeping state. Then, they injected him with the drugs, it happens fast. She checked his heart with her stethoscope and said he is at peace now. My mom and I were on the floor with him, petting him. My sister was watching from the sofa. They tried to get his paw print but the cement they use had gotten so cold that it was too hard. They said they would take him back to their hospital and get one there and deliver it to me. His ashes will be spread in the meadow of the pet cemetery in Hamilton, NJ. My mom helped the assistant carry him out on the little stretcher board (the vet was pregnant and shouldn't lift) and into the ambulance.
It is sad that he didn't make it to live his full life expectancy, he was 9 and a half years old. He was cheated of at least 2 years.
It is sad that dogs can't live as long as people.


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## Brinkleythegolden (Jun 18, 2012)

I am so sorry for the loss of Viceroy. I too lost my heartdog at the tender age of 9 from cancer. It's so not fair! My heart goes out to you.


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## GoldenMum (Mar 15, 2010)

I am so very sorry about your boy, but you gave him the final gift of releasing him from all his pain. It is so very hard, I recently lost my two babies to cancer. May you find peace....Dawn


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## walter1956 (Feb 15, 2013)

Sorry to hear the bad news.


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## rbi99 (Jan 4, 2014)

So very sorry to hear about Viceroy. I know the pain/sorrow you are going through.


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## Wilbur'sDad (Feb 19, 2014)

I have just read your story about Viceroy and my heart goes out to you. I know he was a great dog and constant friend.


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