Celica Blue and Lymphoma: A Bump in the Road

You take my photo with a flash and I’ll squint.

After a pretty good honeymoon period, we’ve hit a bump in the road.

Celica Blue was due for her sixth chemo treatment in this round, Doxorubicin, this week. I noticed earlier in the week that she was drinking water, just three times over two days or so, but it was unlike her; she never drinks water. She was also acting just a tad punky.

She was five rounds into her second series of six chemotherapy – Vincristine, Cyclophosphamide, and Doxorubicin, along with Vitamin B12 infusions and daily Prednisolone. Per my holistic veterinarian, she also receives a mushroom supplement (5 Defenders) and colostrum. In addition, there are sorts of good things in her food such as probiotics, krill oil, and Vitamin D. Her blood work all along has been perfect, except for a couple of instances where her white bloodcell count was low normal and that caused a postponement of chemo for a week.

I explained the changes when we had our usual pre-treatment chat and sure enough – when the blood work was done, it showed that Celica Blue’s kidney values had jumped since her previous visit.

So Dr. Olmsted recommended that we do an ultrasound to see where we stand, moving it up two weeks. I left her for the afternoon with a heavy heart.

The ultrasound in September showed that the mass was the size of a quarter and there was a very slight thickening of the intestinal walls.

The ultrasound this week showed some other changes. While the original mass is gone there were some enlarged lymph nodes and her kidneys were enlarged, possibly from the lymphoma or a kidney infection. The report reads, “The ultrasound revealed new changes in her kidneys concerning for lymphoma +/- a kidney infection. There were also changes in lymph nodes and an area of the small intestine concerning for lymphoma. The urinalysis done later showed some white blood cells, and the urine was somewhat dilute; a culture will give further information.

Based on that info, Dr. Olmsted recommended L-asparaginase rather than the Doxorubicin, which is cleared through the kidneys. She also got the usual Vitamin B12 shot and fluids. She’s also getting antibiotics.

We have another appointment next week when she’ll get Lomustine and in between she’ll get fluids a couple of times at our regular vet’s.

Now comes the hard part.

The bill for this recent appointment was $1,250. Even before that we were at the $10K mark, some of which has been paid for through generous donations. We can just stop treatment for lack of funds when she’s been doing so well. We gone though out reserves and we’re on to the credit card. It’s the holidays and everyone seems to have their hands out … well, so is ours.

Laurie Goldstein has kindly set up a youcaring.com donation page and just updated it. Any amount will be appreciated more than you can imagine.

I had started this update last month (paying gigs take precedence) delighted that she was dong so well. Now I’m hoping Celica Blue will move beyond this and return to her normal catliness.

I was also celebrating the second anniversary of her arrival from Russia, one of the most amazing days of my life. I’m also hoping we have a few more anniversaries to celebrate.

Read about Celica Blue’s Journey here:

Part 1 – Celica Blue and Lymphoma: The Journey Begins

Part 2 – Celica Blue and Lymphoma: Two Weeks In

Part 3 – Celica Blue and Lymphoma: Round 3

Part 4 – Celica Blue and Lymphoma: The New Normal

Part 5 – Celica Blue and Lymphoma: Remission in Sight?

Part 6 – Celica Blue and Lymphoma: Her Oncology Team