Need Some Advice, Maisie diagnosed with brain tumor Options

[Mo&Maisie'sMom]

I haven't been very active here for the past few months and unfortunately I'm not writing with good news. Many of you were amazingly supportive of me following the death of my boy, MoMo, last January from cancer and Cushing's disease. I stopped checking in last spring when his sister, Maisie, was also diagnosed with Cushing's. Mo's was caused by an adrenal tumor and yesterday, after a 5 month battle trying to regulate drug levels and recent symptoms of neurological damage, an MRI confirmed that Maisie has a large pituitary tumor that is compressing her brain. I am beside myself. Only within the last few months have I stopped crying daily over Mo's death, although thoughts of him never leave me. It took a long time to come to terms with it, as both he and Maisie have been with me since my early 20's - through every major event in my life.

She is not well and the last few months have been extremely difficult- she has tremors throughout her body, the cause of which is unidentified as it could be due to the tumor, the cushing's, or the drugs used to treat the cushing's. She has started to show signs of neurological damage - drooling, circling, and accidents all over the house. I moved in with my mother so that Maisie would have around the clock care as I travel for work (although as little as possible now). She has awful side effects from the drugs - fatigue, nausea and sleeps most of the time. When she is not sleeping she is trembling. I realized yesterday that she has not wagged her tail in over 4 months.

Yesterday I was told that her only treatment option is radiation therapy in an attempt to shrink the tumor. This would be a daily process for 3 weeks and each dose would require general anesthesia. Yesterday her blood pressure dropped while under anesthesia during the MRI and it took my normal vet calling the hospital for them to even release her to come home with me last night. If treated with radiation, she would either be dropped off each morning Monday through Friday and then picked up at night, or, because of her age, left at the hospital from Monday though Friday and brought home on weekends. I'm worried that the trauma of this alone will kill her.

Maisie is almost 11, she is a large dog and is no longer herself. The radiation might extend her life for a year or two if she made it through the 3 weeks and if the tumor growth doesn't progress. She will still require treatment for Cushing's, which will continue to produce side effects. There are no guarantees.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted, but I was so hopeful that she would be fine that in some strange way I thought I would 'jinx' myself or her by initiating any discussion of a potentially negative outcome. It has happened anyway. I trust all of you and I need your help in deciding on an unselfish course of action. I was up with her all of last night, and my gut as soon as I was given the treatment information last night immediately told me that it I could not put her through that. I am the last person to give up on my babies -I took 5 months off from work to stay home and care for Mo when he was dying and as I mentioned above, I've put all of my things in storage to move Maisie to a more comfortable environment with better care. What I am struggling so much with is how I could subject an almost 11 year old, sick dog who is terrified of the vet and who has a life expectancy of maybe 11 or 12 because of her breed to daily radiation and its side effects, anesthesia, which she does not tolerate well, to live maybe a year and a half with a disease that will still require meds that make her exhausted and sick? I would give anything and pay any amount of money to care for her, so cost isn't an issue, but her quality of life is.

Left untreated, she may only have a few months. The tumor could start causing seizures and we don't know how fast it is growing. I needed a day or two to think this through before proceeding and I would sincerely appreciate your objective thoughts.

Thank you so much for being there and I hope you and your babies are finding peace.

Jen

[radgirl]

I was just heartbroken when I saw your post. Oly you can make decisions in terms of how to proceed, it sounds like you have thought this through ever so much. You sound so much like me, only traveling when necessary and making sure Maisie has round the clock care. It is great know there are other pet parents out there like you, the world is sure a better place.


Maisie is so lucky to have you in her corner, thinking of her needs at all costs. I can tell you that leaving her at a vets office for that long every day might be too much for her. I speak from experience....Msity could only be left alone for 7 hrs, and leaving him at a vets office was never an option for me. Once when we had the house sprayed for termite pervention he had to go for a day, and he was so upset it took him 3 days to calm down.

The following is just my thoughts from decisions we had to make for Misty, as his advocate.

He was first diagnosed with hyperthyroidism about 5 years before he died. They wanted me to drive him 3 hrs away to a small hospital that did this experimental procedue that would have cured it completely. He would have had to stay in isolation there for 3 weeks.

The answer was clear to me without hesitation: NO!!!!! He would have been so scared and if soemthing had happened to him with his renal failure and he died at that hospital, I would have never forgiven myself.

The vet was ticked at us, as they wanted to use him as an experiment, and we switched vets. She put him on medicine, two types, and he lived happily at home for 5 years, dancing aroudn his food dish, laying on his pool raft, etc.

I wouldn't change a thing. When they said he had cancer (it had hit his lung) even if it was treatable I never would have put him through the trauma of treatments. He was so afraid when outside his environment, I just couldn't put him through anything.

In my case, the decision was made for me, as she said he may only last a few days at most, so I wasn't faced with your heart wrenching situation.

Just wanted to share my experience to see if it helps you at all. I am so sorry you are having to go through this, I just ca't imagine with losing Mo, too.......

Hats off to your Mom, too, for helping out. Ther should be more caring pet people out there like you and her.

Hang in there and my thoughts are with you......

Love, Amy (Misty's Mama)