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Thread: Angel Pancreatitis Help Please

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    United States, Olympia Washington
    Posts
    171

    Default Re: Angel Pancreatitis Help Please

    Thumbs up.

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
    Location
    Baton Rouge, LA
    Posts
    82

    Default Re: Angel Pancreatitis Help Please

    Well some bad news. Angel’s liver enzymes are to the moon again. I think her problem is the chemo (Chlorambucil) sometimes it can become toxic to the liver/kidneys and after restarting it on Tuesday she was vomiting foam at 4:30 this morning. I did not give it today and had her PCP recheck her blood chemistry. Sure enough it’s super high again. In fact, I don’t think it’s ever been this high. Have a call in to oncologist but I am not going to give her anymore of it. Unfortunately I don’t think we have many options that will not be equally or more harmful to her kidneys and liver. I can only hope the TCC does not progress rapidly. Maybe she will have a few good months left. I have asked about surgery since it doesn’t seem to change much but the doctors seem to feel it is probably within much of the bladder wall even if it isn’t visible. Surgery is usually a poor option for TCC. With chemo she has had 13 good months where she felt good and had no issues. I’m going to pray for a little more good time with her but we are done with this drug. It is usually well tolerated but Angel has a history of over reactions to drugs thru the liver. I’ m thankful we had eight months where she tolerated it well.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    rural central ARK
    Posts
    14,549

    Default Re: Angel Pancreatitis Help Please

    As tough as it is to make such a decision, I would do the same in your shoes. One of the hardest, most painful, things for me to learn was that there are limits to what I can, and should, do to prolong a life. Angel knows you have done all you can, and more than most, to give her the best life possible for as long as possible. Enjoy every moment you have left. Talk to her, touch her, spoil her rotten, and share with her all the memories the two of you have made together.

    We are here anytime you need a soft place to land.
    Hugs,
    Leslie
    "May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"

    Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    15,292

    Default Re: Angel Pancreatitis Help Please

    Leslie has stated perfectly my own thoughts, as well. I just want to repeat that we are always here for you, Claire. So please come back at any time. We’ll be anxious for updates on how *both* you girls are doing in the days ahead.

    Sending tons of hugs and healing thoughts,
    Marianne

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Glen Cove, NY
    Posts
    1,941

    Default Re: Angel Pancreatitis Help Please

    I think the same...there is only so much that we can do, and sometimes too much. I remember when our Saluki Isis had canine lymphoma and we began chemo in January until sometime in May or June, she went into remission after a few months, but it came back with a vengeance. We researched and went to the AMC in NYC to come up with a new protocol. We were beginning the new chemo regimen after Xmas that same year. I will never forget the look on her face when we started it again. She was so tired, so sick and so ready to go. She just wanted peace. My son and I cried the whole way home and when we picked her up, she had given up. The light was gone from her eyes. She got worse as the day went on and around 11pm I called the vet and he met us at his office. It was time, probably past time. We put her out of her misery that night and I swore I would never, ever do that to one of my babies again.

    I wish I had done that with Lee....
    Joan, mom to my Angel Lena, Angel Gable, Angel Phoenix, Angel Doree, Cooper, Sibble, and now Raina.

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
    Location
    Baton Rouge, LA
    Posts
    82

    Default Re: Angel Pancreatitis Help Please

    Thanks to everyone for the kind words and support. Fortunately at the moment, Angel is feeling fine. IF I gave her ‘junk food’ she would eat every bite.�� She seems to have good energy and she hasn’t had any incidents of retching since I discontinued the chlorambucil. Still haven’t heard from her doctors. I do know the liver has amazing healing properties so hopefully off the medication it will improve. I think at this point I simply have to say no to more chemo. She really was never ever sick on any of it until the past few weeks where her appetite diminished. I can pray the TCC doesn’t progress rapidly. The only other options would be radiation which would require daily anesthesia and have some nasty side effects for while. It can be very effective if started relatively early but it’s a difficult process and I don’t feel justified in putting such an old girl thru that not to mention I doubt she could handle the anesthesia. My goal now is to make sure it IS the drug causing the spike in liver enzymes and not something related to the bout of gastroenteritis that might be reoccurring since she’s been out of the hospital and off fluids, etc. Don’t want to have tunnel vision here. But as far as further treating the TCC I think we have done about all we can do given her various issues. She’s had nearly 15 months since it was diagnosed and it’s been all good. I don’t want to put her thru Hell with miserable treatments that might give us more time but the quality of her life will be diminished. It helps to know that you would make a similar decision in my shoes. I wish there was a cancer forum that was as informative and responsive as this one!! Hugs to everyone!!

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