"All indications point to LYMPHOMA" vet said, PLEASE HELP ME with advice!!

Last week, we noticed our little dogs neck looked swollen at her lymph nodes. She is 8 years old and weighs 5.1 pounds. She also began getting "hard/lumpy" spots near her nipple area's. I was dreading taking her to the vet, because I was afraid of what he would say. Regardless, off we went to the vet yesterday. As soon as he began examining her, the words out of his mouth was "oh you poor little baby". He immediately began to feel certain spots on her body, behind her legs, her lower neck, her lymph node area. I told him I was dreading bringing her in because I was afraid of what he would say. He told me I was right.

He did rush bloodwork and 3 needle aspirates (lymph nodes on neck, on "mammary glands", and on lower neck near shoulders). He just called with bloodwork results and told me we need to wait for pathology, but we need to be prepared as "all indications point towards lymphoma". Her bloodwork was bad, lymph node enzymes very high, white blood cells very high and something else very high. If pathology comes back with lymphoma, we will need to immediately bring her in for xrays.

Pathology will be back tomorrow or Friday at the latest.

I've never dealt with this before, I don't know what to do. we live in Northern California and I already called UC Davis vet school (a very good college in our area with supposedly state of the art medicine). IF her pathology comes back the way it looks now, the oncologist will get her in the next day.

Has anyone ever went through this? Is she too small for any type of chemo? I don't know what to expect, what decisions we will need to make, or how much pain she will be in?

Can anyone who has been through this give me some enlightenment on what the procedure is for this? Where will we start? I need to be prepared and I don't know what to prepare for.

A friend of mine had a Great Dane older than your girl & she opted for chemo, it gave her another 9 + months of life before she had to be PTS due to another unrelated cause

If the vets are willing to give your girl chemo I would go for it

Cyber {{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}} to you & your girl xxxx

My first thoughts are that you should really be putting these questions to your vet. He has the results and he knows how good or bad the prognosis is and how suitable she will be for 'treatment'.

Sorry to hear about this. I hope she has some good quality time left to spend with you.

Yeah, I have asked our vet these questions. I asked him this morning actually. His only response was that we "need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst". I'm the type of personality that needs to be proactive, so I need to know what our options will be, if any. He wouldn't really answer me, other than at this point it looks like lymphoma and we have to wait on the official results. The only thing he would really say vaguely is that "it's his responsibility as her vet to make sure she is as comfortable as possible".

This morning I told him, if the results come back as lymphoma, we would like to take her to see an oncologist. He told me he would send her records as soon as we find out, and I haven't met with the oncologist yet so I'm not sure what the options will be. I don't even know what a first appointment with an oncologist will consist of, what tests they will do, what treatments they offer. The waiting, without any answers and with a lot of questions, is the hardest part right now.

So sorry to hear that your lovely girl is unwell - it is so hard to deal with situations like this until you get the results and understand fully what your options are. I hope you can find a way forward that gives you both some hope for the future. Do let us know what you decide once you have the results. Hugs to you and to your little girl.

Thank you for the kinds words. It's been a long few days, and then my minds starts noticing every little "symptom" and then I begin to panic.

Official diagnosis......lymphoma.
devastated.

I am so sorry that the news is what you were dreading. (((hugs)))

Thank you Malka.

We can't change things, right? We've just got to fight what we're given to us. Today will be a day of research, finding out what I can do (naturally) to make her strong, what herbs or supplements I can give her that are safe, etc.

I spent all last night following the dog cancer diet and making her cancer fighting meals. We'll fight it.

So very sorry to hear your girl has Lymphoma.. i lost my boy to it at the end of Feb this year, he was only 5.

I am sending all my hugs and best wishes.. to you and your girl. Keep fighting x