24/04/2022
Yesterday, my mom learned that I have cancer. Specifically, T-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. While I can tell her heart is breaking, I know that this is the best possible cancer I could have as a canine. It progresses slowly with minimal symptoms. I'm slower than I used to be, but is that my age or cancer? I turned 10 in dog years this past December, or 65 in human years (based on my breed).
I've had a fuller life than most dogs. There have been wait list's to dog-sit me. I was the primary attraction on the listing when my parents' guest room was on AirBNB. Seriously, almost all the reviews were about me. There was even 1 guest that said she found an AirBNB closer to her training class but she wanted to meet me instead and it was worth the drive! I basically ran Premier Co-ed Sports (despite what Kiley or my mom thinks!) and players would email customer service saying I was a better Rufferee (thanks Buffy, aka Elizabeth) for the official uniform) than all the others. 🏈
And I still have a lot of life to live. The science says I'll likely live another year or so before I even need any treatment. My lymphocyte count is around 13K and there isn't a need for medical intervention until they are over 50K. My mom will take me for a blood test once a month so we'll know when it's time for some treatment. I have a referral for an oncologist at NC State Vet School (GO PACK!) and will see them in August for a full evaluation. Other dogs with T-CLL can live another 1 to 3 years of high-quality life. It's most common to enjoy at least a full year before needing prednisone. To be fair, that will take me to the normal life span for Pitties, but don't tell my mom that, she's not ready to say goodbye, she'll probably never be ready to say goodbye. I don't blame her, I'm not ready to say goodbye to her either. She's my bestie. ❤️ I'm so glad Beth & Stephanie were able to match me to her.
Then, if finding my bestie wasn't cool enough, my bestie let the captain of my favorite kickball and softball team live with us full time, and then she grew 3 tiny humans who became my ultimate besties and snuggle partners. They were pretty lucky that I shared all my furniture with them, even my king-size bed, which thankfully was big enough for the entire family. And last year they added a 4-legged baby sister, Saki, to the family. She's HUGE and loves to wrestle. It makes me feel like a pup again. 🐶 🐕
I'll update here if anything changes with the cancer stuff. In the meantime, I'll just be living my best life and welcome any playdates!
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Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
As rapid and aggressive as acute lymphocytic leukemia is, chronic lymphocytic leukemia is the opposite with most patients having few symptoms and long survival times. The clinical course of CLL is long, lasting months to years, with the average age at diagnosis being 10 to 12 years. In up to 50 percent of cases there are no symptoms of any kind at the time of diagnosis, and the leukemia is discovered by chance on a routine blood evaluation. In CLL, it is the sheer number of circulating cells rather than what they look like is what makes the diagnosis.
There are three forms of CLL: T cell (called T-CLL), B cell (called B-CLL), and a form involving both B and T cells (called atypical CLL). T-cell and B-cell are the most common forms. T-CLL has the best prognosis overall, although many factors can affect a patient’s outcome. The type of CLL that a given patient has can be determined by blood testing (immunophenotyping or PARR testing, which stands for PCR testing for antigen receptor rearrangements), thus revealing the most information regarding prognosis and what to expect.
Because CLL progresses slowly, treatment is often forgone unless one of several conditions exist. Conditions for which treatment of CLL is recommended include: lymphocyte counts are greater than 60,000; if there are symptoms or organ enlargement; hyperviscosity syndrome (more common with B-CLL, see below); or if other white blood cell lines are suppressed by the tumor. If treatment is deemed necessary, common protocols involve prednisone, chlorambucil, vincristine, and/or cyclophosphamide. Survival times of one to three years with good life quality are common.
Golden Retrievers and German Shepherd dogs may be predisposed to CLL. Boxers, unfortunately, tend to get a more aggressive form of this condition and have much shorter survival times.
https://www.ajdesigner.com/fl_dog_age/dog_age.php
https://ctvrc.ca/canine-leukemia/
