Yuki’s cancer has returned.
After about 5 months of celebrating Yuki’s successful journey through chemotherapy to fight and put his Lymphoma into remission, July’s discovery that his lymph nodes were swelling again was very upsetting. We had noticed in June/July that his skin problems were returning and Mom then noticed his lymph nodes increasing in size again. It’s believed that his other problems (skin rashes, reverse sneezing and dry nose, ear infections) are due to his immune system becoming overwhelmed and unable to do its job.
Making this even more upsetting is that he started a regimen with an injection called Adequan for his hips which virtually gave him a new lease on life by helping massively with his shaky hind legs. He’s happy, he’s running around, he’s feeling and looking good again, and then the cancer returned.
The Oncologist warned us last fall that if/when the cancer returned it would be more aggressive and harder to fight. He was definitely correct. When Yuki got his initial injection of L-Asparaginase which, last fall, made his lymph nodes shrink to normal almost overnight, wasn’t as effective this time. His lymph nodes shrank, but maybe to about half the size. As we approach the end of the first four weeks of chemo, you can still feel his lymph nodes, though small, are still firm.
The chemo regimen is pretty much the same this time, four weeks, one week off, another four weeks, etc. Last week was Vinblastine and this week they have changed the medication from his previous fourth week chemo drug Andriamycin (Doxorubicin). This medication is called Mitoxantrone which is an “antitumor antibiotic”. This is given as an injection and attacks the cancer at cell division (cell-cycle specific). Interestingly, Mitoxantrone is made from stuff found in nature.