Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Planning for Round #3

The first visit to SEVO was our consultation with the doctor and then Henry's first chemotherapy treatment. Between the first and second trips, we had called the doctor and touched base with the doc since Henry really did not respond well to trip #1. After visit #2 (which was SO much better) we sent an email to the doc to let her know how he handled the second visit (which was a lower dose). We got the reply and we are pleased with the response. Henry's next chemo (and likely subsequent treatments) will stay the dose that he last received in treatment #2.

According to the doc, this lower dose will work for Henry. This is what the vet says:

" I would likely NOT adjust dose upward any further – just keep right where we are and continue with the same plan of aggressive GI support post-treatments. In a “normal” dog with both kidneys, I would suspect that this dose would be sub-therapeutic and unlikely to work, but in Henry, since he’s only got one kidney, his metabolism and excretion of the drug takes longer, so he’s getting a much higher “relative” dose compared to dogs with two kidneys and normal metabolism and excretion of the drug and it’s byproducts. Bottom line – one of our rules of thumb is that if it’s enough for him to feel the GI side effects from it, it’s also likely reaching a high enough level in his system to be effective, even though the “on-paper” dose is so much lower than usual. So I think we keep on keepin’ on!"

So, the plan for chemo visit #3 is as follows: chest xray, sonogram, blood work and the low(ish) dose of chemo. It will be a big day but after that we will be half way home!

#HenryStrong #HenryStrongAllDayLong #TeamHenry