Tuesday, June 2, 2009

1st Chemo for Megat

Oh dear. I know that light in your eye san...

Dr P informed me of the chemo protocols and what was in his future if I elected for him to have chemo. He would have a cycle of 8 weeks of chemo before we would have to do an ultra sound to see if the chemo was having any positive effect on him. Megat would also have to have a blood test every week before the doc progress with anything else to see if it was possible for him to continue.

The side effects would be - vomitting, no appetite, listlessness and if he should lose any hair, it would be his whiskers only. But the doc said it was unlikely that he would lose any as it would be only in extreme cases. She said that cats go through chemo relatively well but she needed me to be sure that that was the way I wanted to go. Whatever I decide, she said that his hematology tests must allow me to make the decision as if it was not good, then no chemo would take place.

As usual Megat was very good at the blood letting and then we had to wait for the results.

Megat's hematology test was not so good.



WBC = 3.97 (5.5 to 19.5 normal); PLT is 33 (300-800 normal); but his RBC is ok at 6.26 (5 to 10 normal) However even if his WBC is 3.97, it was still more than 2.5, which makes it ok for his first round of chemo with Vincristine.

And so I had to make a decision for Megat. Dr P showed me his personal chemo protocol and what will be done when.

We are doing Vincristine which is an IV; prednisone (a steroid at home which he takes every day at 1.5 tablets a day); cyclophosphamide ( a tablet at home) and adramycine - an IV. We have to be at the hospital every tue and the doc would take his blood test to see if he could proceed for the whole first series.


02/06 - Vincristine (45 minute IV) + prednisolone (steroid pills)
09/06 - cyclophosphamide (IV) + prednisolone
16/06 - Vincristine (IV) + prednisone
23/06 - adriamycine (IV if possible - depends on his platelets) + prednisolone
30/06 - rest
07/07 - Vincristine
14/07 - cyclophosphamide
21/07 - Vincristine
28/07 - adriamcycine
End of 1st cycle - Ultra sound to check mass and organs

And so I had to decide and I opted for the chemo. I know that a wiser choice would be to have a second opinion but I was afraid that the longer I waited, the worse it would be for him. He had a 45 minute IV with Vincristine and after a 20 minute wait time, we went home.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Megat

Your mama made the right choice as a 2nd opinion would render the same. Be strong. You are in good hands.

love, katie

Sue said...

hi San,

My cat has recently been diagnosed with lymphoma too, I was searching for more info on the sang hwang and I came across your site for Megat. Dr L operated on my cat and the mass near her anus was cut off, so now she's also under going chemo and supplements. I do have some Qs for you regarding the feeding of supplements, my cat totally dislike the big pills and I won't want to stress her out, would like to know more about how you do it, could you email me at jueluo@gmail.com? Also, I really hope Megat fully recover and the cancer went into remission, that makes me feel more hopeful for my cat. Thanks so much, hope to hear from you soon! -- Sue/cat Yang Yang