Home after Chemo

Nacho loves an open window and a cool breeze!

Nacho is home after his first round of chemotherapy. Today he was given Vincristine (Oncovin). So far, he is doing well. He was voraciously hungry when he arrived home, and after dinner found a quiet couch to nap on.

He has since enjoyed a short walk in the back yard, and is now enjoying the cooler evening air and the last of the sun. We are again cautiously optimistic after having a rough day worrying about him!

What do you do when your pet has cancer?

So what do you do when you are told your beloved pet has cancer?

We happened to receive the news on our 15-year-old daughter's birthday, which made it even tougher to deal with. We knew we were not ready to say goodbye to our friend, so we made an appointment the next day with an oncologist at Purdue Small Animal Hospital. We needed to know what all of our options were before we made a decision.

Nacho enjoying his backyard

Nacho was in poor condition the next day, and in addition to a few more diagnostic tests (including an ultrasound), he spent the day at Purdue getting fluids as well as an anti-nausea shot. I also opted for a single dose of the chemotherapy drug Elspar to see how he would handle it. After his day of initial exams, the oncologist recommended the CHOP chemotherapy treatment since his lymphoma was very aggressive. We decided to wait over the weekend to see how he handled Elspar before we committed to chemo, as in his current condition, we did not know if he could sustain the rigorous chemotherapy protocol.

Our weekend was blessed with an energetic Nacho who ate heartily for the first time in weeks! He played and enjoyed his very favorite pastime - grazing and walking through the backyard grass. His joy for life again gave us new hope that we could give him a quality life for a few months yet. We decided to schedule the CHOP protocol and give him the best chance we could for as long as he could tolerate it

Meet Nacho!

Nacho lounging in the sun

Welcome to our blog outlining Nacho's journey through Feline Lymphoma. We hope to inspire and support others caring for pets dealing with this terrible disease, as well as capture our memories of our sweet boy.

We adopted our Nacho from the humane society about a month after our dear Tally cat passed from bone cancer. We were actually looking for a kitten, but one-year-old Nacho stuck his paw out and grabbed my pant leg. I opened the cage to see him, and I knew he was coming home with us. Our NachoMan is now 5-1/2 years young.

Nacho was diagnosed with Large Cell GI Lymphoma on July 15, 2014. Before his diagnosis, he had been ill for several weeks. He would vomit foamy bile throughout the day, sometimes stained with blood. He cried more than usual, and he was more tired than we remembered him being previously. We went though x-rays, a barium study and blood work, but none of these tests were able to detect the reason behind his symptoms.

We brought Nacho to a specialty vet for an endoscope, thinking we would find out perhaps he had some string in his tummy or perhaps colitis. Yes, we were aware that cancer was a possibility, but with his otherwise good vitals, we really thought we were overreacting. Unfortunately, the vet told us after the procedure that nearly 90% of Nacho's stomach was destroyed by tumors, and his clinical diagnosis would be cancer, though we had to wait for the biopsies to confirm. They did.