My everything was diagnosed with Leukemia today

[Chloepd7]

Hello everyone, have not posted on here in years on here, but i‘m devastated beyond belief. My 6 year old bearded dragon Oswald has been having problems breathing, which I can only describe as puffing air out of his lungs very fast. I was concerned about a URI so I brought him in and they did x rays and blood work. The x rays (attached) showed around 9 small mineralizations in his abdomen that at the time we thought were kidney stones so he was put on tramadol for pain and sent home to wait for the answers on the blood work, which would show his kidney function. His bloodwork came back with a white blood cell count of 180 and was sent to a pathologist to read and confirm there was no error in counting. In the meantime he was prescribed Ceftadizine to fight a possible infection which would have been the only other explanation. Today I got that call the the morphology of his cells are not recognizable, and they are fairly certain the proper diagnosis is Lymphatic Leukemia. As soon as the pathology report becomes available to me I can update this thread.

It is an understatement to say my whole world shattered. Oswald is my absolute everything and I did not imagine my time with him to be cut so short. My vet has contacted a zoologist across the border to better understand what might come next, hes not confident in any treatments himself and would like outside help to see if we have any opportunity to save my boy.

Right now im focused on making sure he’s comfortable, and attempting to enjoy what time I have left (though through many tears). Hes walking around alright and seems somewhat alert. We have cut the tramadol out now, to see if he will perk back up since it was sedating him. Right now i‘m just looking for any advice, comfort anything. Im feeling so incredibly defeated and heart broken and its making it very difficult for me to enjoy the time I have left with him.
I’ve also attached a picture of him so you can see how good of a boy he is. He is my son, he’s my everything and I am going to miss him more than words can convey

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello everyone, have not posted on here in years on here, but i‘m devastated beyond belief. My 6 year old bearded dragon Oswald has been having problems breathing, which I can only describe as puffing air out of his lungs very fast. I was concerned about a URI so I brought him in and they did x rays and blood work. The x rays (attached) showed around 9 small mineralizations in his abdomen that at the time we thought were kidney stones so he was put on tramadol for pain and sent home to wait for the answers on the blood work, which would show his kidney function. His bloodwork came back with a white blood cell count of 180 and was sent to a pathologist to read and confirm there was no error in counting. In the meantime he was prescribed Ceftadizine to fight a possible infection which would have been the only other explanation. Today I got that call the the morphology of his cells are not recognizable, and they are fairly certain the proper diagnosis is Lymphatic Leukemia. As soon as the pathology report becomes available to me I can update this thread.

It is an understatement to say my whole world shattered. Oswald is my absolute everything and I did not imagine my time with him to be cut so short. My vet has contacted a zoologist across the border to better understand what might come next, hes not confident in any treatments himself and would like outside help to see if we have any opportunity to save my boy.

Right now im focused on making sure he’s comfortable, and attempting to enjoy what time I have left (though through many tears). Hes walking around alright and seems somewhat alert. We have cut the tramadol out now, to see if he will perk back up since it was sedating him. Right now i‘m just looking for any advice, comfort anything. Im feeling so incredibly defeated and heart broken and its making it very difficult for me to enjoy the time I have left with him.
I’ve also attached a picture of him so you can see how good of a boy he is. He is my son, he’s my everything and I am going to miss him more than words can convey View attachment 83897 View attachment 83898 View attachment 83899 View attachment 83900

I am so sorry to hear - I hope Tracie sees your post - my heart goes out to you

 

[AHBD]

Oh my, I'm so sorry to read this. Is your vet very experienced with reptiles ? At first glance it looks like eggs in the abdomen but those must be what the vet believes are mineralizations. There may be some hope that their conclusion is wrong, in this case let's hope by some chance you'll receive a better prognosis.
Oswald looks so sweet, a truly beautiful beardie face and I can feel your pain. My best wishes are with you and Oswald at this difficult time.

 

[Lyrebird.Rainwing]

Me and Swordtail are rooting for him!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I did just see this thread. Honestly, I am thinking they are
wrong...it looks like eggs to me also after trying to look at
them enlarged. Egg issues can cause breathing problems
if they press up against the tummy.
Are you sure that Oswald is a male & not a female instead?
Do you have a copy of the full blood test yet, or are you still
waiting for that?
I hope everything turns out, it is absolutely gut wrenching to
have them become ill like this. Oswald looks so happy in
those pictures!

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[xp29]

I'm very sorry to hear that, like others my heart goes out to you. Hopefully Tracie is right and they misdiagnosed Oswald.

 

[Chloepd7]

Hello,

I did just see this thread. Honestly, I am thinking they are
wrong...it looks like eggs to me also after trying to look at
them enlarged. Egg issues can cause breathing problems
if they press up against the tummy.
Are you sure that Oswald is a male & not a female instead?
Do you have a copy of the full blood test yet, or are you still
waiting for that?
I hope everything turns out, it is absolutely gut wrenching to
have them become ill like this. Oswald looks so happy in
those pictures!

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

Thanks for the concern tracie and I really appreciate your best wishes!
Unfortunately we are certain Oswald is a male. He has been properly sexed before and im fairly certain the shapes you are seeing in the x ray is poop (he has pooped like 3 times in the last 2 days!) A reptile specialist pathologist took a look at his white blood cells and confirmed they are cancerous with basically no possibility of it being something else. I was hopeful because today he was doing miles better in terms of his breathing, and it had been 2 days since the first dose of antibiotics but the vet confirmed it today and we have talked about our options.

He wants to try an experimental treatment (it wont cure him but prolong his good quality life days) similar to the study mentioned here. https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=...usg=AOvVaw164ntfvR3m2yFMre0XPbbb&opi=89978449

Im very hopeful that this treatment will give me some time, though it’s very very expensive and as a student I will really struggle to pay it. I am so torn and feel like I cannot give up on my little guy!

 

[xp29]

Man that's sad i hope you can do the treatments for him. I dunno what would be harder loosing one suddenly or slowly.
Keep us posted on your boy, we will all be rooting for him.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh I am so sorry, I was hoping for a different outcome. Way too many are getting cancer now.
You could also consider trying CBD oil. It is very safe for reptiles. Some other alternatives that
aren't harsh which are known for cancer fighting properties are Monolaurin which is a derivative
of coconut oil & Grapeseed extract.
I am keeping you all in my thoughts. We are here to help & support you & little Oswald.

Tracie

 

[Chloepd7]

Hello,

Oh I am so sorry, I was hoping for a different outcome. Way too many are getting cancer now.
You could also consider trying CBD oil. It is very safe for reptiles. Some other alternatives that
aren't harsh which are known for cancer fighting properties are Monolaurin which is a derivative
of coconut oil & Grapeseed extract.
I am keeping you all in my thoughts. We are here to help & support you & little Oswald.

Tracie

Thank you, Would CBD oil be helpful for fighting cancer? He’s got a chemo plan, maybe I could do that in addition? Im looking for anything at this point to make my guy comfortable. Im getting a quote for the chemo tomorrow but I am hesitant to start it right away as right now he is actually doing quite well and has a fair amount of energy. Im just worried the chemo will take away those quality days that I have right now. As of right now the plan is to continue his Cefat shots every 3 days for two weeks (we are 2 shots in). He started Prednisolone today here is the plan:
-1CC every 24 hours for 5 days
- Decrease to 0.5cc/24hr for 5 days
-Decrease 0.25/24hr for 14 days
- Frequency change 0.25 every other day for 10 days
-stop
As for the actual chemo, the initial plan is to start with a dose of Lomustine( the exact dose I do not know) every 3 weeks to start out, with blood tests every week to monitor white blood cell counts. Hopefully these treatments will then space out as we know how he will adjust to it. But there is no real way to predict this. The vet seems pretty confident that this chemo will actually make him feel good as my main concern lies in chemo making him feel like crap. Especially if he’s feeling good right now, I do not want to start too early if it will have no benefit to the outcome.I’d appreciate your thoughts if you have any, though I know this treatment is pretty damn new so don’t worry if you have none!

I got to say, the day I got the diagnosis I was inconsolable, my world was over. As the days have progressed and he’s seemed very happy (now that he’s off the sedating pain meds) i’ve come more to peace with the situation. There will be good days and bad days, and the day I say goodbye will be the worst day of my life but I feel as if every day he is here with me is an absolute treasure. I feel so lucky to have had 3 whole years with my lil rescue and he’s brought so many things to my life. I hope being put to sleep (when that eventually happens) surrounded by his family will bring him some comfort as he enters his forever nap. He’s a sleepy guy he deserves a good rest.
Will keep you guys updated as chemo begins!
Oswald thanks you all,
(P.S pictures are all from today!)
Chloe <3

 

[Drache613]

Hello Chloe,

Oswald looks very happy though, it is great to see!
Really in situations like this all you can do is try & just keep him comfortable & happy. He is a terrific
little one & as long as he has fight, he will definitely let you know. It's horrible even thinking about having
to let him go & impossible to tell you not to think about it since that is in your mind. Whenever that time
comes, being there with him makes a huge difference because he will know that you are there. I hope it
will be a long time before you have to think about that.
The chemo may be hard on him, it usually is. I think the CBD is very safe so you could definitely give that
during the chemo for him. I certainly can't predict how things would go, starting him on chemo. It's really
up to you though. You could just start him on the Prednisone initially to see how he does. Then maybe
try the more natural approach possibly?
I wish I knew for sure how to tell you to start things but there are no surefire answers. I can help as much
as possible & help answer questions, whatever you need for Oswald. We are all here pulling for him. I
hope he has many years left with you!

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[xp29]

Man this is heart breaking, your guy is an absolute cutie. He looks very happy to.

 

[Chloepd7]

Just wanted to post an update on here for you, we are still waiting to start his chemotherapy however HES started steroids and initially he was looking great. I’ve noticed he’s hiding again in his cave which is very normal for brumation, however I dont know if he knows that he can’t brumate? Like how do I tell him he’s too sick to brumat. Im slightly concerned that he is going to try to do this then I wont be able to tell if he is grumpy sleepy because I pulled him out of his sleep or if he’s feeling bad from the chemo? It’s just going to be difficult to monitor how he is doing if physically he looks more lethargic.

 

[xp29]

I feel so bad for your little guy and for you to for that matter.

 

[Chloepd7]

I feel so bad for your little guy and for you to for that matter.

It’s been the worst week and a half of my life. I’ve never felt so broken. Do me a favour though and love on your little guy extra hard. Life is so short and anything can happen, your entire world can change overnight. Enjoy every waking moment you have with your little friend.
Gosh im talking like he’s dead- Oswald is very much not dead, but yet I cannot help but grieve, its a process, probably a long one for me, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, but yet I would still do all of this again. The love we have for these little creatures is so worth it.
Give your beardie some extra love for me and Oswald today they deserve it