Chemotherapy for Kenzi

I’m sure most of you have heard by now, but everyone’s favorite Gungan (that’s Kenzi Binks, KZ if you lazy) has T-Cell Lymphoma. This was completely out of nowhere- in Spring she had a full exam with bloodwork, X-rays, potty samples, etc and passed them all with a clean bill of health. Even her teeth were in stellar condition! Honestly, her only notes (besides how absurdly sweet and well behaved she is at the vet) were just a reminder that she had the beginning stages of arthritis and cataracts, so I needed to keep an eye out if her behavior changed.

Suddenly, in June, Kenz started chugging water, eating less and had a significant drop in energy. When I woke up one morning to her shaking from what I could only assume was a seizure, we got her in to see a vet immediately. They ran her through all the same tests she’d done just a few months prior, but this time the results were poor. We did a follow up appointment for further testing and the second results indicated that she mostly likely had cancer.

We were recommended to see an oncologist, but with the vet demand- all appointments were over a month out. Out of NOWHERE though, Kenzi started peeing blood and indicating that she was in pain any time any pressure was applied to her chest/stomach area. The vet tried to get a urinalysis but somehow her intestines were out of place and were blocking the path to her bladder! We were squeezed into an emergency appointment at another vet, where she had an ultra sound that was “unremarkable”. They also recommended an internal medicine appointment. Luckily, her pain seemed to pass after a week of codeine.  

Finally, we got extremely lucky and managed to snag last minute appointments at Oregon State. At this point, she’d lost 8lbs. She got more tests done, and in the end was diagnosed with a UTI, as well as T-cell lymphoma. The prognosis wasn’t great. We were given a few options, but really it boiled down to two: either put her through 15 weeks of chemotherapy for a “median survival time” of 6-8 months, or continue to give her steroids until her time comes, with the “median survival time” being 6-8 weeks.

This was extremely hard to wrap my head around, considering I’d had a perfectly healthy dog just months prior to this news. I didn’t know what to do- was it worth it to spend so much (more) money, and put her through so much stress, to barely extend her life? I heard from a lot of friends that made me feel okay about opting out of treatment, which I really needed to hear.

However, after two weeks of steroids, the girl is back to her energetic, happy, desperate-for-love self, and she’s gained back at least half the weight she’d lost. Weighing in what I’ve read about most dogs’ lack of negative side effects from chemo, I can’t help but feel optimistic about her chances now. I’ll never be ready to say goodbye, but I feel like I need to try.

The vet quoted us at $6-8k for the full treatment going forward, and my very good friend has loaned me $2k already to cover what was needed just to be diagnosed. I’m starting this at $6,000 until I have a better idea of what the final prices will be. Thank you so much for reading this novel, donating or sharing! Words can’t express how much this dog means to me.