We took Sasha to our local vet on August 8, to have some blood drawn as per Dr. Mason’s request. We took the same precautionary step a week after Sasha’s first visit to UPenn. The vaccine (ADXS-HER2) causes an elevation of liver enzymes and also affects some other values that are of concern. The blood sample arrived at UPenn on the 9th, and Dr. Mason informed us of the results on August 12.
Sasha’s red and white blood cells and platelets were all normal. Her liver values were slightly elevated: ALT (180; normal=16-91), AST (87; normal=23-65), ALKP was normal. Though these values are slightly high, they are far from being a cause for concern, and they are below where they were one week after the first treatment. Dr. Mason is happy with the results of Sasha’s bloodwork, and so then, so are we.
Sasha goes back to UPenn for her third and final treatment the week of August 20. We’ll keep everyone updated on how things go for our girl. Wish her well!
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Sasha and hoping the vaccine works the way it should. My 4 year old Rottie, Abby, is potenially in line to get the vaccine around October 20th. She was diagnosed and had her amputation at the end of June and will have her third Carboplatin infusion on August 29th. I believe she will be either number 6 or 7 in the vaccine study. My husband, Pat, and I live in Virginia Beach with our 2 Rottie babies, Ziva and Abby. And yes, we are big fans of NCIS!
Barbara, thanks for stopping by.
I’m so sorry about Abby. I know how difficult all of this can be. How has Abby been dealing with the Carboplatin? We were surprised that Sasha seemed only to be affected the night of her infusion, but then returned to her usual self the next day. Our experience with UPenn and Dr Mason has been wonderful. I’m glad that Abby has a place in the study, and I’m sure that your and her experience there will be every bit as good as ours has been. You’ll all be in our thoughts. Please give Abby a big hug from us (one for Ziva, too). And who doesn’t like NCIS!?!
The Carboplatin doesn’t seem to effect her much at all, she eats like a horse as soon as I bring her home from the treatment. She stays at the hospital all day after recieving the treatment in the morning. She is given Anzemet IV for nausea and I give her a dose of Metoclopramide in the evening of her treatment and the next day then as needed. She has only had one incident of vomiting because I was a little later than usual giving her a morning dose the day after treatment number two but otherwise she is back to normal since shortly after the amputation. She’s actually a little too active for me because I’m so afraid she will hurt her remaining back leg. It’s so encouraging that Sasha has done so well and I will pray that she continues to do so. This could be such a tremendous breakthrough if it works as expected. I’m hoping that all the dogs in the study do well and this vaccine becomes the thing that puts OSA in it’s place! Give Sasha a big hug and a kiss from all of us!
Barbara, we’re so glad that Abby is doing well. We understand your concern about her hurting her remaining leg – we would be too – but we also think she is so lucky that she feels well enough to be active. Obviously, we all wish our dogs didn’t have to loose any limbs, but the loss of a rear limb is so much easier for a dog to deal with than the loss of an arm. It feels wrong to say, but in a way, you can consider you and Abby lucky.
Thank you for your prayers. We wish the best for Abby and and all the other dogs participating in the Mason Bone Cancer Study. We will post an update on Sasha soon. Sasha got her hug and kiss! Please give Abby the same from us!
Good Luck on your 3rd dose Sasha!! 🙂
Hi Eric,
On Sasha’s behalf, “Thanks!” = ) We will have an update post soon!
~ Liliana