Marlo’s Thymoma
I adopted Marlo in November 2006 from the House Rabbit Network as company for Oliver after Tapsi, my nine-year-old girl bunny, left for the Bridge. Tapsi moved with me from Germany to the United States when I took a job here in 2005. I adopted Oliver (the lop) from the House Rabbit Network shortly after that.
When I adopted Marlo, she didn’t seem to have any health problems except that she was sneezing and coughing every time she got upset: “Mom, my treat needs to be here faster!” or “Oliver, you have to get out of the way.” She is a feisty little bunny girl with lots of rabbitude.
In November 2007, she suddenly started losing weight and got a lot quieter. She also ate less and coughed more.
I took her to the vet and several x-rays and ultrasounds were taken. The ultrasounds revealed a large cystic mass in her chest that was filled with fluid. She was in serious respiratory distress and my vet decided to drain the cyst in order to take pressure off her lungs and heart. Shortly after, I had to go on a business trip to Europe and Marlo and Oliver stayed in an HRN foster home. When I came back, she was still alive but her respiratory distress became worse day by day. Even if the pathologist’s report was inconclusive, my vet was sure it was a thymoma or, even worse, lymphoma. In the following four weeks, the cyst was drained three times. After the cyst was drained the last time, she almost left for the Bridge. She didn’t eat for a week, was very weak and I was about to take her on her last trip to the vet when she suddenly started munching kale (I won’t forget that moment).
Having seen how badly she coped with anesthesia, I was sure that neither surgery nor radiation therapy would be an option for Marlo. My vet researched medical treatments but there wasn’t much out there. At the beginning of February 2008 – she had just started eating again – I started her on Metacam, Lasix and Reglan, expecting that she had only a few weeks left.
Then the miracle happened. Marlo suddenly was her feisty old self and her breathing was almost back to normal. I took her in for an ultrasound at the end of February 2008 and the cystic mass had disappeared. However, my vet always suspected a solid tumor within the cystic mass, and there it was. At least it’s very small and who knows how long it will take to grow. The only explanation my vet had was that the Metacam did something good. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, of which Metacam is an example, may help with certain types of cancers (only piroxicam has been specifically proven to help with canine transitional cell carcinomas). Nobody will ever know why the fluid disappeared from the cyst or where it actually went.
Since then, Marlo’s health has gone up and down. She has good weeks and not so good weeks. Recently, her heart rate suddenly and rapidly increased, and she lost her appetite. But believe it or not, she recovered again. I suspect that the cyst had filled up and then the fluid disappeared again. I now also inject her with Sandostatin once daily. I haven’t been taking her to the vet during these summer months because it would probably do her no good, especially when the outside temperatures are very high. Also, it wouldn’t change anything in terms of her treatment. I know when I take her, it’s likely to be her last trip. It’s all about quality of life now and she still has plenty of this.
At this time, Marlo is on only Metacam, Lasix, Reglan and Sandostatin. No surgery, no radiation. Marlo is a fighter!
by Corrina Prueschoff