Dog lymphoma, anyone have information?

[Butterflies]

My almost-five-year-old Welsh Corgi is having a biopsy this afternoon because some of her lymph nodes are swollen and her vets think it's cancer. I have no experience with this, and I'd like to hear from anyone who has been through this with a dog. Apparently lymphoma is very treatable with chemotherapy, but is it expensive? Does the cancer usually come back in a couple years?

I'd appreciate any advice I can get. My dog is too young and too sweet to die from cancer, so I'm preparing myself to fight it.

[noonwitch]

1. Do a google search for Michigan State's website

They have the best vet school in the country.

[SoCalDem]

2. Shit.. That really sucks..

Unfortunately when cancer is in the lymph system it is not an easy thing to treat..

My suggestion would be to have a serious heart to heart with the vet.. ask him/her what he would do if it was HIS pet.. They will not lead you astray.. They want your continued business, but they would not put an animal through torturoous treatments if they are not effective..

We battled cancer with our beloved cat, and bought about 4 months for her..This was in 1986 and we spent probably close to 1K on chemo, radiation and meds.. She handled it well, but I would not do it again.. The time we had with her was too short, and she was so terribly frightened to go to the vets.. If she had "acted" sick, we would have stopped, but she played and ate on the very day she died, so we thought we were doing her a service by treating her cancer..

[Butterflies]

3. I'm sorry about your cat

I'm thinking that the medicines have improved since 1986 because the 2 vets that I talked to have sounded optimistic about the chemotherapy working for her cancer. I just can't NOT try to lengthen her life. Maybe if we go through the treatments and she suffers, and then gets the cancer back again I won't try a second time.

This is such a hard thing to deal with because of the choices. If it were a human child she'd definitely be treated and insurance would cover it.