Dear Jackie and vegchowfun,
I don't know the extent of both of your dogs cancer, but I can tell you a little bit more about Dylan's. When we first suspected cancer, he had a biopsy and ct scan of his nasal cavity. The cancer was contained to the exterior of his nose, and had not invaded his nasal cavity. We opted for laser surgery first, as it was the least invasive, only one round. He sailed through that, and we thought all was well. But 5 months later the cancer had returned. The vet who performed the laser surgery, along with his regular vet gave us absolutely no hope. After several days of crying, and looking at this wonderful dog who is truly my heart dog, I decided to contact the oncologist again. She wanted to see him, and discuss other options. The first was called, I think, a planectomy. Basically removal of his nose. She did not want this, and obviously, neither did we. We talked about radiation, but it is terribly invasive, and causes severe burns. So that left us with chemotherapy. I had researched long and hard and found a study about carboplatin and piroxicam as treatment for oral cancer in dogs, with a remarkable success rate, and when his oncologist said this is what we were going to do, I was elated. Dylan went through four rounds of chemo. He was a little sick and sleepy for a couple of days after each round, but we saw progress with each treatment. After the chemo was through, he stayed on the piroxicam, but mainly because he has some arthritis in his knees. His oncologist saw him every 4-6 weeks for several months, and after 10 months, said we don't have to bring him back for another six. She's never said he's in remission, or cancer free, but it's been almost 2 years since that first sore appeared on his nose. She says that he is a success case, and is very happy with his outcome. We don't know what's ahead, so we take every day as a blessing. It has been a huge learning experience, and I realized that I have to be Dylan's biggest advocate. If I knew that he was suffering, I would not have done what we did, but he was and still is enjoying life.