Handsome Sox has been having chemotherapy since March last year to treat a nasal tumour. He has been a pleasure to treat and we are all so happy to see him doing so well.
Sox's owner sent us this lovely email about his story.
"To all the lovely people at Avonvale Vets in Kenilworth who quite literally saved the life of Sox I just wanted to say a great big "thank you!".
I would be delighted if you want to share his story with your colleagues and the families of your patients because we do have a happy ending - I hope.
For the benefit of those who do not know the whole story, Sox had been having a runny left eye for some months during the end of 2013 which was thought to be a possible allergy but nothing of note. In February 2014 he began to have breathing difficulties which was originally thought to be an upper respiratory infection.
After a couple of bouts of antibiotics it soon became clear that the problem was something a great deal more serious and an x-ray revealed a "mass" in his sinus. He was referred to an oncologist at The Willows in Solihull who scanned him and gave us the unwelcome news that he had a large lymphoma in his left sinus which reached from just inside his nostril right up past his ear. He had, by this time lost loads of weight and was gasping for breath.
The good news was that as long as the lymphoma was restricted to his sinus it stood a good chance of responding well to treatment. An ultrasound confirmed that it had not spread so he had his first chemotherapy almost immediately with incredible results. He was able to breath better straight away but there was to be a long road ahead. Sox endured more chemo; first at weekly intervals at the Willows and then 3 weekly in Kenilworth. Only after about 10 months did it drop to monthly and now, after a year of treatment he is certainly in remission.
He lost a lot of his fur and his whiskers and he did not want to eat or do much. But, with the help of the Avonvale team he certainly coped well with the chemo and accepted having a line put in without resorting to anaesthetic or even tranquillizers.
At 10 years old he is in his prime and should have many years left now and I am so grateful for the treatment he has had - and that I took out a good insurance policy! As you can see, he is not as fluffy as he used to be, nor as substantial, but he is getting there.
Looking at the (rather poor) photo in December you can see that he lost a lot of his fur and over 30% of his body weight, but from the picture taken this week it is clear that since he finished chemo 3 months ago he is getting there and I want to say a very big thank you to all who have worked so hard to save him."
