Marlo's Thymoma Story

I adopted Marlo in November 2006 from the House Rabbit Network as company for Oliver after my girl bunny Tapsi left for the Bridge after 9 years. 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 before that.

When I adopted her she did not 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!”, “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 loosing weight and got a lot quieter. She also ate less and coughed more.

This is Marlo looking miserable the week she was diagnosed

I took her to the vet and several X-Rays and Ultrasounds were taken. The Ultrasound revealed a large cystic mass in her chest filled up with water. She was in serious respiratory distress and my vet decided to drain the cyst in order to take pressure of her lungs and heart. 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 around but her respiratory distress became worse day by day. Even if the pathologist 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 did not 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).

Seeing 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 (0.5ml once daily), Lasix (0.35ml two times daily) and Reglan (0.15ml two times daily) expecting 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 was very small and who knows how long it would take to grow. The only explanation my vet had was that the Metacam did something good. Obviously Metacam had helped dogs with bladder carcinomas. Nobody will ever know why the water had disappeared from the cyst and were it actually went.

Since then Marlo’s health is going up and down. She is having good weeks and not so good weeks. Recently her heart rate had suddenly increased rapidly and she lost her appetite. But believe it or not, she also recovered again. I suspect that the cyst had filled up and the the water had disappeared again. I now also inject her Sandostatin (see Pippa’s story) once daily. I do not take her to the vet because especially with the current outside temperature that would probably do no good to her. Also, it would not 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 and below video shows that she still has plenty of this. I taped this video on June 15, almost 8 months after the fatal diagnosis.

Click on the link below to watch a very perky Marlo grooming a very happy Oliver!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xQ2dnIyvGpk

At this time Marlo is only on Metacam, Lasix, Reglan and Sandostatin. No surgery, no radiation. Marlo is a fighter!

September 19, 2008 Marlo is still (or again) doing great. She was going through a rough time towards the end of August. Her eyes were bulging and she had trouble breathing when lying on her side. Surprisingly enough she again recovered and is almost like her sparky old self. She is still on Metacam, Lasix, Reglan and Sandostatin.

April 10, 2009 We have been through tough times constantly readjusting her Lasix dosage. Now we are at 4ml of the 50mg/ml Lasix daily (2ml twice) and she seems to have stabilized a lot. She is round, has silky fur and binkies quite a lot. Also, she enjoys the Lasix in Tutti Frutti flavor. A vet visit in December did not give us many answers. An Ultrasound was performed on her chest and my vet said that it's all a mess in there. Not much she can clearly define. Something cystic and something solid and generally a lot of odd things. The good news was that the cancer is clearly local. Nothing else is affected but her chest.We have been extremely lucky. Marlo has lived with the deadly diagnosis for 18 months now and still hasn't lost her feisty nature!

June 25, 2009 It's 21 months with thymoma and she is still around. We struggle with occasional dehydration because of all the lasix she has to take, but otherwise she is a happy punk who terrorizes me and Oliver. Having her here is the greatest gift.