Twiglet
Well-Known Member
This is the post I thought I'd never get to write, so bear with me if it gets a bit emotional....and very long 
As some of you know, just before Christmas Buzz was found to have a large cancerous tumour in his jawbone, an osteosarcoma. The prognosis for this type of tumour in horses is exceptionally poor - there is no history of effective treatment or cure, and progress is normally very fast. Googling it straight after diagnosis brought up very few studies, but they were all in a similar vein:
"Surgical excision was attempted in the majority of cases. An inability to completely excise the tumor and progressive disease typically resulted in euthanasia"
"There is no treatment for osteosarcoma, and prognosis is poor."
He was only 7, and previously a big, strong, healthy and lovely horse, about to start eventing, and generally being a fantastic horse to be around and to introduce me to the sport. He'd never been lame or sick, he was a good doer who would turn his hoof to absolutely anything, and always a pleasure to be around. I was absolutely devastated.
Despite the diagnosing vet's first reaction of advising prompt euthanasia, by luck/grit/fate, we managed to get him to Cambridge University where he was treated by their amazing team of surgeons and equine oncologists, and was a candidate for linear beam radiation, a type of radiotherapy only available at Cambridge, and which had had some limited success with other jaw tumours in horses. There was no guarantee of success, or history showing what the chances were, it was something of a very very educated guess, and shot in the dark. He spent 6 weeks undergoing CT scans, surgeries, radiotherapy and getting treated like a prince by a team of adoring vet students, but it did hit him hard, and he lost 50kg and suffered a collapsed jugular vein and multiple infections.
I brought him home after the treatment and was told to wait 6 months for the radiation to continue working, before bringing him back for a CT to determine the progress of the cancer. Initially it went badly, he contracted more infections, and his jaw muscles went into massive spasm - for nearly two months he was unable to open his mouth more than 5cm, he couldn't eat hay or haylege, he was seriously underweight. I had a couple of real wobbles where I seriously considered whether I could continue to put this ridiculously brave and stoic horse through so much cr@p, without any indication that he would ever get better. My practice vet was a huge source of support, and at one point was visiting twice a day to monitor him.
Eventually, I decided that we'd thrown everything that veterinary science had at him, so now it was time for the other healers to step in - Mother Nature and Dr Green
He was turned away for 8 weeks, during which time he learnt to be a horse again, and started to improve almost straight away. His jaw gradually unlocked, thanks to 24 hours a day on lush green grass, he relaxed into being a member of a herd, and he started piling on the weight.
He bloomed to the extent that he was able to be gently brought back into work, initially bitless, and he seemed thrilled to have a job again. I'm not sure whether he's the first horse to be galloped in just a headcollar over Epsom Downs, but he's probably the biggest
Roll forward another couple of months, I brought him back to livery and upped the work campaign, we've been jump schooling a few times and he seems to have grown up a bit during his time off - his previous habit of running out when the going gets tough seems to have disappeared. He also made his return to dressage, doing a lovely job at Oldencraig, and generally being a totally easy, fun horse to be around.
Hanging over our heads was always the fear that the cancer was lurking there still, and would return once the radiotherapy stopped working. So yesterday he was his 6 month check up....travelling firstly to the Royal Veterinary College for a CT scan, then on to Cambridge for the oncology team to view the images and do a mouth scope.
Unfortunately it was also my Nan's funeral on Wednesday, so probably wasn't in the best frame of mind emotionally when 5am yesterday dawned. The journey was very very long thanks to M25 rush hour, but got there fine. Unfortunately despite heavy sedation he moved halfway through the images and had to go in a second time, with another load of sedation. He came round with some breathing difficulties which scared the bejesus out of me but was signed off by the vet as a side effect of so much sedation and he bounced back quickly to be put back on the lorry.
On to Cambridge, and we were greeted by his vet Kate with hugs and exclamations about how much he's grown He's now back to 621kg which is a weight I dreamed of for months!!!
Another round of sedation and into the stocks for scoping....at which point I heard squeals and Kate called us to come in and look - at nothing As in no tumour, no cancer, and three beautiful healthy cheek teeth The teeth had been covered in bulbous necrotic tumour flesh for months, meaning he couldn't grind his food, but now the two sides of his mouth looked basically identical. There is a small hole where the tumour pushed his teeth apart meaning food collects in the gap (hence it still smells!) but it isn't a major issue. Asking her where this sits in terms of the 'best case scenario' we'd hoped for - the reply was 'way way beyond that'.
She is reviewing the CT images today to get a clearer picture of the effect on the bone, but signed him out of her care yesterday, advising only that his teeth are checked by the practice vet in 6 months. She also said that if I ever consider selling him, that she would be offered first refusal - can't ask for much more of a compliment from a vet than that?!
Buzz getting his 'all clear':
I'm not under any illusions that she took a massive punt with him, and he is so very exceptionally lucky to find the person who was able to give him a chance to beat it. She's now writing a paper on him and his treatment, as evidence of the use of this form of radiation in equine cancers. He posed for rather a lot of photos yesterday too
Obviously I have no idea what the future holds, and it may be that the cancer could come back one day (although the fact the radiation destroys the DNA of the cells so completely reduces the chance of this hugely), but in the meantime I'm under strict instructions to enjoy him, which I don't think I'm going to have any trouble doing.
Thanks to all the HHOers who have read my many boring posts and offered reams of advice on feeding, pain relief, turning away and management, and provided light relief and support when the news was bad. This place has been a real source of help.
Hopefully this will be the last time I post anything other than competition or lesson reports in here So in the meantime it's bye bye from Buzz
As some of you know, just before Christmas Buzz was found to have a large cancerous tumour in his jawbone, an osteosarcoma. The prognosis for this type of tumour in horses is exceptionally poor - there is no history of effective treatment or cure, and progress is normally very fast. Googling it straight after diagnosis brought up very few studies, but they were all in a similar vein:
"Surgical excision was attempted in the majority of cases. An inability to completely excise the tumor and progressive disease typically resulted in euthanasia"
"There is no treatment for osteosarcoma, and prognosis is poor."
He was only 7, and previously a big, strong, healthy and lovely horse, about to start eventing, and generally being a fantastic horse to be around and to introduce me to the sport. He'd never been lame or sick, he was a good doer who would turn his hoof to absolutely anything, and always a pleasure to be around. I was absolutely devastated.
Despite the diagnosing vet's first reaction of advising prompt euthanasia, by luck/grit/fate, we managed to get him to Cambridge University where he was treated by their amazing team of surgeons and equine oncologists, and was a candidate for linear beam radiation, a type of radiotherapy only available at Cambridge, and which had had some limited success with other jaw tumours in horses. There was no guarantee of success, or history showing what the chances were, it was something of a very very educated guess, and shot in the dark. He spent 6 weeks undergoing CT scans, surgeries, radiotherapy and getting treated like a prince by a team of adoring vet students, but it did hit him hard, and he lost 50kg and suffered a collapsed jugular vein and multiple infections.
I brought him home after the treatment and was told to wait 6 months for the radiation to continue working, before bringing him back for a CT to determine the progress of the cancer. Initially it went badly, he contracted more infections, and his jaw muscles went into massive spasm - for nearly two months he was unable to open his mouth more than 5cm, he couldn't eat hay or haylege, he was seriously underweight. I had a couple of real wobbles where I seriously considered whether I could continue to put this ridiculously brave and stoic horse through so much cr@p, without any indication that he would ever get better. My practice vet was a huge source of support, and at one point was visiting twice a day to monitor him.
Eventually, I decided that we'd thrown everything that veterinary science had at him, so now it was time for the other healers to step in - Mother Nature and Dr Green
He was turned away for 8 weeks, during which time he learnt to be a horse again, and started to improve almost straight away. His jaw gradually unlocked, thanks to 24 hours a day on lush green grass, he relaxed into being a member of a herd, and he started piling on the weight. He bloomed to the extent that he was able to be gently brought back into work, initially bitless, and he seemed thrilled to have a job again. I'm not sure whether he's the first horse to be galloped in just a headcollar over Epsom Downs, but he's probably the biggest
Roll forward another couple of months, I brought him back to livery and upped the work campaign, we've been jump schooling a few times and he seems to have grown up a bit during his time off - his previous habit of running out when the going gets tough seems to have disappeared. He also made his return to dressage, doing a lovely job at Oldencraig, and generally being a totally easy, fun horse to be around.
Hanging over our heads was always the fear that the cancer was lurking there still, and would return once the radiotherapy stopped working. So yesterday he was his 6 month check up....travelling firstly to the Royal Veterinary College for a CT scan, then on to Cambridge for the oncology team to view the images and do a mouth scope.
Unfortunately it was also my Nan's funeral on Wednesday, so probably wasn't in the best frame of mind emotionally when 5am yesterday dawned. The journey was very very long thanks to M25 rush hour, but got there fine. Unfortunately despite heavy sedation he moved halfway through the images and had to go in a second time, with another load of sedation. He came round with some breathing difficulties which scared the bejesus out of me but was signed off by the vet as a side effect of so much sedation and he bounced back quickly to be put back on the lorry.
On to Cambridge, and we were greeted by his vet Kate with hugs and exclamations about how much he's grown
He's now back to 621kg which is a weight I dreamed of for months!!! Another round of sedation and into the stocks for scoping....at which point I heard squeals and Kate called us to come in and look - at nothing
As in no tumour, no cancer, and three beautiful healthy cheek teeth The teeth had been covered in bulbous necrotic tumour flesh for months, meaning he couldn't grind his food, but now the two sides of his mouth looked basically identical. There is a small hole where the tumour pushed his teeth apart meaning food collects in the gap (hence it still smells!) but it isn't a major issue. Asking her where this sits in terms of the 'best case scenario' we'd hoped for - the reply was 'way way beyond that'. She is reviewing the CT images today to get a clearer picture of the effect on the bone, but signed him out of her care yesterday, advising only that his teeth are checked by the practice vet in 6 months. She also said that if I ever consider selling him, that she would be offered first refusal - can't ask for much more of a compliment from a vet than that?!
Buzz getting his 'all clear':
I'm not under any illusions that she took a massive punt with him, and he is so very exceptionally lucky to find the person who was able to give him a chance to beat it. She's now writing a paper on him and his treatment, as evidence of the use of this form of radiation in equine cancers. He posed for rather a lot of photos yesterday too
Obviously I have no idea what the future holds, and it may be that the cancer could come back one day (although the fact the radiation destroys the DNA of the cells so completely reduces the chance of this hugely), but in the meantime I'm under strict instructions to enjoy him, which I don't think I'm going to have any trouble doing.
Thanks to all the HHOers who have read my many boring posts and offered reams of advice on feeding, pain relief, turning away and management, and provided light relief and support when the news was bad. This place has been a real source of help.
Hopefully this will be the last time I post anything other than competition or lesson reports in here
So in the meantime it's bye bye from Buzz
