On the advice of our vet, I called/emailed the Veterinary School in Columbia, Mo. I thought that the least I could do was find out about the clinical trial and see whether it would be an option.
What I found out is if Linus doesn't have a tumor that they can monitor then he probably won't qualify. I did find out that we would have to pay for the initial workup ($300 - $400) but if the dog is accepted in the study then the associated costs are covered which would be wonderful.
We've decided to take Linus up there for a review of his situation and just see what they say. I cancelled our local oncologist appointment for Monday and instead I'll take Linus up to Columbia on Tuesday.
I did call the local oncologist office just to get an idea of the expense...The vaccination is $525 and there would be 4 of them, one every two weeks. This brings the cost to $2,100 not including any workup, xrays, etc....so that is something we will need to think about.
It might just be that we will have to wait for the melanoma to become visible as another tumor before the University will accept him. Though delaying treatment doesn't seem a wise choice either.
On another note I received the copy of Linus's lab work and pathology report. His bloodwork suggests that he may have an iron deficiency. NO ONE even mentioned this at the vets office so I'll bring it up at his holistic vet appointment on Saturday and see what we need to do there. I guess I need to feed him some raw meatballs or something!
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