Sixth round complete!

Woohoo!!! What was supposed to be Arlie's last treatment is now only 6/8. We go back in a month to get a xray of his lungs (trying to remain calm) and will enjoy this month in bliss and ignorance.

On another note, have any of you seen this clip:

Dog uses potty

Do you think this is real????? If so, I'm ON it!!

Seriously??? Again Arlie????

Last week I made a huge mistake. I was in a rush to take the kids to soccer and in my rush I didn't put away a rotisserie chicken from the counter. Instead, I pushed it behind the toaster thinking there was no way a 3 legged dog could get it.

I went to soccer and didn't think anything of it. When I returned, I was greeted by a schnoodle with a gleam in his eye and grease on his snout. I looked in the kitchen and saw an empty container where the chicken had been. All that was left was a piece of string and a plastic container. Bones, meat, skin, fat, everything had been consumed by Arlie.

Now you might be thinking...."Way to go Andrea" or "It's a chicken, how bad could it be". Well, let's rewind to Nov 2008 where Arlie had done this very same thing. Two days later, he had explosive diarrhea in Greg's car and all over our house. Fast forward to 2 days after that and we were at the Hope Center (the very same where he gets his chemo) getting him on IVs and hydrated again as he was severely dehydrated. $2000 later...he was just fine.

I had visions of that bill in my head when I saw that container on the floor and promptly called our vet. He said the chicken wasn't the issue but it was the bones. I also called 'M" who confirmed the same thing...bones=bad. I got some prescription ID dog food and hoped and hoped that we wouldn't have a repeat of 5 years ago. I even slept on the couch in case he was having stomach issues! He seemed to do just fine. I freaked out for nothing but it was just the cherry on top of my week in which I thought I broke my hand (false alarm), Arlie ate the chicken, Greg was out of town on business, and my son needs his tonsils and adenoids out.

Fiddly dee...tomorrow is another day.

Sitting here with a schnoodle on my foot

There was an article posted on Facebook on the Tripawed forum (yep, we are members) about a dog that has beaten osteosarcoma. Here is what the owners of this adorable 3 pawed Golden Retriever had to say:

It is almost two years to the day that Carter was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Over the last two years Carter has had six rounds of chemo with a follow-up daily metronomic chemo therapy. A few days ago we called our oncologist to request a refill on his chemo. To our surprise, they informed us that there was a possibility that Carter may have beat the rare odds of this horrid disease and directed us to have complete bloodwork done in addition to a series of xrays. They said if they were all clear, he is most likely cancer free and today, he had that bloodwork and those xrays and they were all clear !! We were told there are no signs of cancer. Now we wait to see if his metronomic chemo is to continue or not from the university of guelph oncology department.

I've been reading and reading all of these dog cancer sites and so many say that with chemo, a dog has a 10-20% chance of going into remission. I read those words and I start having visions of Arlie being in that small percentage. I even think ahead to the day that "M" says that Arlie is one of the few that has beaten this awful disease. Unfortunately, I cannot get too excited because I'm trying to be realistic. Will Arlie be like the dog Carter I talked about in this post? Is it possible? Sure. I feel like after our next xray I will have more answers. Right now it's just an awful waiting game.

As I type this, I'm sitting here with a schnoodle on my feet and every so often I take a break from the keyboard to scratch his favorite spot of under his chin. He doesn't seem sick. He's on his meds and is doing relatively well with his chemo treatments. The bloodwork is starting again this week and we know that in the past it is next week that his wbc fall. 

Cancer sucks.  

5th round down...3? to go

We finished our 5th round of chemo. Arlie did great as usual. "M" told me to prepare ourselves to the thought we might have to do a total of 8 instead of 6. Arlie has been having lower doses of chemo so we have to extend the amount he has so that he has enough in his system to slow the cancer down.

We go back in a month for the 6th round and will evaluate after his xray (in 2 months from now).

Stage 5....Acceptance

Two weeks ago I was on my upteenth call with "M" discussing Arlie's bloodwork. As I mentioned in my previous post, it seems our little fella is a 4 week between chemo patient. He just has such a sensitivity to drugs that it tends to affect him a bit longer than it would any other pooch.

At any rate, in my talk with "M" and my daily stresses about Arlie being "slightly off" or "not running as fast chasing the ball", he gave me advice that pretty much stopped me in my tracks. He told me...and I quote, "Andrea, you need to stop looking for things and enjoy the wonderful time that you have left."  I have to admit, when he said that to me I felt my stomach drop. It sounded so...final. Yes, Arlie is doing great. Yes, he's responding to the chemo well. Yes, he's still the active and playful and snuggly pup...but I keep hearing "enjoy the time that you have left." When he told me that I tried to hold it together because it sounded like there could be an end in sight. I had been in the "denial" stage for so long that I forgot to look at him and realize, he's with us now and he's fine and he loves us.

Arlie is a fighter. He's fighting this awful diagnosis because he knows how much we love him and like any loyal dog, he would do anything to make his family happy and proud of him.

"M" is right. I need to stop obsessing and enjoy the time that I have left with my shnoop-ah-doop (another pet name).

Love and paws,
Andrea and Arlie

He's a 4 week pup

Last week Arlie's WBC was once again too low to do the chemo. "M" says, "He's just a 4 week pups!"

We try again this Friday.