Worrying Some More - Maybe for Nothing...

Sorry about the delay in posting, but we've been extremely busy. And that business is sort of directly related to my worrying about Abby. 

Last Tuesday, as I mentioned earlier, we started doing some work on the new house. This crazy SOLID wall (made of concrete blocks, rebar, the works - maybe they wanted to build a bunker at one time??) ran diagonally across what will now be our "great room," so we had that bad boy torn down (involving much jackhammering, sledgehammering, etc.). Because it was so noisy here all week -- and very stressful for Abby, who started following me everywhere -- I really made an effort to keep her out of the house. Here are a few pics of our not-very-exciting adventures:

Wednesday we went to the dog park in the a.m., ran a TON of errands, and had a picnic lunch in the park. (Well, I had lunch anyway. Abby had a pine cone. Reminds me of that old Grape Nuts commercial: "Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible." Really? Many parts??)

Thursday we ran still more errands, went to visit our friend Mazli-pictured on the left, and met up with Dakota at Fiesta Island. Abby had a great time running after Dakota (who is super speedy) and playing with all the other pooches there. But then she crashed in the wet sand, as illustrated below. We couldn't even walk the whole way along the bay like we usually do; had to turn back early because there was no way I was going to be able to carry her almost-50lb.-completely-unwieldy body out of there!

By Friday morning when we went on our walk, we hadn't even made it half way along our usual route when she flopped down in the middle of the street (no sidewalks on that stretch, so we had been walking on the side of the road). Had to literally drag her out of the way as a car was coming!

We turned to go back home and she "teeped over," as we say, several more times--resting in spots on driveways, under trees, anywhere where she could find some shade. I should mention, it's been really hot here lately -- almost like summer. I was really worried about her, having so little stamina and just seeming not at like her usual high-energy self, but I think it was just the combination of: three almost full days of being constantly on the go, plus the noise when we would be at home, plus the heat, plus maybe some cumulative effect of five chemo treatments. 

After I dragged her home from the walk Friday, I took her to her Aunt Terry and Uncle Jon's so she could have some peace and quiet (with occasional diversions of pestering her cousin, Corgi Lou, and a visit with lots of kisses from the neighbor, Sue) while I went furniture shopping. Over the weekend we tried to keep her a little quieter than usual, although Saturday night we did take her for a nice hop through downtown La Jolla (where our tripawd was stared/smiled at by many and loved on by a few) and then Sunday we went to Fiesta Island where, again, she couldn't quite walk the whole way. I was still a little worried about her after that, but then Tuesday night she really seemed to be back to her old spunky ways. We went for a pretty good walk last night after Mike got home, and even after that she came home and was running wind sprints out in the backyard -- trying to get her stamina back up I guess. 

And I'm happy to report that on our walk this a.m. (which was foggy and kind of chilly) she hopped along like her old self.

Next up is the final chemo session on this coming Tuesday -- and the big re-check of the lung x-ray. Please keep a good thought that the little spot on her one lung will not be any bigger! Stay small, Stupid Spot!!!

Chemo #5

Wait, isn't that the title of a song? Oh no, that's Mambo #5... Anyway, today was Abby's penultimate chemo session. Dr. Vancil talked to me some more about that single spot on her lung. He said that at first the radiologist told him she didn't see anything, but then he convinced her there was something small there. (Oh damn.We interrupt this post to go clean up. Abby just threw up... That's weird - other than the time she threw up the popcorn, she's been fine every time after chemo. Poor baby.)

Anyway, back to the spot... Dr. Vancil said he talked to the other oncologists in the group (the Vet Cancer Group has several offices in So Cal, so it's nice - it's like getting 2nd and 3rd opinions without having to go see anyone else). They all agreed with his advice, which is to stay the course. He said usually the only options are: upping the dose (but we are already using the max); increasing the frequency (but we're already doing every 2 weeks instead of every 3); or trying another drug. Right now we are using Carboplatin. He said there's no reason to change when there's no guarantee another drug would work any better, and when we don't even know for sure if the spot is a tumor. He said, "it could be anything." (But, of course, I have a bad feeling about it.)

Next time we go, he'll take another x-ray and he'll also have the original one there from our vet. Then we can compare all three side by side. He said it's possible the original slide won't show anything, but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't there. He has a super new, turbo-charged machine and who knows how old the machine at the vet's office is. So... we'll see what happens on the 25th. Best case, it just looks the same. If it's way bigger, then we'll see. 

All in all, Dr. V said she's doing great, and he thought she looked like she'd gotten bigger and more muscular. According to their scale, she'd gained 1 1/2 pounds, but it's hard to know if that's accurate since she was totally wiggly the last time we weighed her there. Hopefully she really did gain some weight. Dr. V. said it's rare that you get a dog that does that during chemo!

In more fun news, Dr. Vancil's dog, Hank, was at the office today - a 10-year-old Weimaraner and 3 year cancer-survivor. While I left Abby there for her treatment and went out to run errands, Hank and Abby had a little play session, which Dr. V recorded for me on his phone. Abby was all over Hank. Wish I had some of my own pics to post of them playing! So cute. Dr. V. said he's going to save the video to show to people who come in and are worried about having to perform an amp on their dog. I told him he could point them to my blog as well!

A Couple of Firsts

Today, we took Abby for her first hike since her surgery. Her stamina seems to be pretty good, probably from all the walking in our new neighborhood with its hills! Admittedly, today's hike was pretty easy - nice and flat - but the terrain was very uneven/rocky from all the rain we've had and we walked for almost an hour. We hiked in Rose Canyon, which is pretty much right in the heart of San Diego. This is one of the things I love about San Diego - you can be right in the middle of the city's burbs but feel like you're out in the country somewhere. (Of course, you can sometimes hear the freeway noise, but you just have to tune that out.)

As you can see from some of the pictures, there was still quite a bit of water from all the rain!

In another first, we found out the other day that Abby can still "shake"! After her surgery, I figured she wouldn't be able to do that anymore. Abby knows very few 'commands': Sit, Leave it! (had to use this one about 3000 times when we'd go on walks when she was a little puppy), Down, and Shake. (She also hears "Off!" a lot, but either doesn't know it or chooses to ignore it. I'm thinking it's the latter...) So, with really only knowing four commands, I was bummed that she wouldn't be able to shake anymore--figured that was a 25% drop in her vocabulary! But the other day we had some folks over, and I made her sit to get a treat, and then said, "I guess it was a waste of time teaching her to shake!" and when she heard the word, she sat up and held out her paw. So cute! And it's the "wrong" paw, so she figured out to offer the only front paw she had left. So smart!

We continue to be so impressed with her! 

Coming up on Tuesday is chemo #5 - the penultimate session. I'm hoping to learn more about that damn spot when I talk to Dr. Vancil that day. Will post post her appointment. (At least - I hope I will... We are having a destruction crew here that day. Could be a bit crazy, what with the concrete wall in our living room coming down! Anyway, I'll definitely post again soon!)

Perfect Presents for Tripawd Parents

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2011 brings good things for all. We had a nice NY's weekend. Had some folks over to the new house, did some good relaxing (even though Mike had some sort of bug), and took Abby for a long walk on Sunday at Fiesta Island. She was a maniac down there: racing around, chasing birds, playing with other dogs. No less than three people (the number three is really becoming a "thing" with us) commented on how impressive she was, zipping around, cutting back and forth like crazy on her three legs. (Unfortunately, I forgot my Nano, so have no video of it... Next time!)

Anyway, wanted to do a quick post about the presents Mike and I got each other for Christmas. He got me a ring from Fred Meyer Jewelers:

Yes, it's got three paws on it. How perfect is that? It's billed as being a ring to "show off the love you have for your four-legged extended family members," and yet, it doesn't actually have four feet on it. It's so much better for showing off the love you have for your THREE-legged extended family members!

For Mike, I got a telescope - which just happened to come with a tripod. So, here's the tripawd with the tripod. Cute, no?

If you happen to know any other tripawd parents, you now know the perfect presents for them!

Out, Damn Spot!

Well, today Abby had her lungs rechecked at the Vet Cancer Group. Mike was able to go along, which was nice. Abby was happy to have her dad there, as you can see in the photo. The news wasn't totally bad, but it wasn't totally good either. As you probably guessed from the title of this post, there was one spot that the oncologist, Dr. Vancil, was concerned about. He said that it is not something we should really worry about or alter our course of action for . . . yet. 

First of all, he said it might be nothing. Metastases apparently like to hang out in gangs, and since there is only one unusual spot on her x-ray, it may not be a "met" at all. It could be something else - just a little abnormality. He said he needs to get the original x-rays, which were taken by our regular vet, and compare to see what it looked like before. (When our vet originally took her lung x-rays before her surgery, he said her lungs were clear, but maybe he didn't notice this small spot, or maybe it's something that has recently appeared - which would probably not be good news.) On the other hand, if it is in fact a "met," Dr. Vancil said a single met is not a death sentence. He said it's rare to only have one, but he knew of a dog that had one and it grew into a walnut-size-ish tumor, but wasn't even what killed the dog in the end. He said Abby could have a single met and still be quite healthy. We'll see . . . 

He said we'll check her lungs again in about two months and see where we're at. If it's all good/looks the same, we'll go out probably 6 months to a year before rechecking. He said it often happens that after a year, you'll start to see mets in the lungs. He said that's not necessarily the end. We could consider another shorter round of chemo, which he has seen add another good year of health to a dog's life.

So, next steps are that Dr. Vancil will get the original x-rays sent over and compare to the latest ones. He'll also have a radiologist look at the x-rays and see what he/she thinks. In the meantime, Abby is 2/3 of the way done with her chemo. Two more sessions to go! If we keep going on this every-two-weeks schedule, we should be done by January 25th.

We'll see what happens. I'm a little worried about that damn spot. Worried that we may only have another year or two with our little sweetie, but we'll see what the original x-ray showed and see what the radiologist thinks. 

Anyway, even with all that, Abby managed to have some fun at chemo. First of all, she loves to kiss everyone there, and they're all for it, so she enjoys that. Then, Mike and I left to run an errand while she was having her treatment. It was quiet there today so apparently they let her have the run of the place while they were waiting for us to come back. There was a display of toys - a stuffed duck, a tiger, etc. - and other doggy items they've been collecting to donate to a shelter. When we first walked in, Abby tried to snitch several of the toys. Well, when we came back to get her, Abby was the proud owner of the stuffed duck. (It reminds me of when you were a kid and would go to the dentist and get to pick out a toy.) Anyway, some poor unfortunate pooch is now not getting a stuffed duck cuz our little cutie talked the gals at the cancer clinic into giving it to her. She is trying to de-quackerize it even as I type. 

Will let y'all know if we hear anything more from the radiologist or once Dr. V. looks at the older x-rays.

Hoping Our Good Luck Doesn't Run Out!

I had a lot of good luck today, and I'm hoping it holds out for tomorrow. 

For today, things went my way a couple of times:

• First of all, I went to Home Depot and bought a gallon of paint. As I was self-checking out, I grabbed the paint can and swung it up out of the cart and toward the scanner. Well, the fine gentleman working the paint department hadn't put the lid on properly, so I sloshed paint all over my cart and the floor and on my arm. Luckily it hit the stretch of my arm between my watch and where I had pushed the sleeve of my shirt up. You could say this was bad luck, to buy paint from someone who doesn't know enough to put the lid on properly, but I saw it as good luck, since I managed to avoid getting paint all over my jeans, top, watch and shoes!
• Then Mike and I went to the old house to pick up a load of stuff to move. On the way home, I was following along behind him, when he suddenly slammed on the breaks--for no reason that I could see at first. I slammed on mine too, and had to steer sharply to the right, missing his bumper by about half an inch. It's weird how all your senses but the ones you need shut down. I had been listening to something interesting on NPR (can't even remember what now!), but my hearing totally shut down. It was just tunnel vision of the front of my car and the back of his. All I could think of was how much this would suck for our insurance! But luckily I missed him. Then... I saw why he'd stopped: a beagle was racing down the middle of the street like a maniac. The dog ran past Mike's car, so he started driving again. I started moving very slowly since I wasn't sure where the dog was -- then I saw him darting around my car in a giant circle, so happy in the game of "chase" with his owners running madly after him. Luckily I saw him in time to stop again and they managed to corner him on someone's lawn. So, luck was with me again, as I avoided both flattening a beagle (what a downer that would have been!) and also avoided rear-ending my hubby!

Now, for tomorrow we really need the good luck to keep flowing. Abby gets her lungs checked Tuesday a.m. -- the first time since before her amputation surgery and before she started chemo. The last time she had her lungs checked, everything looked clear, so please keep your fingers crossed for us that things will still be clear tomorrow!!

I'll post the news sometime tomorrow.

Belated Merry Christmas!

Had intended to do a pre-Christmas post, but since we had an offer on our house on the 23rd (Hoorah!), things got a little crazy-busy and I never got around to it before the Christmas festivities began.

Abby had a lovely Christmas, as the photos below will attest. She got to come along to the family Christmas Eve celebration at my sisters as well as to Christmas Dinner at my brothers by playing the cancer card. (Mike kept saying, "She can't stay home alone on Christmas - she has cancer!")
At my sister's, she jumped up at the noise of the self-timer on the camera while we were trying to do the group shot. As you can see, we are all cracking up, thinking it was going to be a close-up photo of her nose. Instead, it caught all of us laughing and her tail.


On Christmas, Abby got to open her present -- a Skinneeez un-stuffed beaver, which she hopefully will not tear apart since there is no stuffing to get at. I realized after she opened it (since I bought it online and hadn't actually seen it) that it has no forearms, so it's sort of an appropriate gift for a missing-forearm girl. 

Today, we took her to Fiesta Island, where we ran into Dakota and her parents. It was a great surprise. With all the rain we've had, Abby hadn't been to Fiesta Island or the dog park in ages and hadn't seen her friend since before Thanksgiving. They had a great time playing. As you can see, Dakota took advantage of her two-front-feet status to throw a right cross at Abby (she is a boxer after all) and try to gain the coveted stick.

 All in all, it was an excellent holiday. Hope yours was great as well!