Saturday, July 18, 2009

Chance Meeting

Although it’s been blisteringly hot lately, it was so mild this morning. Jake and I haven’t been on many trips lately due to his treatments & appointments, and my work commitments. Right now, his attitude is upbeat and his energy level has returned. You would never know anything was wrong except for his brightly-colored bandage. We were overdue for some fun so I thought I’d take him to the VERY dog-friendly Farmers Market in Cherry Creek and support some Colorado-based growers. I was buying fresh tomatoes and basil from a stand when I bumped into our friends, Jeff & Ryan. They missed Jake’s birthday party since they were out of town. We bought some steaks from a natural beef vendor there and quickly made plans for a last minute cookout at our house tonight. I’ve said it before but this dog is a canine version of Facebook when it comes to reconnecting old friends. So many unexpected connections happen when we go out.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Golden Years

Even though his leg has improved so much, I’m wary about leaving Jake alone too long until it’s fully healed. He’s pretty sneaky. He pretends not to notice the brightly-colored bandage when you’re in the same room. Give him an hour alone and it will be shredded like confetti. Susan and Larry live a few doors down so I asked if they’d watch him while I went to a job interview. Whenever Jake goes on a walk by their house, he makes a beeline to their front door. It’s made of glass so he can see their two Golden Retrievers, Marni and Montana. You’d think he was just greeting the dogs but he knows if he stands there long enough, Susan magically appears with a couple treats. She’s done that since he was a puppy.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Perfect Skin

Jake spent the day at the CSU Animal Cancer Clinic for tests and restaging. Officially, his diagnosis is a Malignant Histiocytosis of the right forelimb and right prescapular lymph node. We met with his oncologists, Dr. Lana and Dr. Carlsten today. His chest x-rays are clear and showed no evidence of metastasis. Nice. The x-rays of the tumor on his leg did not show any effect on the bone which is also good. However, during the abdominal ultrasound, they noticed a possible mass on his spleen. It could be related to the cancer but it might also just be an “infarct” (Google it if you really want to know). We’ll go back to CSU next month for another ultrasound to recheck that. No surgery or radiation at this point, but we decided to start a chemo drug next week. It’s called Lomustine (CCNU). Luckily it’s in pill form and we can give it to him at home. He’ll take 2 pills every 3 weeks indefinitely. He’ll need occasional blood work which we can do at his vet’s office. They’ll send the results to his oncologists for review so it will save us a road trip. His belly was shaved for the ultrasound and his skin looks so funny. Like a baby mouse. Although I bet he likes the way it feels on the bathroom tile.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Dress You Up

Jake’s bandage gets changed daily now. The ulceration on his leg is looking much better. It’s not nearly as “wet” as it was a couple weeks ago. I doubt it will ever be completely back to normal but I think it is healing somewhat. My day was booked with meetings and I was worried about leaving him alone. He's not in pain but he wants that bandage off. If he’s unsupervised for too long, he shreds it. I definitely don’t want it to get infected. I called Aspenwood Animal Hospital to see if they could watch him. Jake stayed in Dr. Laura’s office the whole day, hanging out with her dogs on the cool floor. He’s always liked going to see her and I’m really glad that we have reasons to go back. It was also nice to drop him off at a vet and NOT have any procedures done on him for a change. When I picked him up, he had this cool bandana around his neck.

Monday, July 13, 2009

I Want a New Drug (Final Week)

Today was the last of the 6 treatments in the CSU clinical trial. Mondays are always the same but now we know what to expect. Around 3pm, he throws up everything and has diarrhea. He always run a fever but tonight it’s actually not too bad. Only 103.7 degrees. He sleeps most of the day but by Tuesday morning he’s up early and ready to fetch the newspaper. We’ll see the oncologist soon for restaging. We are still considering chemo and surgery but we’ll know more soon.