[been a while]
It has been a bit since I was here I see! Computer time has been extremely scarce, because we have been so busy! So where did I leave off…
The last time I wrote was a day that I actually received some terrible news. I pretty much saved my entry and got the phone call.
Dozer, our male dog, has cancer. Lymphoma to be exact. I had noticed some enlarged lymph nodes on the Thursday prior, so I took him to work that Friday. Several sets were enlarged, so we did a needle biopsy and the results came back that Monday (6/11). Since it was my day off, one of the vets called me from work to let me know. I spent much of the afternoon crying and just very upset. Dozer just turned four years old in May, he is such a young dog.
Since then I have done lots of research, as have the vets at work. We immediately put him on steroids (Prednisone), which has put him into remission. One week later, we started an oral chemotherapy drug called Lomustine. Currently he is receiving the Prednisone every other day, the Lomustine every 3 weeks, and an omega-3 supplement to aid his immune system. He is doing very well right now. He was never actually sick; I found the lymph nodes accidentally while petting him, so we caught it early.
Even so, it is a poor prognosis. Once you are able diagnose lymphoma, it is already spread. That is just the nature of the disease in animals. We’re just lucky that I caught it before he was symptomatic, which gave us a better shot at putting him in remission. This disease is not curable at all. The goal of the medications is to keep him in remission for as long as possible to give him as much comfortable, quality time as we are able. Based on what we read with the drug combination we are doing, average survival time is just four months.
At this point, I am monitoring him closely and we are just enjoying the time that we have. We are preparing to have to make a difficult decision, and know that it could come sooner than four months, or later as well. One of our vets had a personal dog with this disease last year, and her dog lived six months on just steroids alone. So we will just see what happens.
Other than that, I have just been working and trying to enjoy the summer as best I can. It has been fun so far! We have taken the boat out once on our own and twice with two different couples in the last month. We went camping 6/21-6/25 and did tons of boating there, some hiking, and some relaxing. We are actually going camping again this month, either the weekend of the 21st or the 28th. Greg is traveling to Chicago the 23rd-27th for work, and I will be alone for that week. That will be different! Other than a weekend trip a couple months after we got married, we have never been apart for the entire eight years of our marriage! It will be interesting for sure!
Ok, that’s all I have for now. Hopefully I will be back sooner next time!