otisandtess said
What a great idea to fill your time with great experiences!  Lots of us don't slow down enough to realize how great an experience is.  But, as I sit here in the frozen tundra, I have to admit to being jealous of your beach time!  

I did this with my last dog before he died and thought I was so smart and clever. Then I started to see a bunch of stories and videos about people filling their dog's bucket lists. One guy drove cross country with his dog! My idea wasn't as clever and unique as I thought, but still a good one. I have such good memories of the time we spent doing fun DOG things. Someone here always advises "Be More Dog " and that's my mantra these days.

BTW I'm pretty sure Fionn would love your frozen tundra. He LOVES the cold. He insists on sleeping outside (he does have a dog door but he rarely comes inside until breakfast). Mind you, our nights only get below freezing occasionally so not really frozen tundra level cold. A play day in the snow is getting checked off the list next!

Warning- all caps announcement pending in 3,2,1.....

WOOOOO HOOOOOO NO LUNG METS ON FIONN'S CHEST XRAY TODAY!!!!!!!

Fionn had his 4th chemo (carboplatin) today and this treatment includes a chest xray. Haven't had one since pre-op and I was nervous. Fionn was fine, he's always fine

What does Sally always tell us? Be More Dog . Truth for these troubled times. Fionn has been low on energy the last week or so so I was worried his blood work would be off, but it was fine and he acted like his usual spazzy self at my local vet yesterday. My daughter took him in for me and I warned her, but she was nevertheless surprised at his goofyness. His chest xray did show either a emerging pneumonia or one that was healing. He hasn't coughed even once so that's weird. They put him on 14 days of Clavamox. He did vomit once after chemo number 2 and they said he may have aspirated, but that was many weeks ago. I suspect he got some food down there. He bolts his food (guess that's a good thing in a way- no lack of appetite) and, prior to surgery, always used a special bowl that slowed him down. I bought new, raised bowls for him after surgery and the special bowl does not fit in the holder. I'm going to have to figure something out. I don't want him to get bloat either. The pneumonia is probably what has made him a bit tired.  Although the oncologist said he was bouncing off the walls in the back! I think he overdid the excitement because, when they brought him out and I was paying (ugh-my poor credit card), he plopped down in the middle of the lobby and wouldn't move. People and dogs just had to go around or step over him. He got motivated when I opened the door to go out, but pooped out again in the parking lot where we waited, and waited.......I finally left him and went to my truck (literally just across the way) to put my stuff away. Once I opened the back door, he ran over and hopped in. 

We stopped at In n Out and he got a meat patty and some fries. We have a little over an hour drive home so he rested and I got him some frozen yogurt once we got home. He won't need dinner after all that AND the massive number of cookies he gets from all the staff! 

The oncologist and I discussed the option of stopping at 4 treatments or doing 6. They routinely do 6, but there really isn't any good data to suggest it makes a difference. I know there are discussions on Tripawds about this and someone had posted a link to the one (somewhat flawed) study that showed potential in using 6 treatments. The same person also suggested finding out the mitotic index of the tumor. The thought being that a more aggressive tumor might benefit from more chemo. There is no evidence to support this though. Fionn's tumor ranked 3 out of 4, 4 being the most aggressive. I told the oncologist that we will do more chemo ONLY if Fionn continues to do well and has no side effects. She was very supportive whichever I choose which I appreciate. The staff and our treatment at UC Davis has been extraordinary!

I met a lovely greyhound rescue today and her mom who are being worked up for osteo in a rear leg. The dog is 11 and her mom is having a hard time coping. Everyone is telling her not to do the amputation. She knows about Tripawds and I told her she needed to join us whatever she decides to do. She was consulting with oncology and the clinical trial coordinator so we didn't have much time to talk, but I was able to show her Fionn's harness and tell her about Fionn's blog and how I couldn't have done this without the support and advice I have gotten here. Unfortunately, Fionn had already gone back when they arrived and then he finished early and they were not out yet. I wanted her to see a tripawd in action ( not sure laying down in the lobby like a lump constitutes "action", but his tail was wagging). And now I can't remember her dog's name so look out for a post from the mom of an 11yo female greyhound! If she decides to go forward fingers crossed her dog gets in the trial

Here's to an equally good day for the entire tripawd nation!

Love Nancy and Fionn

Fionn's mom here with a long overdue update and new post on Fionn's blog http://fionnsjo.....pawds.com/.

Fionn went in for his 5th chemo on Jan 20th and his neutraphil count was low again. This happened when he went in for his 3rd treatment too. At his 4th chemo they found he had pneumonia and was on antibiotics for 2 out of the 3 weeks between chemo 4 and 5. He has been losing hair like crazy and I found some bald spots during a bath, so that along with low blood counts and pneumonia have made me decide to stop chemo at 4 treatments. While UC Davis likes to give 6, they can't back that up with research that shows it is better than 4. Outwardly, there is no sign that he feels poorly, but his body IS being affected.

I asked about putting him on metronomic chemo, but they don't use it with OSA. The oncologist said it has not been shown to be helpful in this particular cancer, but she is willing to do it if I want. I haven't decided yet if I will push it or not. I have put him on K9 Immunity and Golden Paste (turmeric/curcumin) and a grain free diet. There's no way to know for sure if any of this is helping, but I have to say, he's been super frisky lately! Just chock full of piss and vinegar as my dad would say :). 

We had a bucket list failure today- I'll let you read about it in the blog. Now, we are looking forward to his 4 month ampuversary Feb 6th! I think a party might be in order.

And lest I forget- we got our Tripawds bandana! And another pic Yay!

Thank you for all the links. I did read all of them and more before I approached the oncologist. The search function on Tripawds works very well! As a medical person myself, I always like to be as informed as I can before I ask questions so I have some probability of understanding the answers. I believe the multi institutional study you mentioned is the one she spoke of. It was specifically done for OSA and the results showed that the added therapy did not change the outcomes of the dogs. The Morris study was geared towards soft tissue sarcoma. She did say they use metronomics for other cancers and UC Davis offered it to my dog that had soft tissue sarcoma a few years ago, but I chose to not use it as he was pretty advanced at time of diagnosis. Rapamycin is in trial now. It's the trial I wanted Fionn to get in to, but he did not qualify. There are very high hopes for that drug, but it is not available yet. 

Basically this is all a crap shoot. I am sure the vets who prescribe metronomics do so because in their experience, it does help improve survival rates at least in some cases. And then there are the dogs who will always fall outside the norm and live for years, with or without treatment, or dogs like Gabbar who pass so quickly the unfairness is painful. 

They left it up to me. If I really wanted to do the metronomics they would do it, but I have decided to call it quits. I want to spend what time we have left doing fun things and not driving to vet visits for poking and prodding. If I use up all my vacation time for vet visits that cuts into the fun times! Hopefully Fionn will be as healthy and happy as he is now for a good long time.