Our meeting with Dr. Macy this week was pretty much all good news.  Rusty has gained another 1 1/2 lbs in the past month, which is a total of 3 lbs since he started gaining weight in June; Dr. Macy said that his muscle tone was excellent and he attributes the additional weight to his swimming.  He did not find any lumps or other indications that the cancer has spread externally. He felt that since there were no other signs i.e., coughing, breathing difficulties, vomiting, etc., which along with the weight gain, that the cancer has probably not spread internally, at least not in any significant amounts, and he recommended that we wait another month before doing any X-Rays or other internal scans.

That was good news for us, however he again cautioned us that 95% of dogs with a level three cancer diagnosis pass in the first 12 months after diagnosis and surgery.  He said that each month that Rusty shows no sign of recurrence, it improves his odds of making it into the 5% of over a year survival group.  His blood work showed some deterioration in liver functions which is probably a result of the Chemo treatments; he said that he is not alarmed about the changes as they are still within acceptable limits.  He is hoping that eliminating the IV Vinblastine Chemo treatments will improve those functions.  He is keeping Rusty on the Lomustine and increasing it to twice monthly; he said that the Lomustine is much less lethal than the Vinblastine and he should tolerate it without any major side effects.  He wants to keep Rusty on this for another six months unless something develops to change the course of treatment.  Rusty had his oral dosage when we returned home and has not had any nausea or diarrhea, just some extra sleep.

Rusty's endurance is still fairly low, maximum of 1/2 hour in the pool and only one lap around the lake in the mornings (1/2 mile).  Dr. Macy was comfortable with his current level, he said between the cancer, Chemo, desert heat and only three legs he was not surprised.

Chuck & Rusty