Whew! I am SO glad to have this Doctor's visit over with. Yesterday was Nova's one month follow up after the 4th and last dose of Carboplatin. They did another round of chest x-rays on my big goofy girl and they were pristine CLEAR. Yippee! I was REALLY stressing going in there. I know that any of these visits can easily bring bad news of lung mets which means moving on to the next stage in the journey. But yesterday was not that visit, thankfully, and I am breathing a big sigh of relief. Next week on the 11th Nova will celebrate her 4-month “ampuversary.”

I won't include every little detail of the visit and pictures I took of Nova at the park here, if you want to read more, just go to Nova's blog at http://www.trip.....ogspot.com.

The oncologist was all ready to talk about next steps, I had sent her an email on a few treatments I had read about on Tripawds. She was gung-ho on metronomic chemotherapy . Her recommendation was Cytoxan and Feldene (also called Piroxicam), which she said she preferred to the Metacam that I've seen people using on Tripawds. Not sure what the difference is between Piroxicam and Metacam, but I will presume they are somewhat similar. She recommended I get the prescriptions filled at Costco. It sounds ridiculous, but I have been a Costco member for years and never have thought to get prescriptions there. Cytoxan was only $28.31 per month (would have been $93.75 at the vet's office). And the Feldene was only $5.59 (Would have been $60 at the Vet's office). I was thrilled to find out that oral chemo was so affordable. I am going to look into transferring all of Nova's prescriptions there (she has several eye drops for glaucoma).

This was one situation where Nova's weight worked in her favor. Usually, things cost more for giant breed dogs because everything is based on size and weight (x-rays are a nightmare because they have to get several views to get her whole giant body covered). But because she weighs the same as a human, she was able to get human dosages, which are less expensive. Excellent.

My oncologist did not strongly recommend Artemisinin . She didn't argue with me on it, but just said that she had a lot of concerns about purity when it came to herbal treatments, especially things coming from China (I'm assuming she was talking about all the melamine in the pet food stuff). She is not against alternative treatments, just doesn't recommend them unless she can trace the source of each ingredient, and feel comfortable that it is safe and pure. It was nice to hear her say that if I decided to try it anyway, she would not object, just said that it wasn't something she would do if it were her own dog. Okay, I can respect that. I still don't know how I feel about some of the herbal treatments, personally I am quick to try different herbs for my own self, without really researching the source of the herbs, purity issues, etc. Guess I never really thought much about it.

She did mention something about turmeric (the spice), had been proven somewhere to increase cancer cell death, and if she or her dog had cancer, she might be inclined to try it. Has anyone ever heard anything about turmeric?. She recommended I start Nova on Omega-3 Fish Oil capsules, which I got at Costco. And she also recommended something called CAS Option, which is some kind of multivitamin for cancer patients. I still have to look into an affordable source of that, obviously buying anything in her office was going to cost too much.

The oral chemo will require monthly CBCs at first, which I can have done much more affordably at my regular vet. Costco won't have the prescription ready til Monday, so I will have the bloodwork done on Monday, have them fax the results to the oncologist, and provided everything looks good, will start her on the metronomic chemo.

I left the office feeling REALLY good, and very hopeful about Nova's future. I so much want her to live through another summer of our runs and triathlons (she loves to cheer us on as our fan) and my son's fall cross-country season. This is where much of her social life is, she just loves to go to these races and hold court with all the curious people who have never seen a giant dog before. This year I would imagine she will attract even more fans, being on 3 legs and all! The oncologist reminded me that the best results she had seen had come with amputation plus 4 doses of carboplatin, which averages 351 days survival time, but if the dog makes it a full year then they have an 85% chance of making it a second year. This is really good news considering we are talking about adding 1/4-1/3 of Nova's entire life! Really exciting. She said she has seen complete cures about 20% of the time (with osteosarcoma) and in cases where there wasn't a cure, dogs still made it 2-3 years. Awesome! I hope to be keeping Nova's blog for many months to come (maybe even years!)

I wanted to give a big thanks to Dr. Pam and Tazzie for giving me all the detailed information about Tazzie's treatment in one awesome post a few weeks back. It really made thing much easier to talk about with the oncologist. I would encourage anyone in that “what's next phase” to go check out that post. I know I'm not the only one who greatly appreciates Dr. Pam's presence here and her thoughtful advice and input.

It was particularly wonderful to find a nice sunny sky when I left the oncologist's office, and 63 degrees. Nova danced out to the car with her silly hop, and I felt like dancing right behind her. We got in the car and my satellite radio was blaring that song from “Rocky”. YEAH! It sounds corny, but it was inspiring. We're kicking cancer's @$$!!! I decided to break up the ride home and stop at a big local park to take Nova on a short walk to sniff the Spring air. We followed the “Handicapped” path (hee hee, we should get handicapped parking, dontcha think?), which is the quickest, flattest way to the lake from the parking lot. She ambled out onto one of the fishing docks to sniff around. What a great day!

In a couple weeks my son and I are taking Nova and her sister on a week-long road trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains. We decided to do things “Jerry Style” and go have some fun with Nova and spread some Tripawd love around. Keep an eye on her blog to read about her adventures!

Sniffin' the Spring Air and Lettin' Those Floppy Ears Flap in the Wind

There's Hope for the Future! I'm Kicking Cancer's @$$!

Sue and Nova