Thanks 'guys' – meaning all of you. I appreciate your support, information and ideas.

Short update (because I just got to work):

Last night was not great.  Once I saw that Tazzie's mobility was starting to be impaired and the size of the lump, I thought the "C" must be in other bad locations, lungs, liver, and probably the tumor was pushing on the spine. It was the first night he did not want to go upstairs to bed, and also slipped a bit when hopping on the couch, so I moved a mattress downstairs (probably not great for his sleep or mine). I did not know if he would be able to stand in the morning and if that might be our last night. The lump is so large, I cannot imagine radiation working – maybe two months ago it might have been appropriate.

This morning we went to the vet anyway. She commented on how he is still so bright and happy and wants to investigate everything (I brought a bag with his supplements to show her and in typical Tazzie fashion, he has to explore it). She is going to try to find out about radiation from an oncologist. I hope someone is in Calgary today! She has not ruled it out.

To my amazement, X-rays showed no sign of mets in the lungs (only did one view) and the tumor is not contacting the spine. It is headed toward the head of the illium, but as yet has not made contact with bone. (We also found no evidence of foil from the Hershey kisses he ate last week!)

She gave me a script for Gabapentin, but wants me to start with 100 mg, then up to 200 after two days if all is okay, then maybe up to 300 mg. Pam – is that just too low to begin? I don't want to give him so much pain drug that he is just dozy. There is not point in keeping him around if he is just dozey, since we are not talking temporary (unless radiation is an option).

Until we see how the Gab works, she says to stay on tramadol at night. The tramadol made him clumsy and it seems possible the Gab will do that too.

So things seem better now than they did last night or this morning.

The vet did not know what 'electron radiation therapy' was. That was the term the 'oncovet' used during chat – if any one knows, let me know.

Thanks again for your incredible support, tazziedog, Cherry, Emily, Jerry, Jake and others!

Susan & Tazzie 2

Ahh, the downs (ugh) and then ups (yay) of tripawd-hood. Just wanted to say that Tazzie is doing better than Thursday night, despite the cantelope he carries around on his hind leg. Next weekend will be his 9th birthday (!!!) and he seems to be reverting to puppyhood very quickly. I haven't seen this much counter-surfing in 6 or 7 years. Today I came home to find a box of licorice-spice tea bags on the living room floor with puncture marks. Thank dog he did not eat them, or I'd be surfing the web to find out if they are poisonous. I know I sound incredibly careless, but Tazzie is getting incredibly motivated. He's not as dumb as he looks!

Yesterday afternoon and especially this morning he was hopping around just fine - running full tilt with his young Malamute pal at the park - even before having any pain med. He has been doing what I think is about 3 km each Saturday. We walk a little way and then sit around while his pal and my friends walk a bit farther, then we make the return journey together. I was adamant that Tazzie would NOT be walking anywhere today. We would just sit at the park. But he proved me wrong, plus he really wanted to charge down the steep cliff to find something smelly (I got him back before he succeeded and the harness came in really handy to prevent a roll in something stinky). Nothing like a tripawd on power mushrooms to make you feel better when it seems that things are getting bleak.

As for vet news: the radiation oncologist in Calgary told my vet that he thought radiation might help for pain relief at the tumor site and would be preferable to meds. He'd have to get a CT scan to assess other lumps before they decided if it were appropriate. I have not spoken to that oncologist myself so do not know their criteria - I expect Tazzie has some tumors developing in bad places by now. So it is possible that Tazzie and I will make the two-day trip to Calgary as soon as my classes end (Tuesday). I guess he is long overdue for another haircut!

I hope to talk to that oncologist on Monday to get more information on the pros and cons. Would be nice to find out as much as possible before making such a trip! 

I hope y'all (how yank is that?) are having a great holiday weekend.

Susan & Tazzie 2