Hard decisions of life: which toy to choose

Thank you all, I'm glad you liked our video I wish everyone could see how well dogs can manage with three legs, even older and bigger ones.

Yes, only a week (and a day) till his 2 year ampuversary,yayy!!!

Hi all,

Only a month from Razbeg's 2 year ampuversary and a bit different mood...We finally had lung x-rays done after eight months. We haven’t got the final report yet, but unfortunately Razbeg’s lung mets have visibly grown, so it seems Leukeran isn’t effective enough -or it isn’t effective enough for those mets, but it has lowered his white blood cell counts, so now we need to monitor his blood levels closely.  Feeling a bit blue now, but fortunately Razbeg is feeling well and still doesn’t have any symptoms of those mets.

It seems we don’t have many options left. Our vet considers trying Palladia, but it’s subjected to a special permit here in Finland and apparently there has been problems in its availability, so now our vet is trying to find out if it’s even possible to get it, and what it would cost, because evidently it’s very, very expensive compared to those metronomics we have tried up till now.

The vet also mentioned doxorubicin but borzois are at risk to have heart problems, and our onco team also seems to think that intravenous chemos might not work best for him, apparently because they target fast dividing cells, while Razbeg’s mets grow slowly but steadily.

Lobectomy was also mentioned, since Razbeg seems to have only these two mets, but our vet gave her honest opinion that she didn’t think it would be best for Razbeg, and I tend to agree. It would be another major operation, Razbeg is 11 years old and although he’s in good condition and moves well now, there are signs of arthritis in his remaining front leg.  Also, even after lobectomy mets can appear on some other location. We don’t even know the actual location of his mets, because they always show only on those x-rays which are taken when he lays on his back. They don’t show on lateral x-rays.  So it would require at least a CT scan and the result would probably still be that it’s not worth putting him through such a rough operation.

I know I should just be grateful that he’s already got so much extra time and that he’s still feeling fine, and I truly am, but I still wish there would be something more to do, some other thing to try. I would appreciate it much if others who are/have been in the same situation (i.e. lung mets have grown) could share their experiences and tell what they decided to do.