Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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We did chemo #2 today. Fingers crossed for us that this one goes better than last time. We're going to repeat bloodwork around the time he started to tank last chemo, to hopefully catch it early this time if he's going to have a bad reaction again. If this one goes poorly, we're done with chemo. R seems fine tonight. A little less crazy energy than usual. Love that fur monster. (I think it's Carprofen he's on for the NSAID. Just, he seems to want to go for longer walks when he's on it and shorter when not, so that indicates to me he feels a little better on than off the pills. And his vet said no downside to him taking the pills so why not?)
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Okay R, no getting sick, okay? Weve all got our paws crossed for smooth sailing ahead!
Really glad the Carprofen is helping him. It 's good stuff!
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Paws crossed that he sails through this one! Keep us posted.
And yep, as long as you stay on top of his labs, there's no reason why he cannot benefit from the NSAID. I'm glad it's helping.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Paws crossed!! Chance had his second round as well this week. I'm with you on this second round...any signs of a repeat from post-chemo #1 and we'll be done as well. I'll keep you both in my thoughts and prayers for successful treatments and NO SIDE-EFFECTS!! 
Sandra, Chance & Kenya
So. Update, after a spell away:
Chemo #2 did not have the same impact as Chemo #1, thank goodness. But when we went back in for Chemo #3 earlier this week they said his white blood cell count was a little low, so we had the choice to drop his dose further - but then we risk it doing nothing - or wait another week for his white blood cells to finish bouncing back. So we're going to go back again Tuesday and try again.
Otherwise, life is good. Life is great, even. R rediscovered his love for fetch maybe two weeks ago now? That is literally why I finally decided to take his leg. Fetch was his greatest joy in life and I didn't want him to spend his final months having to be careful of that back leg. But then he didn't want to play fetch for the first few months last post-surgery. So I wondered about if he was 100% happy with our choice. But now... He's completely back into fetch. Such a happy boy, chasing after his tennis ball. It's all been worth it.
Also, his butt fur has mostly grown back in. So, that is also nice.
I am sooooooo happy to read how happy R is....and how happy you are!!! Knowing that he is playing fetch again and how important that is to both of you had me shed a few happy tears! Made my day!!😁 I know how uou anquished you were over this decision (understandably so). To see R TRULY Hhappy again is R's way of say THANK YOU for doing this FOR him!😎
Bummer about the low wbc, but, as you know, that happens sometimes. They gave him an antibiotic?
Thanks soooo much for the update! Knowing you and R are getting on with living life to the fullest is such spectacular news! Don't forget to take pictures and videos of R being R again!
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Wheeee! It's a joy to know that Rearden is thriving and the recovery is totally behind him. Sounds like the cautious approach to chemo is paying off too. You two are a pawsome team! Keep it up!
Thanks for the pupdate. We always love hearing from you two. 
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I am so thrilled for you! You have done a fantastic job of taking care of Reardon and now you are finally able to reap the joy of him playing fetch again 
I know there were a lot of ups and downs worry wise, and I am so happy to know that his shine is back and you are both enjoying life again.
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
Great to hear about R's recovery. Eerily odd how similar R's and Chance's chemo treatments are going. Same here going into round 3...post #2 chemo didn't have the same reaction as round 1, but wbc count too low to go forward with round 3. Chance has an appt on Thursday to check his wbc and decide whether or not to proceed with chemo using doxorubicin (can't really go any lower on the carboplatin dosage).
So glad to hear he's back to playing fetch...and his fur is almost all grown back. Chance's has for the most part but still a little like peach fuzz.
Keep us posted on his next appointment!
Sandra, Chance & Kenya
What I'm sure is a highly anticipated update... My little dude is amazing:
342 (Instagram slow mo video of the tennis ball destroyer in action)
We have our fourth chemo tomorrow morning. We did end up continuing on at a 20% reduced dose. R does have unusually strong reactions to the chemo, but I'm just hoping the anecdotal stories that maybe this mean it's more effective to treat the cancer is true. His white blood cells plummet oddly like two and a half weeks after his chemo treatments. So we've started preemptively doing antibiotics during that period and we're doing our treatments every three and a half weeks.
Three more chemo treatments to go. I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself, but I'm tentatively hoping we're gonna get to live through at least one more winter together. He loves snow and I love watching him love it.
POETRY IN MOTION!!! Seeing R soooo happy and fit and thriving just made my day!!! Cant stop grinning! 😁😁 He is such a stunningly handsome boy.
Now R, we know you love catching that ball and you are really good at it. Watching you hone in on the prize with such intensity and laser focus was spectacular. But watching you jump high and then land on that one rear leg kind of face me a bit of a scare. So just have uour hooman maybe toss that ball at a level where you do jump too high to catch it.. And it may have been that you weren't really jumping that high and landing that hard, but the slow motion made it look like that.
Thank you so much for checking in, and especially gor sharing that video of your handsome, happy and very fit boy!!
Give him as big smooch for is😘
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Woooohooo! R is doing so well! I hope tomorrow's chemo is easy as pie and he doesn't have any side-effects. I'm curious, what antibiotics are you giving him? Sorry if you mentioned that before. Whatever you're doing, keep it up! And celebrate that snow dawg of yours, he's got a great winter coming up!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Loved the video...and slow-mo! What a happy pup!! Glad to hear he's doing so well and enjoying his ball playing again. Can't wait to hear about his treatment today. Chance's 4th treatment is next week. He did much better this time around...very little side effects.
Thanks for sharing the video!
Sandra, Chance, and Kenya
So. Bad news this week. We were supposed to have our last dose of chemo yesterday, but they did x-rays beforehand and... Looks like chemo didn't really work for us. He had two super tiny lesions in his lungs even before we did surgery, so we knew it was in there. But yesterday they said there were new lesions and they were now 'cherry-tomato sized'. They tell me we might get until New Years, at this rate.
I cried. Of course. But.
I think we're done with chemo. I think we're probably just done fighting. R shakes every time we go to the vet and I think I feel like we've done what we can do before we get to the point where he's paying more than he wants to for more time. I think if we fight any harder we're probably doing it more for me than him. It's hard, since he can't tell me himself what he wants, but we did surgery, we did chemo. I feel like we fought our best fight.
I do think he's not feeling 100% happy these days. Still mostly my happy boy, but he's a little bit clingy lately like he is when he doesn't feel good. Still wants to play fetch, still wants to eat. I'm trying to tell myself those will be my hard stop signs it's time.
I think we're just going to spend our last few weeks or months just really getting every bit of love we can out of every minute. I know it's going to hurt when he goes, but...
Goodbye was always part of the deal. I knew that when I brought him home from the shelter. If we get through Christmas together I will have gotten to spend almost exactly ten years with him. That's a pretty good run. And he's been loved every single minute of those ten years. (And returned it x 20, of course.) And, weirdly, lockdown ended up having one really big upside for me. I've gotten to spend the last nine months home with him every day. We've done more walks, more fetch, more cuddles than we ever did before.
It sucks that there IS an end, but this is probably about as good an overall situation as I could have asked for. Now I just have to make sure I know when it's time and that we get to the end together without him knowing any pain or fear. Just gonna keep looking in his eyes, and smiling, and telling him I love him. For as long as he can hear me.
I have tears flowing and so many "mixed messages" roaming around in my head
As hard as it is to hear this news and it definitely saddens us. what you have written here could not express your love for R anymore beautifully. Yoir commitment to his well being shines through with every word. I'm not even sure I can articulate what an enlightened Soul you are. You have given words to your heart like a wise Sage.
For many of us we reach an understanding when the scales tip out of our favor, or as you said, "paying more" it's not worth anymore poking and prodding, stressful Vet trips, etc. All R cares about is continuing to have quality stress free time with you. At this point to "pay a price" for maybe a little extra time just is not worth it to the Soul fo a dog. As we say somoften, days on a calendar don't mean anything to a dog.
And the way yoj describes how R feels 4ight now, it doesn't sound like he's showing anymoutward signs at all. Maybe being a "little off" or a little tired sometimes....but that's no biggie. Ge really mets are painfulmper se. And there ARE non invasive "harmless" things that can be done IF he does start showing more symptoms. My Happy Hannah had a met "as big as a baseball" the Vet said. At some poi we added Prednisone and some low dose pain meds and she got a couple of extended quality months even AFTER the thing had gotten so big.
So R will decide when he wants to transition and it won't be based on a Vet's guess. It will be based on when he feels his Soul's purpose on earth is complete. For now, he still has more to do and more fetch to,play and more good memories to make with you!
You've left no stone unturned in R's care. You, and he, have shown us what a Warrior Spirit looks like. To have the insight to continue on a path forward with more acceptance and less fight, with more focus in the now and less focus on the tomorrows....,yeah.......proceeding with such grace has a healing power all on it's own💖
Now give that sweet boy and big smooch for us! Watch that tail wagging and know all is well in R's world.
(((((Hugs)))))
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
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