This one is sort of self explanatory – my husband took this the other night showing how well he gets around. It was a beautiful night – really comfortable, and he decided to go to his favorite spot on the second floor deck to relax and survey his domain! We think he is doing great!
I just want to document, briefly, the absolute start of things: how Pofi was found and came to be ours more than eleven years ago.
Pofi was rescued by a dog. True story. In late October of 2004, our friend was hiking in Tettegouche State Park on the north shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. Amy, her friend and her friend’s dog, Hershey, had finished their hike and were back at the parking lot preparing to depart. Hershey had accumulated some burrs in her fur coat and so her person was getting a comb to remove them when Hershey bolted from the car back onto the trail head. They followed after her to find her sitting guard over a little pup – cold and alone and likely terrified. No way he had gotten into this predicament on his own and certainly, they could not leave him. Amy’s friend closed the little peanut up in her coat and Pofi and his rescuers headed back to the Twin Cities.
Pofi – found alone in Tettegouche State Park, northern MN, Oct, 24, ’04.
Amy could not keep him, but knew us to be good animal people and heard we had lost our dear Yellow Lab mix, Jesse, earlier that year. We were ready and agreed to meet him – I knew right away he had to be ours, but my husband wasn’t quite sure, so I told Amy we would at least help by getting him vetted at our clinic. We decided even before then and she brought him to us a few days later, November 14, 2004, and at the age of 8 weeks, he became ours furever more.
Snuggling with my furever Daddy man, 11/14/04
First nap with my new furever Mommy, 11/14/04.
We didn’t know what he was or how big he would be (and fast he would grow), but he settled in with us and our trio of Kitty Boyz with no issues. He charmed us from the start and charms us to this day. And while I’m not going to run through his whole life’s history on this Tripawd blog, I will say he grew at a rate that stunned us. Nightly, we’d put him in his comfy crate and in the morning, we’d exclaim that he had clearly grown overnight. To illustrate that point:
Growth Spurt – left, 11/20/04 & right, 02/13/05. Less than 3 months time!
The first photo on left is from our first shopping expedition when I bought him his first name tag and a new collar of my choosing. I also signed him up for the next session of Puppy Kindergarten that was available after his immunizations would be complete. The photo on the right is from class graduation date – him in my lap with me trying to put a grad cap on his head. In the 8 weeks of the class he outpaced all the other dogs in terms of growth, even the Goldens and Labs. He towered over all of them by the graduation ceremony – dwarfed them! It amused the trainer and me greatly…
So, next entry, I will skip ahead to the start of his Tripawd and cancer journey, but I just wanted to honor and remember the incredibly lucky day (for us) that he became our boy.
I have been hoping to get to the beginning of our story and the start of Pofi’s Tripawd journey, but after our all clear lymph node cytology, we had a stormy night. I gave Pofi his first dose of Piroxicam in the morning as the anti inflammatory part of our evolving Metronomic chemo approach. And we were to start alternating the Cyclophosphamide with Palladia today. But our sage Oncologist had suggested staggering the new meds so I could be certain if which, if any, caused any unwanted effect.
Well, Tuesday night, Pofi seemed a little hesitant about food and treats, but ate pretty easily. I noticed soon after, however, that he was uncharacteristically “windy” and it was pretty unpleasant. I gave the chemo anyhow, which probably was not advisable. About 1:30 AM, we were awoken by a retching, restless dog. He wasn’t really bringing anything up initially, but he was trying awfully hard. And then for the next few hours, I let him out a few times and for multiple bowel movements, poor lad. And he did finally retch up some liquid, too. Since we never have stomach upset, I did not have Pepcid AC on hand. Spoke to the Oncology department in the morning and we decided on a one to two day medication holiday for him except for some Pepcid to help settle his gurgling tummy. He also was still sort of clearing his throat on Tuesday morning, but it lessened pretty quickly. I can only think the combination of intubation GA the day before for CT and then all that retching really irritated his throat. This wasn’t really coughing- didn’t come from chest at all, but of course, PARANOID so thank you fellow Tripawd members for talking me off a ledge in the chat room. You know who you are! 🙂
I did add one Mirtazapine on Tuesday evening along with the newly procured Pepcid AC to make certain we got past the resulting inappetance (breakfast was a big “No thanks” in the morning). And we seem to be back on track. Plan now is to pick up the Palladia this weekend and start it Monday. For now, we will use Rimadyl as the anti inflammatory component, but perhaps I’ll try Piroxicam, which is less toxic to the liver, in the future with Pepcid…if I am brave enough!
For now, a few glamour shots of my boy and his sister, Mia.
Pofi profile
Mia enjoying her first dip in the Pacific in Santa Barbara, Sept 2013
Pofi happily embracing the ocean for the first time, Sept 2013
We have our dancin’ shoes on, because U of MN Veterinary Oncology says there is nothing to be concerned about on any of the 3 slides of lymph node aspirate. Nothing to see here folks, move along. Just biggish lymph nodes. NBD – No Big Deal!!
And this is how we feel about that news!!!
So Pofi had his CT scan today and his paperwork says he was a very good patient for them today. The (sort of) good news: there are no clarion clear signs of remote metastasis to lungs or lymph nodes. There are some bright white light points in the lungs that are calcification – osteaomas – and are not a worry. There are just 3 or 4 less bright tiny spots that don’t seem to be blood vessels, but could be the same sort of process that results in the osteomas. Or could be very, very early mets. Just not nearly conclusive to say anything and way, way to small for biopsy. And while lymph nodes could be a bit large, they aren’t really large and it is not only the ones located near the cancer. Seems impossibly preposterous to the oncologist that there could be metastasis to all of them at such distance. So not particularly indicative of cancer. There is one he was able to aspirate and that is off to pathology: for good or for bad, this could give us something more definitive…or the same fuzzy, wispy, not at all sure view my expenditure procured today.
Really, it is more good than bad. I have lest existential angst than I did before (I am never completely without existential angst, that’s just how I roll). For now, radiation therapy is still a future decision. Perhaps a CT in 4 to 6 weeks (this was discussed) and meanwhile, we will up the chemo game. Adding Piroxicam to the cocktail for the anti-inflammatory benefit in Metronomic approach, skipping the Doxycyclene. And seriously considering Palladia. We would stagger the Cytoxan and Palladia (at new, lower dosage protocol) trying to inhibit cancer in different ways. We will likely start on it this week after giving his system a day or two to recover from today’s GA.
A funny note, the veterinary oncologist asked me what my job was today and when I said I was a Project Manager in the Finance industry, he asked if I had any sort of science background because I am following and taking in everything he was explaining so well. I said, “No, just critical thinking skills honed as an English major and Philosophy minor”. Score one for the too frequently maligned and disregarded Humanities BA degree!!
To lighten the mood and remind us all to live in the moment, here is Pofi living large at the dog park yesterday:
Resting after romping in Mother Lake, 6/5/16
And an always enjoyable roll in the lush green ground cover!
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