| Author | Message | ||
     86129squids |
Remind me to tell you some time... how much I appreciate you. All. Court. Matthew. Dave. Ann. Mike. John. Frogs. Charlotte. Paint. No rice and the woman. Fattie. Vern. Mark. Blake, so many others on this forum, I've kinda got to know. Every single one of youn's. Just got off the phone with the vet. Going to start prednisone, and watch for the outcome. Chemo just doesn't make sense. He's strong as an ox today. All is well, except we humans know the future. | ||
| Pwnzor |
 (Message edited by pwnzor on January 23, 2020) | ||
| 86129squids |
Just got back from K-Roger to pick up prednisone. That should slow things down. Of course, I have to plan things from today. Hoping he gets to catch a squirrel before it's all over. Still fast as lightning. Not quite as quick. | ||
| Hootowl |
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| 86129squids |
Very nice, Hoot. Love it. But Basenji's generally don't bark or woof. More like Shiba Inu's, some Husky's, they'll talk but not bark. When M gets home, often there's a "BAROO!!" D'Ogee will alert when startled, a short "BERK!" I'm pretty sure he learned that in his foster situations before coming to me, from other hounds. He's not my first Basenji- the first one, Loki, never barked, rarely made a sound, in over 17 years. He's resting well. Me, I'm just adjusting, not easily. Hoping the prednisone buys us 1-2 months? Found out gabapentin should be the first step onto the bridge, got that already. He loves salmon, definitely a chow-hound... luckily for him I work where I do. God knows there are few dogs more spoiled, more loved in this area than Rocky and D'Ogee. Hey. Thanks for allowing me an avenue to vent a bit. I have no kids, other than the furry ones I claim, and Marcia's kids by proxy. I tend to cry when I hear a great song, or read a great poem. Bear with me down the line, as I take care of my B. | ||
| 86129squids |
Got to see John Hiatt at the Shed years ago. | ||
| 86129squids |
Well, can't track down the other song I'm thinking about. Loki was my first Basenji. Found a breeder in Lebanon TN. I'd been researching breeds, narrowed it down to American Eskimo Spitz, a terrier breed I forgot, and these dogs. Apparently they start sparring as pups, early, to determine who might be Alpha. They have to be separated. One cute pup already had a torn ear, which was sad, as B's don't need their ears cupped like Dobermans. Loki chose me. As a pup, he climbed the chain link kennel to eye level with me. Done deal. They're dang weird dogs. Primeval, maybe the original model, before us humans began domesticating them. They were the house dogs for ancient Egyptian rulers, and pariah dogs as well. Anubis = basenji. I'll take care of this one... I'll have another one or more. | ||
| Pwnzor |
 Cherish every moment. | ||
| 86129squids |
Well, got a smidgen of good news today- after giving him his first prednisone last night, his nodes under the jaw have shrunk noticeably. Still there, still too big, but smaller. We'll take that. As Matthew stated above, yes, cherish every moment. Day by day, working to keep my chin up. | ||
| 86129squids |
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| 86129squids |
Ha! Remembered this song, forgot how frickin' cool the video is. Check it out, enjoy... a great video compilation of great musicians, great peeps, and great dawgies. Got to see the Bottle Rockets a couple of times at The Shed, love those guys. | ||
| 86129squids |
Hey, Blake, whomever... see if you can't change the thread title. Of course, if we have a critter, we're likely going to lose it at some point in time. How about "Gonna Spoil My Critter" instead. I think I've figured out the endgame. Gabapentin the night before, heavy dose, then again the morning of. That way he'll not have such a bad reaction to the injection, then the intravenous. I might need sedation though. That bridge is a ways off, no worries today. Court, et al, what's that 5, 6 "P's"? I think I've got it. | ||
| 04buell |
Our Dukie is getting up in age so we adopted another small pup to keep him company. Hopefully, Elwood (Woody) Learns to love riding motorcycles as much as Dukie does. Can’t image our lives without them, even though they. An be pain in the butts with their yapping sometimes!! | ||
| 04buell |
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| 86129squids |
One of the things I love about Basenjis- no barky. Of course Rocky does his part, but generally not to excess. Starting day 3 with the prednisone- amazing, but it's like the lymph nodes are back to normal! Swelling has completely receded. Just wild. M thinks maybe we should get a 2nd opinion. What I've learned about the prednisone treatment regimen however, is this is pretty typical. Makes me happy, but we're just buying more time. We'll take it for now, that's for sure. My main thing now is just dealing with the emotional roller coaster ride. Definitely gonna work in some sunny day dog park times soon. 04- I knew a guy years ago who rode about everywhere on his BMW GS, worked as a multi-line sales rep for MC gear. One day he and his wife chased me through the Dragon running north, then across the Foothills Parkway. The whole time they had a little Yorkie living big, riding extra happy in the tank bag! Talk about a sight! Maybe you can teach Woody that trick.  | ||
| 04buell |
 . Dukie has a pet palace. But he prefers to ride on the front where he can see where he’s going. When he is in this, he is always up looking over Jerrys shoulder. We sure hope your pup recupes!!! (Carol) | ||
| Jaimec |
Our husky RARELY barked. She usually yodeled. Every now and then she'd let out a "YAP!!" And then she'd freeze and look around as if to say "Did I just say that?" | ||
| Ratbuell |
My husky/sami mix was a yodeler, too. Funny as hell to listen to as ambulances went by... | ||
| 86129squids |
Took both of my boys for a walk yesterday... always fun! Rocky can tell simply by my body language that we're "gonna have some fun". Then the squirming, helicopter butt mutt starts sqeaking/whining, D'Ogee starts moaning and pacing from me to the fence gate. Next step, it's Rocky's job to "find the stuff", the harnesses and leashes. He knows the cabinet drawer where they're kept. I get complacent about walking the boys now, with the fenced in yard- dogs do get bored too. Weather permitting, they'll get more regular walks from now on. They get so much entertainment just walking/sniffing/peeing... it's kinda how dogs stay "social" with the neighborhood. They put a LOT of thought into sniffing certain poop piles and such. So far the prednisone is doing its thing, hopefully for a long, long time. At least as long as it takes for me to steel myself for the endgame. | ||
| 86129squids |
Hey- need a moderator to change up the thread title. "Gonna spoil My Critter", phleeze. No use in focusing on the negative. | ||
| Steeleagle |
Catching up with this thread WAY late, but I just finished having chemo treatments for my dog, Pheenix, diagnosed with at least stage 4 lymphoma this time last year. My girl is 9 years old and I, too had to weigh options about giving her quality of life while chancing a permanent cure. I opted to go with chemo. Total cost was around $3k, so NOT inexpensive. Cost was around $300 per treatment. FWIW the chemo had ZERO effect on her. I had to travel a couple hours each week for her treatments, and when we got home she was kind of lethargic, but I'm betting more from the stress of the trip than the chemo. Otherwise she was her normal self. She's an Afghan Hound, so lots of LONG hair. She lost none of it until AFTER the final treatment last October. Oddly now, she's lost her LONG hair, but not the short undercoat (so she's not bald...like me!). She is in 100% remission and goes back for monthly checks. Prednisone was also an option for her, but I opted to bring out the big guns. BTW: the chemo treatment they used is known as the CHOP therapy, where they attack the cancer with three different types of chemo. So far, so good for her, but we all know that cancer is an evil bitch, so for now I remain cautiously optimistic. Glad to hear the prednisone is working for your baby. I hate that my "kids" are around for so short of a time and we have to go through this kind of crap! | ||
| 86129squids |
Thanks for the input, buddy. Did you do any prednisone at all on the front end, or just go straight to chemo? What I've read is that if you opt for chemo you shouldn't start any prednisone, as that can make the cancer drug resistant. At this writing he's been on prednisone for a week. Also, if you would, describe the routine when you go in for the chemo. D'Ogee absolutely HATES going in to the vet, has to be muzzled and it took 3 grown women to hold him for tissue and blood samples- they didn't get enough tissue aspirated to do the sample, which I think would have been the cytology flow test. Given how badly it stresses him, I factored that into my decision against chemo- but I can't help but still wonder if I'm doing the right thing. So, any and all input is greatly appreciated. Sadly, this morning at 5am he had a bad seizure. We're used to them with our other dog, they're pretty routine but still sucky. Rocky gets them as a result of a severe head trauma years ago (he tried to jump into my lap from under our deck table, I was sitting too close, and he slammed his head into the underside of the table like a hammer blow. Seizures started a few months later.) When D'Ogee has one, it's just horrible. Of course he evacuates his bowels, then when he comes out of it, he's terrified. Given his diagnosis of lymphoma, the vet said it's possible he's developed a brain tumor. Possibly anywhere in his body too. Today, everything's normal. With your post above, Steel, you've got me thinking about chemo again. It'd be a hit financially, yes, but... ??? It's hellish just working all this through my mind and spirit. Friends, thank you all and keep posting. Everything I can take in here is a great help. Thanks. | ||
| 86129squids |
Hey Dennis- if you don't mind, PM me your # sometime. I've yet to speak with anyone but my vet about the chemo processes. I'd appreciate a chance to chat. | ||
| 86129squids |
Gonna throw this out there. Thinking about selling the BMW. I found zero listings on ebay, not sure where to look for classic BMW values. I've got it insured for 6K. I've not looked into the values worldwide, yet. Time is of the essence. We're a week into prednisone, which decreases the efficacy of chemo. WTF to do. I love to ride. I love my dogs. I'd weep to sell the BMW, I'd weep 1000 times more to lose D'Ogee. Of course he won't last forever, none of us will, nothing does. The BMW should last longer than most of us, if properly maintained. Dang. | ||
| Jaimec |
Try the Airhead BMW Club: https://www.airheads.org/ | ||
| Marksm |
Don't want to hijack the thread but Let you know you aren't alone. Don't sell the car. I know what you're feeling and it sucks. You want to save him but, in the end, they have much shorter lives than we do. It's really hard to let them go but is it fair to keep them just for us when they suffer. Sorry if that sounds uncaring. Believe me, it's not. May was our second dog. We lost the first one, Milo, to a car a month before we lost our Daughter. We got May the next month. May was, in essence, a service dog. She comforted us through the hardest time of our lives. Losing her to cancer was so pointless, She looked so healthy on the outside and it was only until she stopped keeping food down that we got worried. By then it was too late to do anything. Even if we did, we were told by several Vets that the cancer would come back. Her quality of life would not be good. So we had to make the decision to let her go. She was in pain but, as most dogs do, she wasn't about to show it. It's been 3 months since she crossed the bridge and we still miss her.  | ||
| Rick_a |
Our pups.  20200120_210933 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr From the top it's Pip, Moo, and Solo. Pip is rambunctious, Solo is soft and sweet, and Moo is...Moo.  | ||
| Steeleagle |
Squids: No prednisone prior to chemo for Pheenix. I didn't get any intel one way or another on what effect it might have if given first, while we waited for test results, etc. The chemo process was pretty straightforward. I'd drive to Indy with her and drop her off at the vet's office and go get some breakfast. By the time I was done with chow they were usually finished with any checks (checking blood chemistry to make sure all the component levels could tolerate the next chemo was done at every visit) and the treatments. Only one of the protocols required any longer term deliveries, maybe a couple of hours. One of the other two required her to be checked for progress and then they'd dispense the actual chemo capsule (packaged in a biohazard bag!!) for me to give orally at home over two days. That one was dispensed with extra meds in case it upset her digestive system, which never happened for Pheenix. She took them all like a trooper, with ZERO side effects. If she had any discomfort, her activity levels never showed it. She was always nervous when we went to the appointments, but what dog isn't? Pheenix was well known for routinely placing a nice, big stool sample on the lobby floor of the vet and kennel I use!! A little excitable, I'd say!! I'll get you a PM with info. Like I said, no guarantees, but fingers crossed current status holds. Here's my two goofballs. Pheenix is the black, Zammie is the blonde:  | ||
| 86129squids |
Update- Worked last night, had a call party come in, a really cool MD and his wife, both work in high end holistics and such. At the end of their dinner I mentioned what we're dealing with. Immediately they rattled off a couple of Japanese remedies I can't even pronounce, said they'd hook me up ASAP. Also, turmeric and high grade fish oil. Mark, firstly I must speak to you losing your daughter. In this life we live, that must be one of the most hellish things to happen to anyone. My deepest condolences. And, yes, I see your point. Whether I threw every last cent I have at the cancer or not, the outcome won't change. I was hoping/planning to try and beat back my debts, but this could throw a wrench in that quickly. Quality of life is the bottom line. I believe I'll hold the course with the prednisone, see what my MD friends have for me to start on him. Dennis, thanks for the input. So glad your pretty girl is doing so well. Afghans are beautiful animals, fo sho. Ever look into lure coursing them? Here's some B's... one day I hope to raise up a pup in this sport. | ||
| 86129squids |
Bump, and hey! Thanks for whomever made the title change. Means a lot to me. OK, time for an update. So far so good- tomorrow will be week 3 since the diagnosis. He's now taking fish oil, curcumin (turmeric), and 2 herbal supplements- ashwaganda, and immunikinoko. His lymph nodes under the chin have stayed shrunken since just after we started prednisone. Behavior is normal- he's a mooch pooch/chowhound, so giving all these pills is like a bonanza for him. Plus I work at a fine dining steakhouse, so there's always some top-notch prime beef or other proteins for treats. Upon learning the diagnosis, I fell hard into a pit of despair. At this writing it feels like my rational mind, emotions, and subconscious are beginning to firm up to face the future. Everything I read and heard said he'd last about a month without treatment, so I'm content with the treatment regimen we're following. Chemo would have been too traumatic for him and for my finances. I've rationalized that in the end, the money I don't spend on his chemo should go into the eventual search for our next buddy. although that's a difficult thought in the present moment. So, in all we're doing well, holding steady, day by day. Thank you all for your input and kind words/thoughts. Going forward I'll lean on folks, surely, to carry the weight. |
