Five Rounds Down, One To Go!

We have set up a GoFundMe for Dino's veterinary expenses, and we're a little over halfway to our goal! We are still accepting donations, so please consider helping us out.

Hi everyone,

October already! Amazing how fast time has gone. Dino started chemo 12.5 weeks ago, and had his amputation 14.5 weeks ago. And only one more round of chemo to go!

Dino is doing amazing. His back leg is getting stronger every day, and he is so excited to do all of his favourite things like hiking, swimming, visiting friends, and chasing the ball. We are so proud of him.

At his most recent chemo appointment we continued with giving Dino preventative nausea drugs and that helped a lot with the sickness caused by the anaesthetic. The new chemo drug, carboplatin, also seems to cause lesser side effects for Dino than the first drug (doxorubicin). So we're very happy that Dino is able to be back to his excited happy self a little faster with this new drug.

In my last post I reported that Dino was experiencing some hair loss. It seems to have been caused by the first chemo drug, because it has been slowly growing back since we switched to the new drug. Interestingly, it is growing back in much darker in colour. I was reading up on this, and "chemo hair" is common even in humans - a lot of people who lose hair during chemo report that it grows back wavier or curlier and sometimes darker than it was before. Dino seems to be experiencing this! I have a pair of photos below showing the difference on his snout from just three months ago at the end of June, compared to a couple of days ago.

The chemo and amputation have definitely aged Dino, and he looks a bit different now, but his big personality and love of life continue to shine on through. We are so incredibly proud of Dino and we are in awe of how strong he is.

Dino has his final chemotherapy appointment this week. We are really looking forward to being done with the chemo appointments. He will also have an X-ray that day to check for tumours in his lungs, and we will meet with the oncologist to see what the next steps are. We won't get a definitive answer as to whether the cancer is "gone" or not, but we will continue to monitor Dino's lungs for tumours with X-rays every 3-4 months going forward. We are very hopeful that we caught this early enough and Dino will go on to live a long, cancer-free life.

That's all for now - I'll be sure to post a video of Dino with us ringing the bell to mark his end of treatment later this week, followed by a longer post the following week.

As always, thanks for your support and thanks for being here. It really means a lot to us that people are following Dino's journey and sharing kind words of encouragement.

Lots of love,

Megan, Ben, and Dino

Dino's snout colouration before and after chemo. Left: June 27, 2024 (first time we met the oncologist!), Right: Oct 3, 2024. The darker brown grew where the white had previously fallen out due to chemo. Dino also had additional brown spots on his chest, legs, and abdomen where hair thinned/fell out.

Spending time with our new friend Fozzie at friend Chris's house. Also playing guard dog at Chris's house.

A photo of Dino layong on the couch with his chest, stomach, and stump facing up. He looks playful.

Waiting to check-in for chemo round five, enjoying some well-deserved treats after chemo (old fashioned plain TimBits), and resting in the office while I work when the chemo made Dino feel sick.