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,
Thanks for your patience between posts. This whole process really caught up with me this month and I needed to take a break from almost everything to recover. It has been a really difficult summer.
But I am very happy to say that Dino is doing great! We've done two more rounds of chemo since my last post, and while we are seeing some side effects, Dino is handling it like a champ. We are so proud of him.
His third round of chemo was with the same drug as before, doxorubicin, and he handled it well. What we have noticed is that the anaesthetic makes him quite sick. So the actual day of chemo is hard, with all of the driving and the anaesthetic. The next morning is hard too, because Dino feels quite nauseous. He usually gets one day of feeling good before the chemo side effects start, and then he is sick for another two days or so before feeling good again.
And when he is feeling good - wow! He is living life to the fullest. He is now steady enough on three legs to chase squirrels and rabbits again, and we are so impressed with how fast he is. He is playing with his toys and loves going on adventures with us. Last week we even took him to the climbing gym for a dog night and he met many human and canine friends.
My mom and grandma visited last week and it was a huge help to have them here. Dino enjoyed every second of it, mooching food and getting near-constant pets. We took Dino to the lake during their visit, and we picked up a life jacket for him. Dino loves to swim, so it was great to see him in the water again. He didn't love trying on life jackets in the store, but I think once he realised what the life jacket did in the water, he was very excited about it.
This Thursday Dino had his fourth chemo treatment. Our friend Sarah came with us, and Dino was happy to have her there. I was relieved to have a friend for support because Dino was also getting an X-ray to see if the cancer has spread at all. Spread of this type of cancer would be detectable as tumours in the lungs. We were very relieved to hear that Dino's X-ray came back clear, and as far as they can tell, the cancer is not spreading!! We are so happy. Dino will continue to have X-rays with his chemo treatments, and after he is done chemo he will have X-rays every 4 months or so going forward.
We decided to give Dino some preventative nausea meds to help with the anaesthetic this time, and that seems to have really helped. He cried a lot on the ride home, but nowhere near as much as the last appointments.
They also changed the cancer drug at this last appointment from doxorubicin, which he had for the first three treatments, to carboplatin, which he will get for two more treatments before finishing. We are really hopeful that he handles this drug as well as he did the first one.
We have noticed Dino is experiencing some hair loss. My floors have never been hairier (I am glad I have a robo-vacuum!), but you can't really tell over his body that there is hair loss, except for around his eyes. The hair there is fine, and we see that he is losing hair around his eyes and near his eye brows. I mentioned this to the vet tech at our last appointment and when I said "We think he is experiencing some hair loss" she immediately said "Around his eyes?" so she could see it too. Hopefully he doesn't lose too much more.
We have two chemo treatments left, ending in mid-October. We'll have to visit the local vet for blood draws in the off-weeks between now and then, but at least I don't have to drive too far for that. Leaving the house at 6 am is getting old quickly. haha
I'll leave you all with some photos of the big guy from August, and I'll try to post again soon. No promises though - I am so very tired.
-Megan, Ben, & Dino
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