SAYING GOODBYE TO JOY THE PUPPY

I apologize for my weekly updates on this past summer stretching to four weeks. I promise I’ve been trying my Dougest to keep up with this story.

Two weeks into the summer, Joy the Puppy passed away, and I am still very much not ok.

Knowing this day would come, I wrote about Joy in February of 2023…

JOY THE PUPPY ON FINCH DVM -

http://www.finchdvm.com/blog/2023/1/31/4r6b8iy2v0wd33lwnh0jpm03qevja3

Joy passed away Mother’s Day weekend of 2023 while I was living at Mom and Dad’s, a week after we gathered at Piedmont Park where Russ had brought us both so we could spend time together.

I missed her terribly living apart from her then, and I miss her now.

Russ was with me at Mom and Dad’s Mother’s Day. He went home in the morning to check on our oldest Blue and the pets.

Russ got home, and Doug and Periwinkle greeted him at the door. For the first time in his life, Doug did not have a toy in his mouth to show Russ. He instantly knew something was terribly wrong.

For the next two months, Doug would greet us at the door as always, but never with a toy in his mouth as he always had before.

On this morning, Doug led Russ to Joy. She was curled up on the middle of our bed. She had been placed on a life long furniture ban by her orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tan, so Russ had cut all the legs off our bed and nightstands months before. She had recently been placed on a stricter ban when even the small step up to and off of our bed became a fall risk. She was pissed as hell about that, though we made sure there were safe and fluffy floor-level places to be everywhere in the house.

One of my favorite things about Joy is that she always did what she wanted. The night before, our bedroom door had accidentally been left open. That Joy got up on the bed because no one was there to stop her still makes me happy. It brings me comfort to this day that she passed away in her very favorite spot, even though she was no longer allowed there without supervision.

When Russ reached her, Joy was curled up in the middle of our bed where she had fallen asleep. She had passed away sometime during the night.

Joy was well known for her large number of non-fatal illnesses. But we could tell she was getting tired. Her kidney disease was progressing. She had been hanging in there though. The night before she passed away, for the first time, she did not eat dinner, but she spent the evening on the deck with the kids. They said she stared at the stars and seemed content.

God I miss her.

TO MOM AND DAD’S

Russ brought me to Mom and Dad’s to continue recovering from my low iron levels. At this point we had the underlying cause mostly pinned - uterine fibroids. I was not absorbing my oral supplements, so I was scheduled for IV iron therapy. That slowed my decline, but I was still worsening.

I was not steady enough to do stairs, so Mom, Dad and Russ got me set up in the family room on the main floor.

Mom had broken her leg, so she could do stairs but was not supposed to without a spotter. We were a pair! And Dad was busy!

Dad would make us breakfast first thing in the morning - mine was one piece of toast and one scrambled egg with berries - amazing. I would finish by 2 pm every day. I was in such slow motion I was almost moving backwards!

YOU all - as you remember - were sending me the nicest and most encouraging words and life checks.

My Aunt Jeannine sent me a GORGEOUS flamingo blanket. I did not go anywhere without it for the entire summer.

Dad got me a book my cousin Roger - an amazing ER doc - recommended - How Not to Die. It is EXCELLENT - but in this scary stage of more unknowns than knowns, I realized the title was freaking me out. Russ made me a book cover - think seventh grade algebra - and when I could focus, I read through it a paragraph at a time. I was so ready to be healthy so I could get back on a health kick!

At the start of this I thought my fatigue was from not eating well so I was on like a one week health kick before I crashed. Now I am finally back to it! But at the time, I would eat my all day toast and read an all day paragraph and sleep between the excitement.

Cindy and Jaime and Dillon brought me ALL the snacks and meals. Ross sent me photos.

Kiersey - my amazing hairdresser - offered to come over to do my hair. At the time I could not sit up for an entire haircut, but I was so encouraged.

Michelle made me a flamingo paper chain! But that was later…I will show you pictures!

Stormy and her family sent me 60 - SIXTY!! - daily photos - one a day till I was well.

Dave Nelson and the kids and Cindy (again!) and the Jones family brought me flowers (and a llama!) Mom got me flamingo shoes. I felt so loved.

When I could, I would get my walker and make my way to Mom and Dad’s gorgeous deck over their gorgeous yard and sit with Oscar and Felix dogs.

It was so comforting to be with Mom and Dad, but I missed the family terribly. Russ brought Joy the Puppy to Piedmont Park to hang out with me - maybe my favorite half hour of this whole past summer.

I slept, and when I was awake, I rested.

BUT FIRST I GOT WORSE

In the beginning of May 2023, I was under the care of my new allergy team and my existing internal medicine team. I was set to start immunotherapy for my cat and dog allergies with our oldest, and scheduled with the internal medicine team to return for blood work including rechecks of my iron levels in 3 months. Except I was doing a bit of a nosedive in energy levels and strength, so I got my recheck moved up to As Soon As Possible.

I was home resting waiting on further medical care and taking iron supplements. I could not get out of bed without help and sure as <anything> could not do stairs.

The kids were both around and were (and are!) amazing, but could not be here every minute.

Against EVERYONE’S advice, including Abby’s, I insisted on helping Abby fold a load of laundry while we watched Ted Lasso.

I reached up to my top closet shelf to put a folded hoodie away - which I absolutely did not have the strength or steadiness to do - and knocked my favorite Christmas decoration down.

I keep one decoration out each year, and this year it had been a tiny glass tree Dr. Neubert had given me. I kept it on the top shelf because I could see it every day and it made me happy, but it was out of the way enough to be safe.

Except it wasn’t safe. Not when I was SO flat and had zero coordination. Normally I at least have Barely Enough Coordination to Adult. Usually that’s enough - I make it work. But this day, through a series of really poor choices on my part based not on reality but on what I wanted reality to still be - I had a beautiful little glass Christmas tree in hundreds of shards on my closet floor.

Too tired to even cry, I let Abby help me to bed and fell asleep while she cleaned everything and finished all the laundry.

The next day was worse.

I opened the closet and stepped squarely on an invisible piece of glass shard left from the day before.

I sat back down on the bed. I tried really hard to look at the bottom of my foot. I tried as hard as I had tried to pick up that Yorkie pup a few days before. But I just did not have the energy or strength to move my foot how I needed to.

So I put a towel under my foot, called Russ to ask him to come home as soon as possible and called Mom and Dad to tell them I was scared and sad, then fell asleep.

Russ and Travis were working at our friends the Helts’ house nearby - hovering to keep me safe I suspect - and were home in minutes.

Russ woke me up, took the glass out of my foot and patched me up, got me a walker (a walker dammit!) and moved me in to Mom and Dad’s house.

This was the beginning of the scariest part of my ordeal - I continued to decline - but also the best part of my ordeal. When life is the toughest, I need Mom and Dad, and they were right there for me - at the very beginning and through it all.

THE BEGINNING OF BETTER

For the past several years - I get sad when I try to think how many - 5 - 10 off and on - I have been TIRED. Not “life is busy” tired or “raising kids is exhausting” tired as I kept being told - and telling myself.

Like I love to write and walk the dogs and hang out in the evenings with Russ and the kids and just often could not. Like I love being busy and challenged at work, and a work day took everything I physically had.

For the past two years I have been telling myself I am getting used to a new job and busier schedule. But. This job is no longer new. And my work schedule - while busy and challenging - would not normally be exhausting, but invigorating and fun.

At the end of every day I had NOTHING left - often even by dinnertime. Russ has been making almost all our dinners for years. If I made it to dinner, I would crash afterwards and try harder the next day.

You can only try harder for so long till you end up back at the doctor begging for answers. My cat allergies were kicking my butt, I could not make it through a day without resting after every appointment, and I still was barely making it to dinner and through dinner.

In April 2023, I was diagnosed with low iron levels. An answer! I started iron supplements and was so relieved.

Only I got worse. I became more weak, more lethargic, less able to stay awake. And though I have not touched a cat in seven years, the cat allergies seemed to be trying to kill me.

In April 2023, we were working with the cutest three pound Yorkie who had just gotten through a health scare of her own. When Taylore stepped away for a minute and Puppy wanted to be held, I could not lift her. I tried really hard and just could not - it was if she were a Mastiff on the table, and honestly, on a good day, I can lift a Mastiff if need be.

I stubbornly plowed forward - The next day, Dr. Olson and Jordan lifted a Shepherd onto the exam table for me. I had no trouble with her procedure itself but remember telling Jordan I felt like I was trying to work in Jello.

That was my last day of work for three months.

JOY THE PUPPY’S ORTHOPEDIC ADVENTURES

In 2013, when Joy the Puppy was four years old, she had her first of two surgeries for a torn cruciate ligament.

Joy and Russ at The Lake the week we adopted her. If your partner is in veterinary medicine, know that when they ask you to help rehome a patient, you have just adopted a pet.

The surgery Joy had is called a TPLO, or tibial plate leveling osteotomy, meant to stabilize the knee after the cruciate ligament, the criss-cross ligament behind the kneecap, is no longer doing so. Joy’s first surgeon was Dr. David Merkley*, one of my favorite teachers and vets of all time.

(*Fun Merk Fact - When I was having trouble learning to tie a surgical knot in vet school, Dr. Merkley told me it was easy. I said, “You try it left handed!” He did and said, “Wow! This IS hard!” His one and only moment of humility I suspect! Dr. Merkley is the reason I love surgery.)

Joy excited to be spending time with her BFF Frank Parker when they used to volunteer at Camp Kindness at Nebraska Humane Society. Frank’s Mom Allison, also a dear friend and awesome veterinary technician, and I assisted Dr. Merkley with Joy’s first TPLO.

Joy is now thirteen years old. She has significant arthritis which was becoming life-limiting despite her very impressive list of medications, supplements and mobility aids. For the record, Joy is ok with meds in treats, but thinks stairs, ramps and wagons are all terrible.

Joy trying to steal my beer at our brother-in-law Shane’s concert.

Last month, Joy limped for a day. I mean beyond her usual stiff hobble. They she seemed to rally, and I thought the scare of a second cruciate tear was over, but we kept our appointment with Dr. Tan (whose name does NOT rhyme with Dr. Zann, so do not try to remember how to pronounce either of them correctly that way) because I wanted his take on how to better treat Joy’s arthritis.

Turns out, Joy’s right cruciate ligament was long gone, and when it actually happened, I missed it. I felt like a terrible vet and pet parent for missing in my own dog what I routinely diagnose in other dogs.

The story gets so much better from here.

Dr. Tan and the Sirius Orthopedic Veterinary Center team stabilized Joy’s knee with arthroscopic surgery and even did some work on her other knee.

Spotify play list created by one of Nebraska Humane Society’s awesome social media people on Joy’s first day of recovery. I love it so much.

Joy is doing AMAZING you guys. Her mobility and comfort are better than I can ever remember.

Another sweet thirteen year old patient is one week behind Joy in her post-op recovery, also after TPLO surgery with Dr. Tan, and it is so great to be able to say to her family that our old dogs are going to feel so much better so soon.

Whenever I write to or call the Sirius team, I try to remember to add “and hi to Emily.” Well, the awesomeness of their team has once again increased, if you can even believe that is possible. During Joy’s care at Sirius, I learned that another one of my favorite people, Nellie, has joined their team. As ecstatic as I am that Joy is thriving, this…this matches it. Love you Nellie and Emily. Thank you for being there for Joy.

Please note the beautiful straight margins of Joy’s surgical sites. This is thanks to the amazing talents of Nellie who must have remembered the time we took a benign mass off Joy and her coat took a YEAR to regrow! Thanks Friend. She will look beautiful as always for this next year of healing and hair regrowth!

We are so grateful to the entire Sirius team for Joy’s loving care. You all are the best of the best. You have brought Joy - and so our entire family - so much comfort.

And Dr. Tan, thank you for seeing our puppy in your exam room where our old dog was sleeping - for being willing to invest so much in such an old dog who is nowhere near done having adventures.

Joy the Puppy now.

Joy the Puppy then.

As soon as Russ and I decided YES this was the best next step, no matter the outcome, I knew I would not look back and wish she had not had surgery. But this, seeing Joy be such a terrible sport about strict rest when she wants to run and play, and seeing her so happy again, has been the absolute best post-op scenario I could have hoped for.

Joy thinks post-op strict rest is BULL-ony. If I would just move my leg, she could tear down the deck stairs and play with Doug Dog in the yard.

Soon Sweet Girl. You got this. This will be your best summer yet.

EMPATHS IN THE VETERINARY FIELD

Maybe Becky will remember…it was perhaps…10? years ago that my veterinary technician friend told me she is an empath and so am I. She said that is why we work so well together, and that is why patients’ situations affect us so deeply.

At the time, I knew she was on to something but could only think, “Is ‘empath’ a word? I know “empathy,” it is the word I confuse with “sympathy” and has to do with feelings.

So here we are a decade later. Thank you Becky for starting me on this journey. It has been literally lifesaving. Here is what I have learned so far -

SYMPATHY - feeling something for someone.

EMPATHY - taking on someone’s feelings as if they are your own.

HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON (HSP) - one who empathizes with others more than average.

EMPATH - one who is on the extra sensitive end of being a highly sensitive person.

“Empaths, HSP’s, I know this is too much for you. You are absorbing the collective, nauseating worry. This is your superpower. You feel the pain of others. You are strong enough to handle this. You are.” -Kimberly Stover

For the past few years, I have been working on letting go of others’ emotions that I have absorbed.

Recently, I have had to up my self care game as I am now in a (wonderful) situation with roughly twice the caseload I have EVER had. I could see from the start that I would not last much longer in this field that I love if I continued to take on the emotions and illnesses and pain of every patient and client and team member as if they were my own. I needed to figure out how not to live and die with every case and situation.

Being all in comes naturally to me. If I have met you and your pet, I am all in and always will be. However, letting go of emotions that are ours to share then yours to own and work through does not come naturally to me at all. Dare I say I suck at this. It has not been an easy skill to learn at all, and I am still only just beginning.

I know well that you do not need me to try to take on all of your pain then crash and burn and not be there for you the next time you need me. You need me to be there with you and for you, and then to let go. Not to stop caring, not to become unavailable, but not to try to walk through something for you that you need to walk through yourself. The next family and pet need this too. My family needs this. I need this.

“A lot of pain you’re carrying isn’t even yours to carry. You’ve picked up other people’s pain along your journey. If you’re an empathic soul, bless you, but you still need boundaries. Lighten your load by being able to know what belongs to you and what doesn’t.” -Nathan Allen Pirtle

As I continue to work on improving in this area, let me declare myself the opposite of an expert and just say that here are two resources I have recently found to be very helpful -

• The fun one - Thera-pets - a set of cards with super cute pictures and self care reminders by artist Kate Allen (@tlkateart on Twitter).

• The serious one - The Empath’s Survival Guide, Life Strategies for Sensitive People by Judith Orloff, MD (@JudithOrloffMD on Twitter).

Friends and family who are tougher than me, I cannot tell you how often your strength and wise perspectives have gotten me through. Sometimes I need someone to remind me that this too shall pass…or to eat a sandwich…or take a nap…or step back and take a breath. Thank you.

Friends who are also highly sensitive people and empaths, within and beyond the veterinary field, let’s lean on others around us with different ways of processing and also keep encouraging one another. I know that our biggest struggle may also be our greatest strength. I just have not figured all of it out yet. We’ve got this…or we will. Our wellbeing and very lives depend on it.

I feel as though we are closer to the answers than we may think. And for what it’s worth, I can always trust my feelings.

VETERINARY TECHNICIANS I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED

Happy Veterinary Technician Week 2021!

If you have had a pet whose life has been touched by a vet tech, you know they deserve everything good. Please take this week - and all the other times throughout the year - to overwhelm the vet techs in your life with kind words and all the snacks.

I have been blessed to work with over FIFTY veterinary technicians in my career so far. Here is a list of those vet techs and why I love them.

(All photos are in dog and cat vision which is similar to red-green color-blindness for us.)

……….

Rhorig Animal Hospital techs - helped me with my high school science paper, brought ice cream to the kennel kid (me) who got sad seeing sad cases.

Pet Clinic techs - took care of every little pet we brought in as kids then 18 years ago when I was a grown ass vet without a hospital in town yet, took care of Oliver Cat and then, this past summer when I found myself in the same situation, took care of Joy the Puppy.

Joy the Puppy

Panama City Animal Hospital tech - taught me all the weird conditions this Midwest vet-to-be knew nothing about like tick paralysis and flea anemia.

ISU ICU head tech Amy - taught me to draw blood in vet school and, as central to my entire career as that is, even a million times better, let us adopt the best cat in the world, the blood donor Max the Cat.

Max the Cat

Columbine Animal Hospital - Becky, Lori, Sara - walked a baby vet (me) through jumping right into ER medicine and 80 hour weeks.

Companion Animal Veterinary Hospital -

Shawna - the best friend from Day One, walked with me through raising newborns and toddlers (not in the job description).

Lesley - also a dear friend and kid raising helper.

Lesley and Ebony

Janeen - skilled and smart and wonderful to work with.

Laura - We learned the beginnings of conflict resolution together. I am sorry I started out so terrible at it and promise I still work really hard on it to this day.

Banfield at Oakview -

Jeni - compassionate and kind and a very strong leader.

Andrea - gets all the things done with excellence and skill.

Kim - great tech and friend. RIP. I miss you Friend <3

Sara - taught me what it looks like to deal with chronic pain and still kick ass years before I needed it.

Erika - the best friend through every life stage, I am unwilling to go through any further life stages without you.

Erika and baby Joy!

Carrie - sweet and skilled and excellent with people and pets.

I would invite all the kids, and Carrie and Erika would do all the hard work of tours!

Banfield in Papillion -

Mallory - great tech and friend and now Boy Mama.

Mallory demonstrating that kittens can be pocket pets if you believe hard enough.

Angela - great tech and friend and still, I feel, on the same wavelength. Almost talked me into my first tattoo.

Janna - awesome perspective on all the things, only person we leave our pet kids with IF we leave them at all!

Kaelea - great technician and artist. She made a beautiful Ernie Dog ornament for me for Mom <3

Cindy - driven and passionate, now a vet.

Banfield in North Omaha tech team - tough crowd, taught me to work with a rough and tumble clientele, and I loved it.

All Creatures tech team - have taken care of each of Amanda’s Bearded Dragons with skill and compassion.

Angus <3

GD -

Caleb - compassionate and principled, days are always better in the same room as you, one of the best friends I will ever have.

Kelly - so many things, among them, taught me to love complex dental work and to look forward to anesthesia and surgery knowing our patients were always in safe hands.

Allison - taught me all the things about friendship between a dog and a cat and a person and a person.

Frank and Allison and Joy and I volunteered every summer with Camp Kindness. Frank was Joy’s best friend <3

Shelly - tough and skilled and loyal. You are stuck with me forever.

Shelly recovering our ratty patient from anesthesia post-surgery.

Liel - awesome tech and person, also stuck with me.

Bri - great at all the things.

Jessi - there for me for the patients we got to work with together and for that last month and for that last minute. I will always be grateful.

Becky - always on the same wavelength, even now. We learned together how to turn our compassion and passion into on-the-ground grief care and hospice care.

Becky with a sweet Husky from Taysia Blue Rescue <3

Koni - perfect combination of sweet and tough.

Angie - taught me behind the scenes nuts and bolts.

Trey - willing to run complex cases with me and learn even more about exotic vet care with me. Held patients when they were scared.

I worked friends into my comic, “When I Grow Up I Want to be a Vet.” I feel I captured Trey’s hair well!

Erin - steady and incredible and a wonderful friend.

Brookie - passionate and amazing, I will always be trying to draw you back into medicine with my mind powers.

Brookie and Cash from Nebraska Humane Society after his bilateral luxating patella (unstable kneecaps) surgery with Dr. Merkley. They adopted each other about a minute later!

Amanda - gentle and wonderful, now using those skills to raise the sweetest family ever.

Jenny - organized and compassionate.

Jenny - strong leader always on the floor with the team.

Laura - fun and wonderful, still here when I need an encouraging word.

Rhea - amazing and insightful and a fiercely loyal friend.

Taylor - strong as f.

Adrienne - amazing tech and Mama.

Nellie - gonna be an awesome tech because of who you are.

Emma - also an awesome tech-to-be with all the people skills.

April - strong and determined and only becoming more amazing.

Carolyn - witty and skilled and fun to work with.

Mary - great and steady and compassionate, will most likely not punch you - that is a protective front.

Street Dogs -

Molly and Lexi and the team - amazing and efficient and very skilled. They serve Omaha’s homeless and near homeless community with grace and compassion.

Elizabeth - The only time we get together is non-Pandemic era vet meetings, but I love it.

Techs at all the specialty practices - It is not scary handing precious patients over because I know they are in your care.

Urgent Pet Care techs - saved Joy this past summer and countless patients over the years.

The sweet technician at Urgent Pet Care let us visit Joy while she recovered from pancreatitis.

VCA MidWest Vet techs - I am gonna skip right over all the lives they save and help (for now) and say these techs walked our family through 14 months of cancer care with Luna and still when I call remind me that they loved her and check on me. Thank you forever. Love you.

A wonderful technician at VCA MidWest Vet took pictures of Luna while she was hospitalized for urinary system complications.

Luna being cute again (still).

Omaha and Bellevue Whirlwind Summer Tour of 2021 -

Techs at ALL the places - took me right in like a part of their team though I was, as always, awkward AF in every possible situation, said things like “We are so glad you’re here” and “FINCH it’s you!” which made the whole scary thing wonderful.

Liz at Morgan Pet Clinic - got me a job offer remembering the one minute long ago we knew friends of friends in the field, picked up where we left off.

Twin Creek Animal Hospital -

Jordan, Tabi, Ashley, Liz, Sarah, Emily - You have made me feel like a part of the team from the minute I got here, kind and compassionate and wickedly adept, you make me remember every day with every patient and every surgery why I love this career so much. Thank you. If it were not so early, I would say I love you (which I do).

Sarah and one of the two newest Dreves pups!

HI AGAIN

The last few months of 2019, this became a place for me to process Luna’s journey with you, and when she passed, I needed time to heal In Real Life.

So much has happened. For you too I know.

I really missed you. I really missed writing. Thanks for circling back with me <3

Dougie on Vacation in Omaha

Joy the Puppy with her Teddy

Lucky at Lauritzen Gardens

LUNA'S LEGACY

photo and dandelion wreath by Abby

For his birthday, Russ started a foundation to help other dogs and their families with expensive medical treatment in Luna’s name called “Luna’s Legacy.”

Luna’s Legacy

“I was stuck. My grief didn’t reach a turning point until starting this,” Russ said. We are all still recovering from losing Luna, and having Joy sure helps. We are hoping Luna’s Legacy will also be helpful for us all…and save all the dogs! Or at least help a lot : )

Thank you all so much for your help with this. That has been healing and encouraging to us also. And we have such a great base to start helping all (a lot) of the dogs!

YOU FOUGHT WELL SMALL FRIEND

Luna passed away this morning. We are all grieving. I wouldn’t trade anything for the time we had with her, not even to not have to go through this.

Thank you for being with us through it all. Your support made the journey sweeter. It makes the sting less painful now.

You fought well small friend. Now rest, and we will see you again. Love you so much.

LUNA ATE NAAN!

For the past two days, Luna has been mostly lateral with a temperature between 102.8 and 104.2. She is dehydrated and icteric (yellow tinged) and vomited quite a bit yesterday.

Luna on a more playful day…

She has not eaten anything. She is not drinking.

Today I talked with Dr. Clemans who had me do blood work and a urinalysis.

Luna returned home and went back to sleep.

I arrived home at 8:00 pm tonight, and Russ had brought us Indian food <3

Luna looked up for the first time in a while, so of course I gave her some cheese naan. And she ate it you guys! After not eating dog food or hamburger or rice or egg, and after we bought Ensure as a last ditch effort to get her to ingest SOMETHING, she gobbled up the naan and drank for a long time.

Everything points to this being the beginning of the end, and I thought it was until just a few minutes ago when Luna ate naan.

A beautiful painting by Abby

STREET DOG COALITION OF OMAHA

Dr. Backlund asked, “Who wants to help serve the homeless and near homeless and their pets in Omaha?”

“Well…I do,” I said.

So we did.

Blue smiling, knowing we are going to give him more peanut butter

Today was my second day helping at the Omaha Street Dog Coalition, a branch of the national Street Dog Coalition at Sienna Francis House in downtown Omaha.

I showed up fifteen minutes early as I always (mean to) do. I was surrounded by about fifty men milling about, many of whom helped bring in supplies and asked how they could help me set up and get started. I asked a guy passing by how he was, and he said, “wonderful! I am so blessed!” Maybe Dr. Taplett is right. Maybe life does begin outside your comfort zone. Sometimes.

I saw a few dogs the first time and ten dogs today (including four puppies!) Dr. Dobson saved my life by seeing the one cat who came in with his person today.

Man-man was a champ for his exam and vaccines!

It was so much fun. I can’t wait until the next time.

ROUND THREE, TREATMENT ONE

Luna had her first dose of Tanovea today.

She is WIPED OUT.

Next dose is in three weeks, five doses total if she does well.

Good night Luna. Sweet dreams sweet girl.

THE CANCER IS BACK

Luna had a follow up ultrasound and spleen and liver biopsy with Dr. Clemans last week. The cancer is back. The lymphoma is in her spleen and now her liver too. The chemotherapy was not working.

We had a decision to make, and it took us almost a full week to make it.

Do we keep going?

We looked at our goofy, happy, playful, sassy dog and decided YES, we will keep going.

Are we crazy? YES.

Are we right? I DUNNO.

But we are comfortable with our decision.

Next - five IV injections of a fairly new cancer fighting medication called Tanovea. One injection every three weeks. If it does not work or Luna feels like crap, we will be done. Done done. This is it. But this could give us several more months with Luna. And for us, that is the best news we could hope for.

In the words of the great Dr. Sue, Cancer Vet, ”Already a statistics buster. Kick butt Luna!”

And so she shall.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

It is difficult to write about Luna right now because lately we have all been a little bit apprehensive.

But you have been with us through it all, and I don’t want you to miss this chapter just because it is a scary one.

Luna is still the dorky, goofy, fun dog she has always been. Right now she is demanding canned food from Russ. (Update: He caved.)

In December, Dr. Krapfl did an abdominal ultrasound on Luna and found irregularities in her spleen. He did a recheck ultrasound in January, and her spleen was even more abnormal. We did blood work, including a clotting profile (tests to make sure Luna is able to stop bleeding in a normal amount of time), to assure the next procedure would be as safe as possible.

Dr. Clemans did an aspirate (small sampling of cells) of her spleen.

The cancer is back.

Luna doesn’t know. Please don’t tell her!

We restarted chemotherapy last Wednesday. Her next dose is tomorrow.

Luna is also on Lasix.

“Why Lasix?” I asked Julie at VCA MidWest Vet. “I don’t know,” she said. “I will find out.”

The purpose of the Lasix is to prevent hemorrhagic cystitis - bleeding into the urinary bladder. It is new since we did chemotherapy last time, and Dr. Clemans has added it to her protocol.

I hung up with Julie and yelled at Russ, “Dr. Clemans is practicing cutting edge medicine! CUTTING EDGE!” After a few minutes, he said, “so…cutting edge, huh?” and went back to reading. He was, I am sure, quietly impressed.

Between Dr. Krapfl and Kelly and everyone at Gentle Doctor and Dr. Clemans and her team at VCA MidWest Vet, and all of you praying and cheering her on…this little dog has a great team surrounding her. Beautiful things are bound to continue happening.

A FELIX AND OSCAR CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas!

Amanda: I thought some of your pictures would have people in them.

me: They do!

Visions of chewy bones…

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night <3