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kjw

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Posts posted by kjw

  1. Greysmom, Mark did bring this up during his first chemo so I set up an appointment for Wednesday morning at 8:40am with my own vet here in town. We'll leave at 9:30am if all is well and be there in time for his 4pm chemo appointment. I'm also bringing one of my other greyhounds who has a weird thing going on in her neck, I want to see what they think. We'll stay over one night and then head back Thursday. I'm the only one I know who has getaways with her dogs lol.

     

    The reason we're doing such a late day appointment is that I'm following a chronotherapy protocol that suggests carboplatin chemo is best given between 4pm and 6pm, this is when it is least toxic and most effective. Chronotherapy is a European thing, but I figure, what the heck, it can't hurt!

  2. Thanks for posting the press release - I've was in touch with both Adavaxis and Aratana last month begging to get the protocol, but both said they couldn't do that, and that we'd have to wait until it's licensed. They promised to let me know when it was available.

     

    Gabe is doing really well. His incision has healed, he is finished with most of his drugs and I started this week letting him out with the others, as he made it clear he can take care of himself. It's still a bit nerve wracking to watch him barrel down the ramp with a group of greyhounds, but he's managing as if he still had his leg. Everything has gone very smoothly indeed.

     

    We go down to Metzger's in PA for our 2nd carbo treatment on Wednesday. I don't know if they'll do rads of his lungs at that time or what. I'm almost afraid to get them.

  3. We are doing ok here. Gabe had some trouble with spiking temps but that's stopped now. He does still have some fluid oozing, and apparently he keeps trying to get up, which is not always successful. I suspect he doesn't like the kennel, but today the updates have been much better, and he seems to have turned a bit of a corner. He is eating and going for walks. There is bruising. I checked with Dr. Couto about doing his chemo on Thursday before I pick him up, and he thought that would be fine so long as they have the path report in. We will likely stay somewhere in PA Thursday night, maybe in Bradford, and then we can get on the road early and over the border before the traffic gets crazy for Memorial day weekend. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly!

  4. Thanks for all the good thoughts for Gabe. He has not eaten yet, but he's been up and passed urine a few times, so that's a good thing. The bleeding appears to have mostly stopped. They did a smear to check and make sure nothing weird was going on with the platelets, but the tech I talked to could not find the results for me. Hemocrit is "ok" hopefully up from 35 which it was after the surgery. No food yet but it's not been 24 hours since the 2nd procedure; hopefully tomorrow he'll chow down a bit.

  5. Ok we will play I by ear and see how he does...they have agreed to feed him raw which is amazing...picked up some packaged meat for him. There are no slick floors at Camp Greyhound as we have matts everywhere for seniors. Goin to try to get the ramp replaced while he's gone, it's past time. I get one more visit in the morning before I go home so hopefully I will be able to get him to eat. Mayb not, his surgery was just finished today around 2pm so he might not eat for a while yet. He did have a little walk.

  6. They are almost done, just suturing now. He did well with no excessive bleeding...he had GCs's protocol for that. Trying to figure out how long he should stay away from the thundering herd at my place...a week, or would 2be best? Seems like a long time. What do you guys think?

  7. To update, Gabe and I are at Metzger's. He had his FNA yesterday and OS was confirmed. He will be having his surgery this morning and staying until next Friday. We will likely be doing Carbo as per Guillermo's recommendation, every two or 3 weeks I think. I am trying to keep busy and not worry.

  8. What a great experience to have! You never know what's going to happen when you go out the door, do you?

     

    Gabe and are are preparing for our trip to PA tomorrow. By 2pm we should know for sure what kind of cancer he has, and I will have a decision to make about treatment. I very much appreciate the feedback I received here, it made me a lot more confident that I know what to do should Gabe have OS.

  9. I'm still not sure what the best possible diagnosis is between those two, I'm told hemangio - there would be no amp with that.

     

    I think it might be possible to keep this pup down at Metzgers, at least for the first week, maybe I should ask for 10 days. That might be the best solution, then he could come home when he's not so fragile. Apart from the other hounds, the house is pretty amp friendly, as I collect seniors.

  10. I appreciate all the wisdom you are sharing through the pain. It's helping a lot of people!

     

    I have a possible OS diagnosis for one of my furkids, it is either osteo or hemagio, we have to do an FNA to find out which. I will be travelling 6 hours for the FNA, and if OS is the diagnosis, I'm going to have to make a fast decision about treatment. My biggest concern right now if we do an amp is the environment in our home. I have 6 greyhounds of my own, and I'm coming up on the busy season for Camp Greyhound. I have concerns about this boy getting bumped around. He is 10.5, and the tumor is at the proximal tibia on the back leg. I could crate him of course, but I wouldn't want to in the long term. Will he learn to deal with the thundering herd, or am I nuts to be considering this?

  11. A light has truly gone out with the passing of Rickie.

     

    He was one of a very few honorary greyhounds at Camp Greyhound, and he'll not ever be forgotten. His antics often kept me in stitches, and he was not here long before I knew how he'd earned those nicknames of his. Several SSGG members fought over the honor of watching him at our very first annual picnic years ago. Those who received the honor never forgot their time with him.

     

    Both Michelle and I wish Rickie godspeed to his new kingdom at the bridge, where I have no doubt he will continue with his entitled role, lording it over our many angels, including your beautiful girlie Arlie while enjoying his reunion with your Dad.

     

    My heart goes out to you both during this sad time. You gave him a wonderful life, and he knew he was truly loved. Remember that in the coming days.

     

    Run free Rickie.

  12. For hounds who don't recall to the squawker, or if they lose interest, you can use that very high reward treat to pique their interest. Worked really well here on my Houdini dog, Bailey. And yes, intermittently rewarding when they come to you is most effective.

     

    Luckily my Houdini is now almost 13, and he seems to have lost interest in going on adventures.

  13. When I got my first greyhound I lived in Toronto. I went to a greyhound hour at Norwood ( I believe it was Sundays at 12, no idea if its still then or if its still held or not) it is a public dog park so we could not prevent any other dog from entering but most of other dog owners were aware the greyhounds came then and would wait until we were finished. The group got so large though and the space is relatively small and add to that a couple local residents that felt it unfair the greyhounds were there in their local park I felt it became too unsafe to bring my dogs.

    After that I started to make the drive up to the simcoe group and couldn't have been happier. Its a bit of a drive but worth it for a wonderful well organized and run group. Its members are great people and its so much safer for the dogs. I highly recommended you take the drive even just once to check it out.

    I now live in the burbs and have a large yard and a toddler ( and baby on the way) so I very rarely can make it up there anymore but I miss the group a lot and really wish I could go more often.

     

    We miss you and Wally and Corinna too! Thanks for the wonderful endorsement, we've worked hard at making the group a safe and happy experience for everyone.

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