August was just kind of a blur. And I’m not sure if it’s because so much went on or it was just one of those non-event months. Raven went onto oral chemotherapy tablets that I could administer. Not many lymphoma dogs had been on this treatment because A. No more than ten dogs had reached this point of treatment (ie three chemo treatment rounds, bone marrow transplant, Lomustine) and B. It only had an extensive record of impact on soft tissue cancers. But there has been some evidence to suggest that it should work similarly on lymphoma as it should work on soft tissue cancer. So we were given 10mg capsules of Cyclophosphamide (complete with rubber gloves to give) plus an anti-inflammatory known as Piroxicam.
I remember emailing a friend around the beginning of August – just giving an update on how Raven was going. Her nodes were, by this stage extremely large – nearly baseball sized and they were clearly affecting her breathing and swallowing. Nothing distressing for her – just you could hear her when she was sleeping and sometimes when lying down awake she would be making this snuffling sound, like she had some sort of respiratory virus that made her breaths sound loud.
She was sticking to a very plain diet too as I really did not want any more stomach upsets. She’d like to come for a walk with us – but she didn’t really want to go too far, she seemed a little surprised at times about how quickly she got tired. But she didn’t want to miss her walks. Despite feeding her as many tidbits and treats from our plates she also didn’t put any weight on and I noticed that she was starting to feel pretty bony across the top of her spine. Yet the scales didn’t show much difference and this is because of the nodes I think.
Around mid August we had another Vet West visit. Raven had been doing okay apart from the weekend of the 15th and 16th. Friday evening she had a series of vomit incidences - nothing more than a small puddle of yellow bile each time but about five upchuck sessions in close succession. I held off on giving her both the cyclophosphamide and the piroxicam that evening. Saturday she seemed fine and well so gave her her usual dinner plus the chemo and anti inflamm. Sunday after lunchtime - around 4 ish she seemed quite unwell - I took her temp and she was 40.5 - took her down to Vet West and saw Cirsten who gave her clavulox injection subcutaneously plus put a catheter in to give her IV dose of cephalexin. She went on clavulox tablets and responded well - they took her bloods and her WBCs were at 18 with neutrophils at 16 - Cirsten said her RBCs were just under normal but her gum colour came good soon after arriving at the vet.
She seemed fine after that trip - her temp went down pretty quickly and he (Cirsten) was thinking it's not chemo med or lymphoma related - just a gut infection of some sort perhaps. He did palpate her abdomen and noticed that she was a bit sore in there but he said the cyclophosphamide could cause that to happen. Of course at this stage you would be checking her abdomen for signs of enlarged liver or any suspicious lumps that could be lymphoma related.
In the last week of August, after I was convinced that she wasn’t having any stomach troubles again and she’d finished her course of Clavulox tablets I started her back on the cyclophosphamide and the piroxicam.
I booked in to see Amy for Raven on the Monday – just for a physical check up and also to discuss changing over her meds. That same day – in a bid to get the most out of my visit to the Osborne Park clinic on the other side of Perth I booked Spryte in for an ultrasound as she was just over four weeks by then and we didn’t have a clue, apart from a slight suspicion that she was looking a little thicker round the middle, about whether or not she was pregnant.
So we saw Amy first and really there wasn’t a lot to say. She felt Raven and did say that she thought her liver felt larger than usual. We changed from the Piroxicam to the Prednisolone and I took another bottle of cyclophosphamide tablets. Raven looked okay then – had blood taken again to check for indicators of abdominal lymphoma (the bloodwork showed signs of lymphoma involvement) and she seemed as well as could be expected. As Amy said – they really had no more rabbits to pull out of the hat when it came to slowing this disease down. I remember just feeling really blank at that stage, like I was some detached observer, dully going through the motions. She wasn’t going to beat this disease and we had done literally everything we could do.
I left Raven with the Oncology staff as I walked Spryte through for her ultrasound. If ever there was a day I was feeling a little bipolar in the way my emotions were rolling through me this was it. Because there on the table, in this darkened ultrasound imaging room, with nurses gathered round I watched the monitor as Nola found 7 little heartbeats thrumming away inside of Spryte’s little tummy. Yet there out the back was the canine love of my life sitting waiting for me with this disease inside her that we could no longer beat back. The world is just a strange place sometimes.
We got some hard copy images of the little Sprytelets and I was happy to email Robyn that good news. In the meantime I tried to get Raven back on her meds properly so we could start the prednisolone.
I guess the only other newsworthy mention of this month is that I’ve joined up for softball again and started training. This will be my second season and I’m looking forward to it. Managed to pick up the batting award for last season (how I really don’t know but I am assured that it is done on stats only from the games you’ve played) so that was cool. I guess my main weakness in this sport is accurate throwing. I have a tendency to overthrow a lot. Then when I try to not over throw the balls go short....it’s all still a bit of a mystery to me but I do like batting. A lot. Got myself a bat and everything. Nothing quite as satisfying at the end of a teaching day, as to go out and whack some balls as hard as I can. Make of that what you will. *g*
Sunday, August 30, 2009
August - Just a blur
Friday, May 11, 2007
My Worst Nightmare
Raven’s Journey with Lymphoma
Monday May 7th 2007
We flew back from
I had not been without some concern though the last couple of days. On Saturday or Friday morning I had spoken to a friend about some lumps on her neck, wondering if it was the lymph nodes. As there were no other enlarged nodes we put it down to her recent pyoderma on her tail which had been quite big and required her to be on a course of antibiotics which had finished just under a week ago. Nothing else about her told me she was ill. She still had her usual voracious appetite, was drinking well and toileting was normal.
By Sunday when I spoke to another vet about her, this was at lunchtime and she seemed a bit more tired than was normal for her, Penny told me all her lymph nodes were now enlarged (I could feel them myself with her help – her neck ones, chest ones, armpit ones and rear thigh ones were all enlarged). Raven had one more run to do that day – the finals Master Agility run and Penny advised me to make sure I saw a vet as soon after as I could. When we got on that start line I was just very grateful to be there and so proud of my little Raven with the shaved tail, it didn’t matter what we did, I just hoped she was ok. She ran well and she ran clean, but I knew she was not running at her usual speed, some things you can just feel. Regardless the smile and feeling that came from finishing that run is simply beyond description, but definitely a once in a life time feeling. We arrived at
Tuesday May 8th 2007
I drove Raven into Applecross for around 8.30am and spoke to Brendon again just mentioning about the cracked molar at the back of her mouth and whether that should come out and what things they would do while she was under. He basically told me they would take two samples of the nodes for histopathology and draw blood to get the full work up. I also indicated to them that they should feel free to do a chest x ray as I had noticed that when I went to pick her up once she yelped slightly when I placed my hand under her ribcage to lift her. I also asked that her teeth be cleaned as well. At 2.30pm I went back and picked her up. Her x ray had shown nothing, and the blood tests would be back that afternoon but that we would not hear about the biopsy results till Friday. Raven had her neck partially shaved in the throat area and her right thigh at the back was shaved. She received three stitches in each where they had taken some samples. Other than being a little unsteady on her feet she was fine plus her teeth were nice and clean. Brendon’s gut instinct was still telling him strongly that it was Lymphoma. I went home and started to browse the internet reading as much as I could.
6.45pm that night Brendon rang back with the blood results, elevated white blood cell count and low red blood cell count was detected but all other levels normal. This is typical of Lymphoma and again there was nothing to do now except wait.
Cost so far: $740.00
Wednesday May 9th
I made concrete steps towards changing Raven over to a BARF diet, purchasing a variety of veges and some good quality chicken mince I made up a mash of the vegetables, cooked the chicken mince up and served Raven a dinner of vegetable mash, chicken mince, yogurt, omegamagic, sasha’s blend and a small amount of Advance Chicken kibble. I plan on reading up on this more and slowly changing her diet over. I had planned on doing this anyway when I got back from
Thursday May 10th
Still no results and still no discernible changes in Raven’s condition, she still eats well, drinks well and toilets well, Is feeling her usual self, enough to bark at the birds and knocks at the door, still feels the need to boss Spryte and assert her position as top dog. Wants to go out the back yard and do stuff, except for that damn lymph nodes she looks to be as normal as ever!
Friday May 11th
This day will be forever etched into my memory and for no good reason. Steve Metcalfe of Applecross vet rang Tim at home (I was at work with my
2.30pm rolled around and we left then in case we had any traffic or any forms to fill in. They had Raven on their records from the dermatological consults so they didn’t need any more updates other than her current weight.
Just after 3pm Ken Wyatt came in along with 3 final year vet students and showed us to the Oncology consult room. First thing he asked for was a report on how I first noticed anything was wrong. I went through the above story with him. Explained that Penny the other vet friend at the Nationals had asked how many more runs she needed to do, at that stage it was the finals run. He even asked how she did! I guess more so he could hear that I felt our run was not our usual speedy manic runs, and that she had felt slow to me. He asked if I was good friends with Ann (a senior nurse at MUVH who also was at the Nationals) and that she’d had a word with him about Raven’s performance life. Our consult lasted over an hour during which he thoroughly checked her out, palpated her liver and spleen and declared that there were no abnormal enlargements of those organs. For that I was very relieved. He noted that one of the very excellent aspects in this case was the simple fact that Raven was not sick or symptomatic in any way which meant it had been caught early. He stated that even a month ago there would probably have been no discernable way of diagnosing the cancer and that it may have been there for between 1 and 2 years without any effects. Even testing blood a month ago would not have shown anything. He talked at length about the different types of lymphoma and their results with treatment and about how we go about determining how far the cancer had progressed and so on. There was much to take in and I only started to take notes when he started to talk about treatment options. He was in general very optimistic, he told us that most of his positive results eventuate from dogs that are presented to him still well and Raven is indeed healthy apart from the enlarged lymph nodes and slight tiredness. When he asked how Raven had gone at that last run I explained that she had done well with a 2nd place but certainly felt slower. He smiled and said that it was a good indicator of her ‘heart’ for life which bodes well for a good response to treatment.
He placed the numbers 1 to 5 on the whiteboard on a vertical line. He told us about 5 first. This is Prednisolone which is basically a palliative care protocol for dogs who already are sick and for whom recovery is not expected. We crossed this option off straight away. He then went to option number 2. This was called the CHOP protocol by him initially however he also said it was a modified version of the Madison Wisconsin protocol. The C stands for cyclophosphamide, the H stands for Doxorubicin (adriamycin or Doxorubicin Hydrochloride), the O stands for Oncovin or Vincristine and the P stands for Prednisone (the reason why it is modified is because we won’t be using the Prednisone). This protocol was the one they had used the most on these types of lymphomas and the one which they had experienced the most success rate with in terms of placing patients into remission. Initially the treatment went for 3 years it now goes for 19 weeks. It has a 1 in 6 cure rate and extended patients lives on average 17 months. He reminded us that the average number can be deceptive and to remember that half experience longer life expectancy and half experienced lesser life expectancy. The protocol involved 16 visits over 19 weeks. Once a week treatments for four weeks in a row then two weeks off. Approximate cost barring any complications (ie reactions to the drugs) around $5,500.
He then went into Option 3.This treatment was less expensive, did not have a cure rate and only involved 1 visit every 3 weeks and simply used the Adriamycin in high doses. Expected extension of life expectancy 6 to 12 months.
Option 4 was next, it was no set protocol, it used oral agents, once a month visits while you waited, and used Lomustin and Cyclophosphamide and basically you told him your budget and he would work out the most effective treatment with the funds you gave him.
Option 1 was left till the end. Ken said that it was the least used option and I never asked him why that was (the reasons could be two fold – cost plus prognosis of success for patients presenting as symptomatic) I will ask him next time though. The cost of this was somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars. The protocol starts off exactly the same as Option two for the first 8 weeks and then they take 160ml of the patients bone marrow. Next they give the patient a marrow destroying dose of the Cyclophosphamide that does destroy the rest of the marrow and therefore the cancer cells, then after a couple of blood transfusions the patients bone marrow is re-inserted and with a bit of luck the patient is cancer free. The cure rate for this is 2 in 6. And life extension expectancy is longer. It is a much bigger deal in terms of the patients recuperation and hospital visits and to me it sounds like a much more invasive protocol. But I like that cure rate! I believe that it is effected though by the marrow results initially to see if the marrow is clear. There would be no point in harvesting cancer ridden marrow and reinserting that back!
Tim and I don’t know which one to do yet (1 or 2). However she will start on Option 2 on Monday, as well as have a marrow test done to see if the cancer cells are present there yet. There is much to read and discuss and no doubt by Monday I will have another whole raft of questions for Ken. I am writing everything down, it helps me keep rational as well helps me feel like I am being proactive rather than passive in her treatment and care. If I think about it long term I get teary very easily but I think for now I will focus on her positive points for the treatment and enjoy every second of every day that I am with her. I’m wondering if I can somehow take her to work with me between treatment days. We will go to the trial on Sunday, Cypher and I will have a bash at a few courses and Raven will have fun barking her head off at him and revelling in the sympathy attention she will be accruing no doubt. She is healthy and happy within herself so I couldn’t deny her the opportunity.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Your Quarterly update (looks shamefaced...briefly)
Hmmm. September 21st was the last update. That’s over three months ago now. There’s an awful lot of news to update on. My brain hurts just thinking about it all. I’d love to just give a dot point list but I just know that my particular brand of OCD runs to actually writing way more than I have to once I get started. So bear with me.
Next event up after September 21st was probably the Royal which took place from the 27th through to the 6th of October. Unfortunately there was a touch of bad news in between the Sept 21st update and the Royal. Thursday the 25th of September. Lying on my bed reading a book and Raven jumps up for a brief pat (Raven never likes too much physical attention so the pats are always brief or you receive that disdainful look of ‘I am only tolerating this now because you somehow manage to feed me everyday’) and as usual, my automatic response is to check for her nodes. My stomach dropped immediately when I felt two pea sized nodes that were not there previously. An hour later I’m with her at Murdoch and seeing Dr Amy Lane with what I am sure is a rather depressingly pissed off expression on my face telling her that I think her nodes are up. Amy can feel them too and asks if I want to leave it for a week or two and see if it’s just an infection. At this point I think a blithely fatalistic attitude comes over me and I shake my head, tell her that she should take a fine needle aspirate now and I’d like to stay for the results. So off Raven goes and within a half hour or so Amy comes back to confirm what I already knew really but still had that silly tiny persistent hope that maybe it was something else. The lymphoma was back the bone marrow transplant had not worked and now there really was no hope for a cure at all. Raven was a little confused in the car on the way home, on the one hand she hadn’t been left there for treatment but on the other her human was making some weird noises with some salty wet stuff running down her face, she gave me one of her rare displays of affection with a lick on the cheek that made me smile even whilst I raged at the unfairness of it all.
I had an appointment with Ken the following week, Amy had made it clear that nothing needed to be done urgently and to go home and start thinking about what we were going to do next.
In the meantime the Royal arrived and we competed as per usual. Cypher had a good Royal this year, the team he was in winning both the Agility and the Jumping teams events (Hurrahs all round for Karen and Riot, Kriszty with Jess and Terra!) and putting in a nice run in Masters Agility ending up in 4th place. Raven had her usual blast with the spectators and put in some nice runs with just one or two faults in each. I wasn’t fussed I just wanted to see her have a good time because of course being so close on the heels of the return of the lymphoma I had all these morbid thoughts that it could quite well be her last Royal show ever. So shoving that aside she managed to have a lot of fun, especially on the course with two dog walks and helped keep the spectators entertained. Spryte? Well Spryte had her first Royal and thoroughly enjoyed herself albeit with some very baby dog mistakes on courses. She did a ripper Novice Jumping run but knocked two bars, Novice Agility she missed the weaver entry and in the Open runs I think she had issues with some contacts and maybe the distance challenges. She wasn’t fazed by the atmosphere at all though and continued to show me that she does still have a few more gears to go through in terms of speed. She also got to have her first go in the show ring on the Wednesday and handled it all very well even without any show clothes on since the bath the night before was apparently her cue to drop all of her coat. She’s on the small side as it is, having no coat certainly didn’t help her chances! But she moved very nicely and was solid as a rock with the judge going over her so no complaints from me.
After the Royal we moved into the last couple months of the trialling season. In terms of Raven I met with Ken in the second week of the school holidays and he examined her and basically said that we should leave her be for now, she is still a well and healthy dog, the nodes, whilst up were still small (pea sized really) and that we should try and delay treatment for when she is really starting to feel the effects of the lymphoma. Me, being slightly paranoid about it all, was concerned that I’d delay too long and one morning wake up with a sick dog on my hands. Ken felt fairly safe in assuring me that due to her previous history whereby I tend to notice other signs prior to her feeling really unwell that it would be the right move to carry on the way we were and to just monitor her for any changes which thanks to the fact that she does agility I would more than likely pick up on due to her behaviour there. Raven is feeling unwell when she slows down on course, holds her start lines and contacts and keeps all her bars up oddly enough. Ken also said the longer she goes without the chemo (since the last dose) the more likely the chemo treatment will be effective. So we tried to last as long as possible and I checked her nodes everyday.
After the Royal was a couple of trials one held by Perth and a double header held by Rockingham. Perth was some expensive training runs for us I think. Cy had bar issues as did Raven and Spryte had multiple issues of which I, being the diligent trainer I am of late *lol*, of course made a list of to remember to work on. However we did have a good Rockingham trial – Raven actually won a very tricky Masters course which felt all very excellent except I finished the course with her with this vague sense of her actually having done most of it without me, she was that far in front of me it was as though she was reading numbers by herself! Spryte also pulled off an Excellent Agility win and I got to run Kriszty’s Terra in Open Agility for a win as well. So it was a successful day all round with Cypher also picking up a couple of cards and placements. ACWA’s trial was also in the month of October but we didn’t have any joy there and was notable for me for one reason only – it is the one and only time I have ever gone home from a trial early and scratched from runs because I was just too damn tired. Of course it now being Jan 2009 I cannot remember why I was sooo tired but only that I left a trial early. The GSDA trial also was held in October and I distinctly remember that trial being purely training for young Spryte. Here let me list her issues (all trainer related of course):
1) Startlines. She has this thing whereby she will come in on lead, sit in position, I go to clip the lead off and/or hand it to the steward she stands up. I say ‘Sit’ and she apparently has no idea what that means. This happens in trials only. And I won’t walk off on her unless she sits and it has started becoming a habit of which I am not fond of.
2) Contacts. Yes yes not enough reinforcement or consistent sticking to criteria here by me I know this. So I’ve started being tougher on them in trials. If I know at training that previous week she has done a 150 two on two off perfect contacts and she doesn’t give me the behaviour in the ring, I stop , say ‘Too bad’ ask her one more time for ‘Contact’ if she offers it I say ‘Good girl’ and leave the ring. If she runs through, I stop, ask for ‘Contact’, get the behaviour off her and leave the ring. It’s completely fixable. But it is simply time, effort and repetition and consistency. Which sounds simple when I type it like that but I must be slow when it comes to this one!
3) Bars. I am now stopping her for dropped bars. This dog jumps 600 with not too much effort, I always train on 500 and warm her up on 500 and she does that height with ease. There is absolutely no reason she should drop 400 bars even if I do say stuff over the bar, give her crappy angles onto them, surprise her with them or whatever. Again training issue. And see I know this is not a line of popular thought but to me a trial is a training session. Or it should be. People say train like you trial. I’d rather trial like I train. There will be frowns saying ‘Well that’s just taking all the fun out of it, or its disrespectful of the judge, or you are making your dog unhappy’. To me trialling/training should be the same. And I am lousy as making it that way. So that is what I am working on. If we stop in training for dropped bars we are gonna stop in trialling for dropped bars. Spryte knows (like all my other dogs know) when we leave a course without running for the usual amount of time that something went wrong. Doesn’t mean I don’t go straight up for my next run and we start with a clean slate again. She doesn’t get any less enthusiastic to run because I pulled her out of a ring less than five minutes ago. It’s fun running agility, it’s even more fun to go clear and you know what the most fun is? Going clear CONSISTENTLY. Sadly consistently is NOT a word that could ever apply in my case and that’s a goal I want to work on.
So yes those are my three main issues with her. Things that will always be worked on over time are the tightening up of turns, her acceptance and adaptability to spur of the moment, no doubt last second decisions front crosses. Never my forte but I insist on doing them sometimes (how else does one improve?) and yes dogs I am going to be doing them in some crappy places at crappy times and really I don’t need a bark or growl of abuse because I got in your way! Sheesh. I don’t know how it is for other breeds but all three of my Border Collies feel the need to vocalise their disagreement with my decision to perform a front cross right there when clearly all I am doing is slowing them down. Which, typically if front cross is performed poorly, I am doing but sometimes you know I’d just like a little more flexibility. On their part not mine.
Where was I? October....yes tick that month as done. November and this is the month where I decided enough was enough with Raven and took her back in to see Ken at their new facilities in Osborne Park. Ken had moved from Murdoch due to his expanding clientele and lack of space at Murdoch. So brand new facilities in Selby Street along with a specialist surgeon and two radiographers. Raven christened the Consultation room by being the first consult in there, along with about 8 vet students. She is currently on the front page of their promo pamphlet as well doing her agility thing. That’s a little bittersweet – I’d much rather she’d never have to have anything to do with Oncology at all but then again I like the fact that she’s seen as a fighter and so far successful cancer patient. Raven told me she was tired at Judges practical exam (which by the way WA has three brand new agility judges from Woohoo!!!) when running some simple courses and at a couple of trials in November. She resumed chemo on November 14th without any complications. The same protocol as the first time – 16 treatments in all using three types of drugs. The only thing that changed was the use of the hardest hitting drug Doxorubicin. She had met her limit for that drug as she was at risk of heart failure should she continue using that one so they changed it to Epirubicin which has the same effects in terms of potency without the heart muscle damage but is harsher on the gut.
November was also the month I decided to take up Softball. What the hell? I can hear all the agility readers yelling from here. Yes well it’s always been a sport I’ve been interested in. Last played it very loosely in Primary school I believe. Anyway there is something incredibly satisfying about the sound of a bat hitting a ball and whacking the thing as far as possible. And I’ve always liked throwing stuff. J So I started training on Tuesday nights which is actually ACWA Club training night but I figured I could still train on Wednesday nights for Agility and even Thursday if I felt really hard up training wise. The games though are at a perfect time. It’s evening trials in Agility from the end of October onwards and all Softball games at either at 2 or 4pm and only go for an hour and a half. The season goes until the end of Feb. So the games NEVER clash with trials. Softball is a much more complicated sport than you think. And it’s a very different way of thinking with so many different permutations of what could and can happen and what kind of things you need to remember depending on A. Your position B. Whether there are 1, 2 or 3 players on bases, C. The weather! I’m enjoying it anyway and I don’t think it’s going to detract from my agility too much. It’s also another social circle really – new people, new friends and so vastly different from the agility world. Of course my agility friends all think I’m completely mad I’m sure but I think you can make room in your life enough if you really want to enough. And quite frankly watching those A Grade games? The skills involved and the level required – easily as difficult and awesome to watch as top level agility. I am still trying to get my head around how fast an underarm ball can actually be pitched – accurately!!! And the training won’t conflict with agility – short bursts of running and the ability to think quick and remember plays. Cypher’s affinity for incredibly strenuous tug games cannot harm the old throwing arm either. Eh whatever keeps you young I say!
So then December (and yes you can deduce form the lack of info regarding trial results that November wasn’t a successful month wins wise!) Hang on a sec. Raven did have another win in November! That’s right the Southern River trial she won 1st place in 500. I remember because it was the day after a chemo treatment! And I think she picked up a second in Masters Jumping somewhere in November as well!
Only a couple trials left in December and nothing too exciting happened there although I was a little side lined (okay a lot sidelined) by an old calf muscle injury which twinged slightly on training night at softball and then one week later tore properly since clearly I wasn’t allowed to get away with just a minor setback! This calf muscle was torn initially back in 2004 in Sydney in the middle of a BC Speciality trial. That was the weekend Robyn had to take over running Raven for me last second – still in her show clothes and everything. So yeah an old injury that unfortunately once done is always weakened and this was my second visit back to the physio for it since 2004. She said 6 weeks for this one but I have been doing my stretching and exercises religiously (and I am hardly, if ever, religious so that shows you how seriously I am taking this) and I have purchased new calf muscle supports and stuff. I really don’t want to stuff this up again since the plane tickets and accommodation are all booked for March and the Border Collie National in Canberra. So yes was somewhat restricted by that and entirely pissed off when it happened. ‘Oh dear’ was understating the issue massively and some fairly vulgar words were used that I would no doubt tell my students off severely for using. Sometimes obscenities are really the only satisfying way of dealing with these sorts of things. So Karen got to run my dogs at the last trial of the year and I have to say with little *snort* try ‘no’* training she managed to get them round their courses quite well with no more than one tiny fault on each run and some lovely handling. And so the agility season for 2008 came to an end and I have to say that of my list of highlights for the entire year several could be found in my achievements with the dogs in the trialling rings. The 2008 National and the States will always be memorable and some of the sweeter runs with Raven will be cherished.
So now here we are in January 2009. Spryte is currently in season right now and Cypher is doing his level best to convince me that he is the man for her. Sadly for Cypher he is not going to get a belated Christmas present. Part of the reason for attending the BC Nationals this year is to have a look around at the males there. Robyn will probably be breeding from her this year (maybe in June) and a suitable husband for her must be found. So she will likely be having her first litter of puppies this year. After that who knows? I have yet to decide if I will sterilise her or keep her entire. I think it will depend on her first litter and how that goes. She still needs to have her hips scored but all other health tests are passed, mostly clear by parentage. There has certainly been enough interest in puppies from her. Most non agility (and some agility) people who meet her seem to like her small size and want one just like her – she is, temperament wise, a fairly placid and incredibly gentle Border Collie who suckers people in with her dark liquid brown eyes, her small stature and her affinity for cuddles. She is the first cuddly female BC I have come across. It’s all a ruse though. If sheep or agility or other dogs racing around are involved it unleashes her inner demon very quickly and you wonder if that is a Border Collie or some kind of deranged meerkat hopped up on sugar on the end of the lead. She’s bossy with those dogs she thinks she can get away with being bossy with and sneakily grovelling with those she can’t. She knows exactly what buttons to push on Cypher to get what she wants and could quite easily steal a bone from his mouth if she wanted to.
As from next week we embark on a swimming regime to build up the dogs (and mine) condition to get them ready for the start of the agility season. As usual my fitness can also do with much improvement and I will be endeavouring to get up really early and take them walking (in this heat with the snakes around it’s crazy to be walking any later than 8am or before 7pm at night) and getting a routine going with training in the back yard and at club. So far I have booked three dogs on the plane for the BC Nats and will be entering all three. Only Raven can tell me if she will be coming or not closer to the time. I am under no allusions that this is probably her last Eastern States trip if she does go. She won both Masters Jumping and Open Agility at the last one, it would be great to see one more BC National with her but we take each day as it comes.
Spryte will be competing in the Excellent class, the showing and maybe some herding with Robyn. Cy will come for the agility. Raven has five more Masters Jumping wins to achieve for her Agility Champion and who knows? She may just make it. Stranger things have happened. This year saw two of our veterans achieve the title – Kriszty’s Jess (just turned 10) and Nicole Ford’s Corgi – Beauty who is also ten years old. So that was a great way to finish the year for the WA Agility crowd and absolutely spectacular achievements in light of the tough competition here in WA. Goals for this year? Spryte gets up into the Masters Classes and gets some games titles under her belt along with her ET. Raven stays in remission (really every other goal for her kind of pales into insignificance next to that one) and Cypher finishes off some games titles and I work towards making him as competitive as he can be and maybe finish off his CCD title. Raven is 9 in March, Spryte is 3 in July and Cypher is 5 in October. Three odd numbers must add up to a good year I hope.
In terms of my own personal goals – saving towards a huge holiday in 2011 when long service leave is due, surviving another year as a teacher in a hard to staff school, getting fitter and healthier and trying to stay a little bit more in front and less to the side or utterly behind of the general busyness that is my life. In other words try to overcome my chronic need to procrastinate about just about everything! My final goal is to come to terms and accept the fact that whilst I may be in my 35th year I am still, literally, quite a child at heart. Perhaps accept is not the right term, more like ‘ignore the guilt’. I shall not feel guilty if I want to spend a few hours playing Wii console games with friends, watch trashy popcorn television whilst defending it’s worth to all and sundry or perfect my score on various facebook word games. Also batting cages are good! The place where you can go to hit the crap out of a ball for a good hour has got to be cathartic in some form or another and it is perfectly alright for me to want a brand new softball bat.
In other non agility related news – have seen three movies recently that I enjoyed. Twilight (saw that twice and I’d say it’s because my sister dragged me to see it but in all honesty I was quite happy to watch it again) The Day the Earth Stood Still and Australia. None of them were out of this world oh my god twelve Oscars right there kind of quality but good enough to feel not ripped off by the $16.50 ticket charge these days. Also I am a Twilight addict. Have read all four books several times and shall not apologise for doing so. No they are not the literary equivalent of Bronte, Austen, Dickens or Tolstoy however they are as addictive as trashy television so hence the fascination. Also I have fondness for any kind of supernatural sci fi fantasy genre.
I’m afraid I have no images to make this entry pretty with and I really must fix that oversight as soon as possible. So for the rest of the holidays I shall do my level best to take some photos of blogworthiness quality. The rest of my holidays (which are going way too fast I might add) are filled with social lunches, dinners and drinks, softball and agility training, batting cages, movie going (plan to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button because...well I am curious), tv watching, wii playing, word game playing, reading (the line of books waiting to be read on my shelf right now is rather daunting) and just enjoying the company of Tim, my dogs and family.
First trial back is Jan 17th and is a fun teams event plus Gamblers so looking forward to that plus playing softball on Saturdays from January 10th and also have entered Spryte in a few shows to see if she can pick up some challenges. Lots to do and only so many hours in the day to do it so I find myself obsessively making TO DO lists for each day and trying to make sure I tick off at least two things each day lest I should feel unproductive. Though frankly I think the word holidays really should equal unproductive minus the guilt. Where did this idea come from that on holidays one must be productive? It's highly overrated and yet I feel suckered into ensuring it remain so, even just a little. This is why people go away for holidays - somehow not being in your own house on a holiday means that you can get away with doing absolutely nothing all day long and feel exactly zero in the guilt department! Solution? Be rich enough to go away for every holiday period. Ahhh such simple solutions to pertinent problems. If only. :-)
Friday, March 21, 2008
Chemo starts again
So we went and saw Ken Monday, Raven, Tim and myself. We took an hour and a quarter to discuss all the options and the outcomes and the implications and the permutations of various treatments. Basically the three main options were – step down from the first treatment plan and administer doxyrubicin (strongest chemo drug) every 3 weeks for 6 treatments. This was never considered as for me it had certain drawbacks that I didn’t want to contemplate. A it is a heart muscle damaging drug and really they need to have a very good reason for giving it more than 8 times (Raven has already had it 4 times with the last cycle of chemo) and B It would never give her a chance of a cure only remission and statistically speaking the remission would be less time the second time around. So less than 10 months basically before the cancer would be back. We pretty much ruled that treatment option out immediately. Second option choice was the exactly the same as last time. And again whilst it would put her in remission there is no chance of cure now (as opposed to 15% with the first round) and of course her remission would be less. 10 months is not very long so an even shorter period than that is just not an option for me. She has just turned 8, whilst not young for a Border Collie I wouldn’t describe it as old either, more late middle age. Contemplating this healthy looking and to all intensive purposes, perfectly well and happy 8 year old Border Collie being dead in months is just inconceivable to me. So we looked at the final option and the ‘top of the range’ treatment I guess you’d call it. The Autologous Bone Marrow Transplant. Sounds impressive doesn’t it? Well when you consider what they do then I guess it is.
Approximately world wide 40% of dogs appear to be cured by this process. Those are odds I am willing to take. When it comes down to it though if she happens to be one of the unlucky ones who drops out of remission months after this I’ll still be glad we tried. At least then I’ll know I have absolutely done everything within my power to extend her quality of life.
Of course as Ken stressed, this procedure is no walk in the park. Along with the possibility of cure there are also risks (Immune mediated thrombocytopenia – where your immune system attacks the platelets that help clot blood, sterile cystitis, sepsis, nausea, allergic reactions during marrow transplant and others) and these were all outlined in the literature we received informing use about the procedure. Of course I asked about her already compromised immune system, given her atopy and he did say that they may impact on how quickly her immune system is back to normal after the marrow transplant. We asked all sorts of questions about what to do at home in preparation and her usual habits and Ken seemed to think that her resistance to all the usual infections out there would not be an issue. I asked about her naturally low white blood cell count (in all her treatment so far she had only ever reached 6 once all other times we were looking at 3 or below) and the impact that may have, his reply was that it is possible - if her low WBC count is due to a low number of stem cells, then that may mean they harvest less and recovery takes longer. I asked about how they check when her immune system has recovered and he stated that testing the immune system in general is very difficult in a laboratory. A low neutrophil count, which is the WBC they monitor is a good indicator of risk of bacterial infection. The other WBC including memory T cells that protect against anything that your body learns resistance to (including vaccination) is unharmed by treatment.
They have done a total of 12 BMT’s at Murdoch now. About 6 of those dogs presented like Raven with the standard form of lymphoma and still clinically well and healthy. 5 of those dogs are still in full remission doing well, for one the cancer came back after a couple of months. The other 6 all presented with aggressive and unusual forms of lymphoma and all much further along the stages, therefore most of those have dropped out of remission. You have to take into account though that not all those BMT’s were recommended by Ken, and the fact that these were last ditch attempts to buy even just a little time for the dogs and their owners. Owners who clearly had the means and didn’t have to care about the money factor.
Raven went in Tuesday and had the Vincristine at a slightly reduced dosage due to the history of Neutropenia related to the Vinc. She had 0.6 instead of 0.7. She came home as happy as usual and was severely sulking when she realised she wasn’t coming to training that night. She had a bit of an upset tummy Wednesday night after training but that has settled down. Despite a slight weight drop (she dropped to 15.5) and a bit of a subdued attitude she has been fine. Our next hurdle is just making sure she stays on track with her scheduled chemo appointments and getting her into clinical remission as soon as possible. Short term I want to get a bit more weight on her, which is kind of hard to do when you have to avoid animal fats which feed cancer cells. But I am on the look out for raw healthy foods to feed her. She is basically on the BARF patties and veggie mash we make for her but I think I should up her raw meat intake, she hasn’t had chicken wings or carcasses for a while so I’ll start buying those again. She’s still on her fish oil caps and her Sasha’s blend, think I’ll look at adding further vitamin and mineral supplements again. So far so good, her nodes actually feel smaller than they did last week before chemo and I can’t feel the one in her left pre-scap that I felt last Monday. It’s only been one treatment so early days yet but the signs are good.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Raising Awareness
Been a while since I’ve updated and I have a fair bit to blather on about so feel free to skim and scan as they say. So the Fundraising trial hosted by Eden Hills Dog Club actually managed to raise over $600 for Dr Ken Wyatt and Murdoch Veterinary Oncology Research. Plus they gave me a very generous donation of $570 towards Raven’s treatment bills which has helped more than they know.
The day was an excellent success due in no small part to the hard working and extremely giving instigators of this idea – Nicole Ford and Sandra Yearsley and their band of club supporters. These two ladies went above and beyond the call in terms of putting their own time and efforts into this event and I shall always be thankful to them.
The weather was beautiful and we had a good turn out of nearly 20 teams demonstrating that the WA Agility community fully supported the cause. There were many donations for prizes and cash donations on the day towards the research. Ken and his wife attended and they were fascinated to actually watch the machinations of an agility trial and were surprised about all the different breeds in attendance. Raven initially said a rather reserved hello to Ken, clearly remembering him, but then started to turn on the charm once she realised he was not taking her anywhere for some injections or any other physical examinations.
Ken spoke to the group gathered about exactly what kind of treatment Raven had been given and one phrase that stood out for me was that he said that the bone marrow transplant she had been given is essentially the best treatment in the world currently available for Canine Lymphoma. It’s heartening to know in the end that we have managed to give Raven the best possible chance to beat this disease. It wouldn’t matter if we moved to Europe, the States or anywhere else we were fortunate enough to have access to the latest and most successful treatment on the planet. He explained about the research, looking into the genetic maps of dogs with lymphoma and the chips that contain the data on each dog costing around $500 each due to the extensive genetic mapping that had been done. They’ve compiled data so far from around 50 of these chips and the more chips they can purchase the better because it will give them very specific and detailed information that will allow Oncology specialist to better diagnose the stage, advancement and which particular drugs will be most effective in treatment. It will allow them, in the end, to give very specific treatments and drug doses designed just for that particular dog alone based on the knowledge they can glean from this massive database. So he expressed his thanks on behalf of himself and the other specialists involved with this research and stated that these funds will help the cause in a significant way.
Raven enjoyed herself too that day. She did a run just for Ken because he’d missed her first run that morning and was having a ball. It was hard not to smile at the thought that I had my Raven back...Raven pre May 2007 that is. She got lots of treats and pats that day and was quite impressed with herself by the end I think, managing to con many a hand into a pocket for even a little something with just an alert and persuasive expression on her face as she looked at each person expectantly.
I enjoyed the day for many reasons, it was good to see the people I choose to hang out with on a very regular basis at agility trials come together to support a cause, it was great to play agility again and even better I got to run a healthy and vibrant Border Collie who will never understand how amazing she is simply because she has an attitude that never quits. Raven is my heart dog and always will be. We took a few shots of the day and I have posted a couple or three here.
So that happened back in June and then we had a two week break from trialling. Of course it dawned on me that really there is now less than eight weeks till the Nationals. A rather large WA contingent will be attending which is fantastic I must say. More so than even Adelaide last year and this time we’re all getting shirts to show our team spirit. When it comes to Individual events here in WA the competition is always very strong and we like to push the bar for our sport. However get us in a group over East and we become a very unified and loyal bunch that wishes nothing but the best for our fellow competitors against the rest of the country. But back to the rather looming fact of less than 8 weeks to go. Due to the different time frame it’s not really logical to swim the dogs like I did before last year’s Nationals so we have been walking and semi-hiking I suppose you’d call it, up sandy hills and across bushy and scrubby terrain at the Jandakot Regional park. We’ve found a sand quarry that’s very useful for climbing to the top of and letting the dogs run up and down it in search of the never –ending fetch a stick game. Great for rear end muscle development and fitness...of course if I had a personal trainer then I’d probably be the one running up and down sand hills. Oh well. At least I try and walk briskly, in soft sand that’s no mean feat! I wonder if I could add that to my resume? Personal Trainer – Canine Specialist.
July commenced and it’s trials just about every weekend starting with last Sunday at Cloverdale. It felt like we haven’t trialled in ages. Raven was first up in Masters Agility and it was a nice course which ran well but she just tipped a bar. I didn’t stop her and withdraw because I didn’t hear it drop till she was over the next obstacle. I nearly got Deb’s Jasper around too, I am handling him in Masters right now as she is just hanging out for his last leg to title. But I think he knocked the same bar as Raven. Cypher was the most frustrating – not because of him, he ran really well and was focused but the third last bar from home he took out the spread. It really is a momentary annoyance when that happens. Next up was Open Agility and this time both Cy and Raven had bars down...it seems I have not been doing enough grid work with them. Cy did lovely contacts though, very pleased with how he is running them now. By then the Masters Strategic Pairs course was being set and I had Cypher in that with Steve and Nicola Thompson’s girl Sage, and Raven was in with Nifty. Steve and I managed to walk the course in between runs but Sue and I never really got to walk it together and by the time we were both available to walk the course I had not really got my plan fully in my head and neither of us felt like rescuing so we made the decision if a bar goes to just quit. Well it was a bit of a stuff up! I ran straight into Sue’s path trying to get out of her way, Raven decided Nifty had to be chased in case he thought this was his course for a second, and the Nifty dropped a bar so we both said stuff it and retired! Cypher and Sage got round for another pass and third place but we still have heaps of passes to go before finishing the title. I think we’ve had two shots at Strat Pairs this year and that is it. WA would have to be one of the most least practiced states when it comes to games it’s quite a surprise that they do so well at the Nationals in them!
By that time Open Jumping had been run as well. I had been on first with Spryte. She was in competitively and I wasn’t expecting a pass really as there were some tricky angles. I didn’t handle her the most efficiently either but we still got round for a pass and came 4th or 5th overall so I was very happy with her. She really looked like she was enjoying herself too. Cypher did a lovely run, very happy with his run, he ended up in 7th or thereabouts and we had a great game of tug at the end. He had been on the ball the entire course and did not lose focus for a moment. Raven was going great till I did a crap handling move and caused a refusal on a jump then we retired after she knocked a bar. I’d be pretty safe in saying that she is indeed back to how she was like prior to the cancer. Back to the I have to go so fast I can’t possibly slow enough to keep every bar up attitude. We’ll be working on that for a while again I think.
Spryte was up next in Novice Strategic Pairs and we ran that with Cathy Snook’s Snazzy (Guirmere Snazzy). We had a plan and it mostly was followed apart from a slight hiccup where Spryte thought they were her weavers not Snazzy’s, I think one rescue was required which took all of two seconds and other than that it ran quite well and most of all was absolute FUN! Turned out we won that class.
Photo by Robyn Evans
So Spryte has her first SPD pass and two passes towards her JDO now plus the two JD passes. She was in Novice Agility next. I can’t think why I entered her competitively when she is in all three trials at Geraldton soon for competition. So she did a lovely opening with a great two on two off on the a frame and then we were at the table when I realised we may go clear here. So I gave her a pat for dropping on the table and then continued on our way. Her dogwalk contact was nearly there. Just a few centimetres more and she’d have had a two on two off position. Other than that very pleased with her run.
Masters Jumping to finish and Cypher was up first going very well until some awkward spacing on a fast curve of jumps was his undoing and he knocked a bar. I dropped him, replaced the bar and withdrew. I know he is not a chronic bar knocked like Raven but still I think he needs to know that we can’t continue if a bar drops. He is not the type of dog to get all soft and sulky over that, I’m not sure if he gets why we leave, but I do know that he realises we stop because a bar drops. Whether he cares about that is another question entirely. But I don’t believe in letting them go ever....unless you have a dog whose temperament will shut down if he/she gets worried about making mistakes. Some dogs really don’t like making mistakes but neither Cypher or Raven fit that category!
And that brings us to this week. First week of the holidays and here I am at Friday already. Why the hell don’t the weeks pass this fast when you are at work I ask? It’s ridiculous how fast time seems to be moving sometimes. For brief foray into non-agility related matters we went and saw Hancock last week and I liked it. I liked the humour and I liked the premise although it left me asking questions about back stories that never got answered but I’m thinking this was probably deliberate. Saw a new trailer for The Dark Knight as well and was surprised when I felt a pang of sadness when watching Heath Ledger’s Joker on screen. It just seems like such a waste. The man had such a talent and so young as well. I’m sure this swansong will be a fitting tribute. There are a few others on the list though – Wall-E is supposedly the best ever animated film from Pixar/Disney and I have heard nothing but praise for it. Wanted – a completely indulgent action sci-fi flick that looks to have some very cool CGI, plus James McAvoy, I’ve heard he’s good. Then there is Prince Caspian – which I am not sure I’ll get to before it leaves...plus a couple others. And I have books to read like it is going out of style. I may just have to ring work and postpone my return until I get all my holiday reading out the way, in between training, trialling and walking the dogs of course.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The end of a journey
Well here we are at the end of October 2007. It also represents the end of Raven's chemotherapy treatments - she had her last one today. Cyclophosphamide aka Cytoxan, apart from needing to pee a bit more often she is as bright as usual. Dr Ken Wyatt and Dr Amy Lane and the Onco nursing staff gave her a card commending her on her bravery during treatment and wishing her wellness for a long time. Raven was 'meh' about the card but thoroughly relished the milky dental chews instead. She will go back for a consult with Ken in one months time. Her WBCs were at 3.5....which sounds low but is the norm for her. Her specialists have decided that she is one of those dogs who has a naturally low WBC so around 3.5 is the norm for her...she's had treatment when they've been 0.8 so I was pleased to hear today's count.
I can't believe we've made it....technically speaking she should have been finished around the last week in September...missed treatments due to chronic low WBCs meant she added around a month. So now we just observe, monitor and go in for check ups. I am always checking her lymph nodes, I do it now without a thought so no way are they going to change without me noticing. For me Raven's agility is the biggest clue to how she's feeling. If I'm getting complete and total perfect behaviours on start lines, contacts and keeping bars up I know she's feeling off. As much as that's great for qualifying and doing well I know really she is not feeling the best and that is a good heads up or warning for me that something might not be right. They say the key to beating cancer or this type of Lymphoma in particular is that you catch it early. We caught it early before...and we'll catch it again if it ever dares to raise its head a second time. I will keep Raven's fitness up and keep using her diet/nutritional intake to keep those mutated lymphocytes at bay. We'll keep running agility and enjoy every opportunity we get to play this game together. I don't set goals for how much I want to do with her before her time is up but I do want to make sure we appreciate every day we have with her. She deserves nothing less.
Nothing like a happy Raven face to make you smileSunday, June 24, 2007
Trial-free Weekends
So no trials for the last two weekends in a row. I feel quite strange...and so not physical in any way...think I better do some serious running this week at training or else I am going to be completely exhausted after one run next trial! Raven is again of the "no news is good news" category this week. She had put on more weight again last week before she started her second cycle of chemo so that was good. Her WBC was also up. No side effects from the Vincristine this time apart from feeling tired - she slept well through the night and was ready to go for training the following night. I had thought (with not just a slight touch of disappointment) that I had felt her lymph nodes come up again. Just the ones in her neck. I was very happy to hear when i picked her up Tuesday after her chemo that it was her saliva glands I was feeling and that all her lymph nodes are back to normal. Fantastic! So far, so good, still a long way to go though. Last Sunday afternoon we took the dogs for a run at our local Canine grounds. Some of the shots didn't turn out half bad! I was thinking prior to these the the dogs could do with a bath - but these pics have simply confirmed for me that it's not necessary!
The Raven
Recall Raven!
Raven - she knows when treats are on
Raven circa 2007Born March 7th 2000
Diagnosed Lymphoma May 11th 2007
Kicking cancer butt since May 14th - 1st Chemo treatment
Why can't Cypher bring that frisbee back?
He has a tumour that's why!Or perhaps I should not joke about cancer at this stage...
ah what the hell, you gotta laugh sometimes!
Spryte is not really tumour-like, but sometimes Cy does close his eyesin the hope that she disappears
She's more of your "midget Cypher fan club of one" type
National Geographic may need these pictures
How the domesticated Border Collie brings down larger prey,Cy's thinking "You know you coulda left her at home"
Spryte occasionally cuts Cy a break
Raven - missing the prey completely,but ensuring that she looks the part whilst failing.
At times she's so darn cute!
Cy's victory frisbee catch faceMonday, July 14, 2008
Update #1
It’s lucky I am a fairly positive sort of a character really. Most of the time. Otherwise I feel sure by now I would have just about been contemplating some serious drug usage or other potentially high risk escapism behaviours. It seems Raven is a bit of a dramatic attention seeker. Either that or she is just really one of the unluckiest Border Collies in the world. She had her final weekly blood test around two or three weeks ago. She only needs to visit Murdoch once a month for blood tests now. So quite clearly Raven felt like life was a little dull, or distinctly lacking in some veterinary attention.
On Saturday Raven managed to dislocate her right hip whilst running in a Masters Agility course. Albeit the ring and the grass surface in general was a bit wet and soggy but well over a hundred dogs ran in that ring and NONE of them managed to dislocate a hip. She had done her usual running contact on the dog walk gone over the next jump and turned the less desirable way around (it was a 180 degree turn back to a tunnel under the dog walk) so I stepped in to shape her line to the tunnel which it turns out she didn’t see till she was running flat tack and realised it was there at the last possible split second and tried to throw her little body in said tunnel. Most sane dogs would have probably just gone past it realising what a futile exercise it would have been by that stage. Her ass end went out from under, she hit the ground and landed on her right hip let out an almighty yelp and then peered round the tunnel at me as I turned back to her with her right back leg well off the ground.
I think at this point all the blood drained from my face as we soon established this wasn’t something she was going to walk off. We had no idea if it was a foot, hock, knee or hip issue at this stage so I carried her back to the car and started icing that leg and rang home for Tim to bring the 25mg tab of Rimadyl I had left over from her BMT. I gave her some food and some Rimadyl and we gave her a half hour lying down to see if that helped. She initially kept the leg tucked up fairly close to her body and were concerned that it was cruciate damage.
Within an hour and a half of the accident I got her into the local VetWest where the Vet had a look, by this stage she had stopped her intermittent shaking and her leg was dangling. She showed no signs of pain on the cranial draw test of the cruciate ligament and none on palpation of the hip but she would not let the vet extend her leg back behind her at all.
The vet suspected dislocated hip and wanted to do a GA asap in order to xray and replace it if indeed her suspicions were correct. Once a hip is dislocated the quicker it gets replaced the better and it’s virtually impossible after 12 hours. She explained what she would do and that she would strap it and that the strapping would be on for 10 to 14 days etc. She topped up Raven’s Rimadyl dose with an injection and then gave an injection of Temgesic (Sp?) which is a more powerful painkiller drug.
Then the Nurse is there getting me to sign the form and waiver and they are working up an estimate of the cost and I’m trying not to laugh hysterically as I explain to them exactly what Raven has been through in the last year and after sixteen thousand dollars worth of treatments for lymphoma I really don’t think an extra few hundred is going to make a difference somehow. I must admit I was pretty upset by this stage and worried about her going under another GA as it was less than 2 months since her last one plus she had eaten that morning, but with a friend’s help I managed to pull it together, give them my mobile number, leave Raven in a cage out the back (by this stage she is looking somewhat pissed about the change in environment) and drive back to the trial grounds.
They would call me as soon as they knew what was what. So I get a call around 2.15 explaining that all has gone well, Raven is awake from the GA, they x-rayed and it was a dislocated hip and it was put back in without too much trouble, can I come pick her up at 5.15. Of course I asked if it could be any earlier but that was a no go. So I was there at 5.15 on the dot and saw the vet who had treated Raven. She took me through and showed me the x rays. I have included them below, the last image is obviously after the hip has been replaced. The vet informed me that this was a rather unusual dislocation as rather than up and above the pelvis the ball had been pushed down out of the socket.
Typical Raven always does things her own way! So we looked at the x rays and she told me that it went back in easily and didn’t cause any problems with popping back out. This is the risk apparently with dislocated hips. That they can pop back out at any time during recovery period. Usually the dogs are strapped to the point that it can’t physically pop out (so they are on three legs) and everyone holds their breath at the end of the two weeks when the strapping comes off but because Raven’s was different she has all four legs on the ground and is weight bearing. Right now completely normally weight bearing I might add. The dog wants to trot everywhere and the hobbles don’t stop her from doing that! She can still cock that leg on that hip when she wants to pee as well! So I am going to try and get a referral to an Ortho specialist and try and confirm whether this strapping is doing the job or if it needs modifying. Also to enquire about her recovery therapy and what I can do to make sure it’s the best she can get. It’s a little different when you are talking about a sports performance dog as compared to your average pet dog I think. Long story not so short I don’t know at this stage if she will be going to the Nationals. Looking at her right now I feel 70% confident that she will be sound by then but you just never know. I will not be making any decisions at this stage. So that was my drama for the weekend. And now Raven is bored out of her skull and wondering what all the fuss is about. Below is one of the xray images they took.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Cypher has a win in the rain...
and other dog related updates.
So when I last updated I had explained about the process/procedure for our attack on Raven's lymphoma. A few things have passed since then. First of all the Gosnells Agility trial on Saturday the 22nd. It was a good night in terms of passes and runs, Cypher ran clear in three out of four runs picking up a 4th in Masters Jumping, a 3rd in Open Agility and a 6th in Open Jumping. In Masters Agility I just didn't step in quick enough to pull him in tighter to the weaves and he went in the second gap, other than that I was very happy with his run on what was one of the more challenging Masters courses for a while.
Raven also had a good night although I must admit she must have been feeling a little less then a 100% because she held every start line as long as I needed her to and she didn't knock a single bar all night. She picked up a 2nd place in Masters Jumping to the awesome Domino, and a 3rd in Open Jumping. I stuffed her up in Open Agility and Masters Agility, again with a slow reaction to an imminent and then completed off course into a tyre in Masters and then with a confusing cue for a direction over a jump causing her to back jump it.
Spryte also had a ball, we had one glitch in Novice Jumping with a lollipop tyre she wasn't sure really was a tyre, in Agility we redid the weave poles and had a refusal, and in Open Jumping we ran over the line and she had a blast finishing down a long line of jumps without me.
So then to Tuesday and Raven's 2nd chemo treatment, her WBC was 1.6 so it is still low but they went ahead and she didn't seem to have any of the problems that she did last time with the vomiting and loose stools. I did up the fibre in her diet though. Her nodes were reported as having reduced in size already which was heartening.
This week she had her 3rd treatment (the 2nd dose of Vincristine that is in her four week cycle) and although her WBC was still low at 1.7 they still gave her the treatment. She bounced back from that very well without any side effects and they told me that all her nodes were back to normal. So clincially she is in remission now, we'll check her cytological (cellular) status at a later point closer to the BMT. She now just needs to weather through the next five treatments before the big day of the Bone Marrow extraction. She must be feeling quite well because she pushed me on her start lines all day yesterday and had bars down in four of her runs and in Masters Snooker where she kept all bars up she missed an a frame contact! Can't remember the last time that happened...but I was very happy with her run regardless as she made the time with 5 seconds to spare even doing the most points out of all the dogs there.
And here we are at week 4 just about with treatment number 4, the doxyrubicin. This is the one that causes heart muscle damage so it's pretty nasty. From what I can recall of her last treatments (she's had 4 doses so far) she came through them ok. So fingers and paws crossed for this one.
Cypher had a good day at the trial yesterday. He finally went clear in Masters Agility (ADM passes and Cypher have been like a barren wasteland), knocked a couple of bars in Open Agility, knocked one bar in Open Jumping and was clear in Masters Jumping till his handler had a brain fart on course and completely lost her way. I redeemed myself in Excellent Snooker handling him for a win there. It really is one of my pet hates though...losing my way on course. It doesn't happen very often but when it does it drives me up the wall. And this is me who has improved at learning to *let things go* like that. *g*
Spryte was an absolute blast to run yesterday. It would appear that the rain just makes things that bit more exciting. She was in NFC for everything and ran clear in Novice Jumping. In Open Jumping we reestablished that our rear cross language needs much work but she did the distance challenge which wasn't a simple one so I was very chuffed about that, we also took the opportunity to run our weavers again after she missed one (I have no idea which one). In Novice Agility she popped the last weaver and we reinforced that contact position on the dogwalk is still two on two off, not four in the colour looking angelic. She's really starting to open up and I'm enjoying watching that. I can see at each trial she gets that little bit more bolder and creative and whilst I know I need to balance that out with reinforcing self control I don't believe letting her have some leeway with this will harm, in fact I think it will have the opposite effect and allow our training to progress faster. Some photos from yesterday's rained out trial.
Cypher
Spryte
Raven
Yes it is a good thing there are no penalties for dog abuse of handler,did I mention she *hates* stopping?
But she's a good girl really *g*
