Halfway Point

Raven is now halfway through her chemo treatments. She has had 8 and has 8 to go. On Tuesday they will do a FNA (Fine Needle Aspirate) on her lymph nodes to confirm she is in remission and then start the 4 weekly cycle again – Vincristine, Cyclophosphamide, Vincristine and Doxyrubicin, she has a week off and then the final four weeks. At this point she has come through chemo very well, in remission by her 5th or 6th treatment and with relatively few complications. She missed one treatment due to low WBC, has had a few minor vomiting effects and has a couple of short lived episodes of diarrhoea. Apart from the 15 day dose of Clavulox for an infected toe and this recent cut to a toe pad she has been incident free.
Her tiredness on the day she has treatment is visible and she does sleep more on those days/nights but within 24 hours she is always keen and eager to go out with the others on walks, runs, trips in the car or to training. She has been apathetic about food on maybe three occasions and is always back to her usual appetite within 48 hours. She is heavier now than prior to her chemo treatment starting and I now need to just make sure she maintains a slightly more than usual competition weight. Ideally in agility you do keep them very lean but in her case she needs that extra covering so I have found a balance between the two. She is still on 80% raw and 20% kibble diet; she is being slowly switched over from the Advance Chicken biscuits to the Advance Puppy Growth which is higher in calories/protein yet less in carbohydrates than the Chicken variety. Her raw consists of chicken necks and frames, turkey wings, BARF lamb patties and gravy beef mixed in with Mundella natural yogurt and processed veggies plus fruit. She also gets sardines a couple of times a week and her supplements mixed in. In training she still has a mix of treats ranging from 4Legs to cheese to cooked sausages.
Ken Wyatt is very pleased with her progress and insists on her living as normally as possible and participating in all her usual activities. Since this includes training and trialling I have been keeping up with that.
If anything she is just as fast (sometimes faster) than she usually is on course and with me letting some of our training issues slide in recent trials she is having an absolute blast out on course. To watch her run you would not know that this was a ‘cancer dog’ as I fondly refer to her now. She’s blasting through contacts, giving me grief with her start lines and still insists on a “hanging off the edge” table behaviour. She’s had a few bars down as well but when you put things in perspective as I did I was just thrilled to have my girl out on course again! So now she is feeling much better and is clearly in remission I think I better start reinforcing the ground rules again! I need to think optimistically and positively about our agility career which doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate every chance I get to run a course with her but that I’m also treating her like I’d treat ‘pre-cancer Raven’. So we’ll work on our start lines and reinforce the bar issue - though I have to say on Sunday she did not knock one bar in all four of her runs so she definitely is still aware of her job in that department - so that we can still be a team that tries to be as accurate as possible whilst still being competitive. Speaking of competitive Raven won her first class since chemo treatment began on Saturday. She did a great run in Open Agility and took 1st place even after a couple of wobbles (one hers and one mine!), then Sunday she finished 3rd in Masters Jumping which gave us another Agility Champion leg so that was icing on the cake of a good day.
Cypher has been a trooper recently and pulled in 6 cards this weekend, with 2 legs of Open Jumping (both 5th places), 3 legs of Open Agility (Two 3rd places and one 4th) and a leg of Masters Jumping (5th Place). He’s picked up a couple more numbers this weekend and his whole name now reads;
Nahrof Quick Change ADM JDM2 ADO3 JDO3 SPD GD. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can pick up his SD and SPDX title and a few more legs of GDX. There are still lots of gaps in our skills together though; some we discovered on the weekend include;
*Slow Seesaws in trials (still!)
* Pull throughs on a straight line of jumps with more than 4m distance between them (this cost us a pass in 1 time fault!)
* Smooth off tunnel entries using the pull
* Keeping bars up when accelerating out of tunnels
* Weave entries from a table
The good thing about the weekend is that I noticed we didn’t have any obvious off courses/refusals where he was thinking about other things instead of the job at hand, and he responded well to all my verbal come or name commands. It’s good to see progress in that respect. He did provide some entertainment for the judge on one course (I think it was Masters Agility – we’d stuffed the weave entry from the table). I finished the course doing the a frame – telling him ‘Contact’ as per usual and I kept running on forgetting to say ‘Ok” to release him. When I went to say ‘Hup’ to get him over the jump I noticed he wasn’t there! He’d done his full 4 on the floor contact and was waiting for the release – the judge thought him very cute! I released him and laughing we finished the course. He’s a great dog to run and quite easy compared to Raven and whilst I know this has a lot to do with speed I think it also has something to do with me actually training the foundation skills better!
I’ve started entering him in more as I think the ring experience will only help improve our teamwork.

Yay for Cypher!

He was such a good lad at Rockingham trial today - he had four runs and ran clear in three with his handler messing the 4th one up by over handling him into the wrong side of the weave poles. 2nd Place in Masters Jumping again! 3rd Place in Open Agility and 6th place in Masters Agility (with his handler micro managing far too much!). I just took him today as Raven has a small cut on a toe pad that whilst it doesn't bother her, needs to heal for next weekend's trials. So he had a good day and listened well and was just generally a pleasure to run today.
I ran borrowed Sheltie Rumour in Open Jumping for a 4th place and she did a nice run in Open Agility I just took one step too far towards an inviting off course tyre that she couldn't resist.
It was nice weather and a small entry (most likely due to the cost of them, at $10 they are the most expensive as well as the big day yesterday) and the trial ran very well.
I'll put some of the sequences up we had over the weekend soon and discuss the different ways of handling.

ACWA Trials...Saturday July 14th

Yesterday was our club's Double Agility and Jumping trials held at Canine grounds.
Some hard luck stories for Raven, a couple of successes for Cypher and some achievements with my 'borrowed' dogs.
Raven was again feeling rather good and had a bar down in Masters Agility combined with a rather speccy seesaw fly off and in the second trial we had an off course due to a lack of quick thinking by handler! In Masters Jumping I was so pleased with her, she kept all her bars up, was flying round with a quite probably first place time when handler did not get into the right spot quick enough to push her out for a bar. Cross with myself but well proud of how she ran - what cancer? In the second Masters Jumping her last run of the day we also did well but had a couple of bars down.
In Open Agility she felt that she knew the course far better than me and had an off course when she put a couple of paws on the dog walk. The second go we had an issue with the distance challenge which eventually resulted in another dropped bar. So whilst no passes for the Rave she still had a ball and was raring to go.
Cypher had more success - a 2nd place in the first Masters Jumping trial was his best result so far in that class and finished off his JDM2 title. He followed that up with a 3rd place in Open Jumping (same result as last weeks trial!). He did a cracker run in the second Masters Jumping course and I didn't realise till after we finished that we had missed a whole entire jump! Still he didn't know at all as he was playing tug madly with me after the run! In the first Open Jumping I think I let him out of my peripheral vision for half a second and that was enough, he decided to chuck an extra jump in on the way to the tunnel! Very pleased with how he ran in general in the afternoon, much improved on the morning where both he and I made mistakes that cost us - in fact I stuffed both Masters Agility runs for him and he stuffed both Open Agility runs for me with a bar down in one and a complete selective hearing issue in another!
Here are some pics from yesterday;

Raven - yes the tail hair is growing back *slowly*

Surprisingly enough this was one bar that stayed up!

Cypher - doing the broad

Cypher - doing his "already stuffed up so doing a slack dogwalk"

Cypher - leaving himself a fraction more margin for error
than Raven does

Cypher - the best tyre shot of him yet!

Raven - "where the hell is that woman running off to now?!?!"

Dexter my 'borrowed' red and white BC -
3rd Place Excellent jumping

Emmy my 'borrowed' GSP -
1st Place Open Agility and 1st Place Masters Jumping


Rumour my 'borrowed' Sheltie -
1st Place Open Agility and 3rd Place Open Jumping

Doing Fine...

So Raven is doing excellently well right now. Last Tuesday her WBC was up over 6, she got her dose of chemo and was right as rain the next day. She had an absolute blast on the weekend reverting right back to her young feral self, being a complete b&^%h to me on the start line in Masters Agility forcing me to move out onto the course with me maintaining eye contact, looking over my shoulder the whole way. It was about a 5 jump lead out and she let me get nearly to 4 before she stood up and was not sitting down again! Needless to say she did a superfast run and took 3 bars down! We’re working start lines this week! Open Agility was a nice course, she knocked one bar in the distance challenge and I was so amazed by her running contact I forgot to say ‘come’ to pull her over the next jump and got a refusal. I was just thrilled she was feeling so good. Masters Jumping I wisely decided not to go with the lead out and just run as fast as I could, it worked quite well. My handling caused a couple of knocked bars this time which was a shame; it was a lovely, challenging, flowing Masters course. We finished off with Excellent Snooker and I totally disconnected from her in the weaves as we were doing the Super 7 and she popped the last pole on our second go through them, I decided to keep trying anyway for the qualification as I’d like to get her up to Masters this year. So we did the weaves (7 points) twice and then closed and we ended up with the Q card. Again she was doing just blitzing running contacts she would have cleaned up if I had been more committed to them darn weave poles! She went in on Tuesday last for her 7th dose of chemo – Vincristine and her WBC was still in the normal range (above 3) so she got the treatment. They blew a couple of veins on her front legs so she’s now got a shaved patch just above her hock on her back left leg. She is starting to look a bit like a chemo dog now! She’s already over the Vinc and will come to training tonight (we’ll be working Start lines and bar stuff!).

Cypher was a star on Sunday – he picked up his second leg of Novice Snooker completing the Super 7 and finishing in 2nd place 0.7 of a second behind 1st. He also qualified in Masters Agility in 6th place and went clear in Open Jumping for third. He would have had a very nice quallie in Masters Jumping except for his idiot handler who thought she was getting in this wonderful front cross for him, she turns, he’s right there but there is a gap of about 10cm between her and the jump, poor dog had nowhere to go but bless him, he still knows he’s supposed to jump something so he does a little leap into midair! So handler error big time cost us that one but as he madly played tug at the end I’m sure he was none the wiser! I was very pleased with his 3 from 4 passes.

So that was our Sunday – good fun but not enough runs!! Luckily I have around 26 lined up for this Saturday so that will keep me out of trouble, then Raven’s in UD Sunday morning and they’ve both got a couple of runs in the afternoon.

Ups and Downs and Roundabouts

Well it’s been ages since I last posted. Real life has gotten a much firmer grip this last week or so. The weekend before last I took the dogs for a long walk out at Jandakot Regional Park. It’s a massive area full of natural bush and dirt trails to follow which are sometimes lined with limestone and more clay like surfaces but are mostly soft dirt. We went Sunday afternoon and Robyn found us eventually and joined us with five of her Border Collies. So there was a pack of 8 Border Collies running through the bush, Raven a very happy and contented member of them. We walked for about an hour and a half, then the rain set in. I took home three tired, happy, wet and dirty Border Collies who didn’t harass me that night at all for games. I went again Monday afternoon after work, just because I knew they’d enjoy it and it certainly helps me get some much needed exercise. This time I walked the entire perimeter of the park….I haven’t looked up how long that is but it was bloody hard work and it took us nearly two hours! Again Tim and I had a nice quiet evening in front of the telly as the three of them were zonked. Next morning (Tuesday morning; Raven’s chemo day) Raven was limping slightly on her front leg. I went over her as carefully as I could, checking in between pads, pressing in muscles trying to find the source. She didn’t give me any clues so I assumed that it may have been from our bush walk the day before, she took off like a bullet after a bunny she’d seen and I figured she could just have some muscle soreness. I took her into Murdoch, told them about the limping but that everything else was just fine. Picked her up as usual after work and was told that she hadn’t received treatment today as her WBC was down to 0.8!!!! I asked the Oncology Nurse if they knew why and he told me it could be a couple of things, she may just have been fighting an infection we didn’t know about, sometimes they tend to fluctuate but that it was not commonly attributed to the drug Vincristine (her last chemo treatment a week ago). I asked if they’d noticed anything wrong with her paw, toes or leg and they hadn’t. He told me to just keep a close eye on her and bring her back next week, not to be too concerned. So we duly did so and I noticed as we walked out to the car she was still limping. I took Spryte and Cypher to training that night, Raven seemed tired and grumpy bout something, plus I figured she needed crating for her limp to improve. By the time I got home Tuesday night she hardly wanted to put her left paw down and was limping much worse. It was late but I was determined to find the source of her pain. She got up on my bed and brought a halogen light over to see better and then quite easily I saw that the toe she had injured around 4 weeks ago was red, hot to touch and swollen and when I checked the nail closely there was a fluid oozing out from underneath it. Definitely infected and quite painful for her, she normally tolerates all my investigations quite stoically but this one she wasn’t having a bar of. So I contacted Ken via email (again!...I had emailed when I got home asking about 5 different questions regarding missing a treatment, low WBC and about a trip to Kalgoorlie for competition we had planned.) and asked what I should do. He recommended bringing her in and getting her on some antibiotics, he wasn’t at Murdoch on Wednesday but he told me to talk to the Intern Amy Lane. So I did so and with Tim’s help by lunchtime Wednesday she had commenced her 15 day course of Clavulox. Ken seemed to think she’d be fine with the low WBC to go to Kal and compete but due to the toe thing I decided against it. By Saturday and Sunday she was moving fine and the toe looks good, no sign of infection but I just felt it would be better to play it safe now that to run the risk of putting her already compromised immune system under any pressure. So the toe, the low WBC and my car slightly overheating Tuesday afternoon decided it for me, no Kal for us. Disappointing but in the end my decision was very lucky. Tim took my car to the mechanic Thursday, turns out there was a small hole in the water pump and I may have reached Southern Cross if I was lucky but no further! That combined with the shocking weather made me quite grateful in the end we weren’t going! So we just did some UD work on Saturday and Spryte and Cypher got some agility work. Sunday was really bad weather wise so we stayed indoors and I worked away on the catalogue for ACWA’s upcoming double trial on Saturday July 14th.
So here we are at Tuesday. I’ve just dropped Raven off at Murdoch with the hope her WBC is great (but not too high!) and that she receives her cyclophosphamide treatment today. She’s put on half a kilo and weighs 17 kilos now! I’m laying bets that it is 2.5. We’ll see, they have strict instructions to phone if she can’t have treatment so that Tim can pick her up. She really is not a fan of the place, whining when we get there now, wanting to leave. She gets all happy to see Geoff the Onco Nurse though so that’s something, he no doubt spoils her. Fingers crossed the next post will be about how brilliant she’s doing and how much fun she had on the weekend at Sunday’s trial.

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 2007
Born 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 eyes
in 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 face

Weekly Update

So no news for a while – but that’s a good thing. We went to the trial Sunday and Raven was knocking bars, sliding contacts, barking her head off and face planting after jumps….and I just smiled through all of it! The old Raven is resurfacing and boy does she feel good! She only had a couple of runs (much to her disappointment) but she sure made sure she got her money’s worth out of them. She knocked bars in Masters Agility and then I was slack about handling and put her over a wrong jump. Then in Open Agility she broke her start (bloody fantastic!!...and totally against all our training but at this stage in her life I’m just enjoying the vitality of her) still kept first two bars up and face planted after #2 slid along the ground past the entry to the chute tunnel…so we copped a refusal and then she blitzed the rest of the course. It was a great day and so good to be having the opportunity once again. She pulled up fine, did not seem lethargic….enjoyed a pear before the runs and had a banana snack in between. To keep her fluid intake up I laced her water with a touch of milk which means she drank plenty. A vet friend tried to find the lymph nodes for me and couldn’t so it’s not just me being overly optimistic!

Here’s a pic Tim took at the trial over the last jump of Open Agility.

Monday I took her to Liz Franks – a specialist vet in trigger point, and physical therapy and also nutritionist for dogs. Liz has first hand experience of Lymphoma in both canine and human – her Great Dane Ridge back cross was diagnosed at 10 years with the same type as Raven and lived to just before his 16th birthday. Whilst he certainly had all the chemo treatments Liz also believes that his diet was a key factor in his extra long remission time. So we went to have a chat and she looked Raven over and then we discussed every detail of her diet and her options and what we could do to ensure that her nutrition would help fight this disease.
So her supplements have now increased! She is now also receiving;

Molybdenum

Zinc Picolinate

This tells you what a picolinate is;

and why Zinc?

Vit E

Vit C

Cyto bifidus

Selenium

Liz also mentioned that recent studies show that quite a number of cancer patients are also Vitamin D deficient (that good stuff we get from the sun!). Of course studies have not been done on dogs yet…..but it was interesting to hear. She asked me a whole gamut of questions and also spoke about the importance of filtering the tap water as WA does have high levels of heavy metals and fluoride in our water. I asked about the effects of lactic acid build up and her feeling tired before she even begins to exercises and she promised to look into what we could do about that on the muscular side of things. I told her what I feed and she was very happy with the balance of Raw to kibble and also stressed the importance of the vegetable mash in her diet. Luckily her taste has come back somewhat and I am heating the mash up in the microwave which gives it some stronger scent as well which I think helps. She is still off her sardines though! I’m not too worried now as she has a good coverage now and is far from skinny, I keep varying the meals and she’s usually eating most everything. I took her out for some UD round work today and she is still very keen, very happy, very up, very Raven. Nailed her glove retrieve despite locking onto the wrong one initially but for the first time she took guidance from my hand signal and corrected – this was a big step in the right direction for her! I really should get more regular obedience training in, there is no reason why she cannot achieve her UD title apart from her own handler’s slackness!!

So that’s it for her update for now, she has certainly NOT missed going into Murdoch this week. She will not be confirmed in remission until they take a needle aspirate of her lymph nodes in approximately 6 weeks time now.

Exciting news on the Lymphoma front!

Now I have tried for the last three nights to find Raven's lymph nodes to assess their size and for the life of me I cannot find them! I keep looking, much to her bored disgust, but I simply can't feel them - this, I believe, is an excellent sign. Complete remission will not be confirmed until a needle aspirate is taken of her nodes but this has to be a strong indicator of a clear prognosis.
The doxorubicin treatment does not appear to have knocked her around too much, she has eaten every day. Last night she left half of her meal and she rejected sardines. I wonder if perhaps the drugs can have an impact on palate and taste for the dogs as she normally likes them. She is really fond of raw stuff and still likes her kibble even when covered in natural yogurt laced with her supplements. Her current supplement regime includes three fish oil caps, heaped teaspoon of Sasha's Blend, flaxseed oil, half teaspoon of Musashi L-Arginine and a half teaspoon of Musashi L-Glutamine.
She usually has this mixed in with natural yogurt, our homemade vegetable mash, and either chicken necks, a Billinghurst BARF patty, raw diced lamb, sardines (when she likes them!) and of late a couple of teaspoons of some tinned My Dog which is the beef strips in sauce. I haven't given her the My Dog more than a couple of times - I use it when I have the feeling she's not her usual ravenous self. It helps her to eat more.
Her toenail has fully recovered from last weeks accident as well, she is dying to get out and do something. We'll probably go out for a long, sedate walk tomorrow, we have a trial Sunday afternoon.
I've emailed Ken with a number of my initial bone marrow transplant questions and he has certainly been thorough with his replies. The good thing is that it can be done at any point doesn't have to happen in the next four weeks. So that will give us more time to investigate all the pros and cons.
Things are definitely looking up, but I don't kid myself, I can see from the struggle of others that I have read about on the web and on lists - this journey resembles more of a roller coaster ride than anything else. I'm not expecting one straight ascent that's for sure.

Bandanarama!

Got these personalised bandanas sent over from Germany by Tim's Mum for my birthday. Had to do a spontaneous photo shoot of course. They all are looking a bit too intense - as in "Must stare unblinkingly - treat may disappear!" Might have to try and get one where they're all looking a bit more relaxed! Spryte, Cy and Raven

Raven wore hers as a good luck bandana for her doxorubicin (also known as Adriamyacin) chemo treatment yesterday, so far (touch everything) it is looking ok. We are more than 24 hours on now and no side effects. Ate a full dinner last night, had some breakfast, just polished off a big chicken neck. Drinking and toileting well. She slept the whole night through. She had a very small upchuck of some yellow bile this afternoon but nothing other than that. She does look tired though, in her face, like her body is undergoing some inner war that she is not quite sure of. Lymph nodes are still decreasing, I have to really feel for them now.
I am in the midst of writing up my list of questions to Ken Wyatt about bone marrow transplant. If she is going to have it done, things will start to happen at her next treatment in preparation for it. There is so much I need to know first!

Small Setback

For the most part this week Raven has been going well. We went to training on Tuesday night and she was jumping out of her skin so I put her over a simple novice jumping course a couple of times. She was starting to show her old self again and was barking at me too. It's always a good sign when she barks at me, means she's feeling good. I then put her over a basic agility course once and then put her back in the car. I trained Cypher for a while and then sitting in the back of my car with Raven I wondered if she felt like doing a few more contacts - I like the fact that she loves doing them and that I can get lots of treats into her - I bought the 4legs this week deciding I was being pathetic about whining about the mess this stuff makes (the coconut gets everywhere!!) and Raven loves the stuff. So she came out again (mistake #1) and we went off did the seesaw a few times no problems and then came over to the dogwalk(mistake #2). She did it twice very happily and then the third time (mistake #3...why didn't I just stop there?!?!?!) managed to catch her toenail in the gap where the up plank joins the flat plank. Well that's what we think she did, she was completely silent, ran onto the walk fine and I didn't know she'd done anything till she was standing in her usual two on two off position holding her left paw off the ground. Others went and checked and noticed the gap there was certainly big enough for a dog to catch a toenail. I said a not very nice word and ran over to check it out. There was quite a bit of blood however she clotted well and it stopped fairly quickly after pressure was applied. We wrapped it in a towel and a vet nurse cleaned it up, trimmed some of the hair and washed it in a betadine solution before wrapping it with some gauze and vet wrap bandaging. I of course started running through all the implications for a cancer dog who does this and is in the middle of chemo treatments and then mentally kicked myself up and down for allowing this to happen and went onto to feel like absolute crap about the whole thing for two days. Stupid dogwalk equipment!! Stupid handler...stupid toenail!! I emailed Ken next morning and he said he'd give her half a paracetomol for the pain but did not mention any need for antibiotics as a precaution which is good.
Anyway here we are at Saturday. She's hardly limping now and I check the nail twice a day. Its quite firmly attached and looks healthy. She's been crated mostly for the last 3 days and is out today. She's eating well and apart from being pissed off about not being allowed to run around, play or do any training she seems quite well within herself. I am boosting her fiber intake this weekend (she's getting a pear each day) in preparation for her treatment Tuesday with Doxorubicin the most toxic drugs of the protocol.
So that's the latest in Raven's upates...she can have a rest from anything agility wise for at least a week probably longer (nearly two weeks). At least after this treatment Tuesday she has two whole weeks off from treatment as well.

Raven: AKA Cancer Arse Kicker!!!

YEAH!!! Raven's white blood cell count back up to 2.5 today...which is excellent since they only need it to be 2 for treatment and last week it was 1.4
She is still in partial remission and the oncologist reckons she's getting there. The nurse who discharged her today said that often the first three treatments will place them into partial remission and that the fourth treatment (with the strongest drug Doxorubicin) will just kick them into full remission. The Oncologist was happy with how good she was looking (this week just gone was much better than the week before that) and went with the same dose today as she got the first time. It was the Vincristine again, and as she'd had a mild reaction the first time he'd decided not to raise the dosage.
I can barely find the lymph nodes behind her stifles now which is a very positive sign. She was very happy to see me once again when I picked her up, the Nurse said she was a model patient, and very good to treat and a non-barker which every vet industry worker would appreciate I guess! So definitely good news! Monday's have a certain sense of trepidation about them now and the news at 3.30pm is something I think about most of the day. I just hope everything goes as smoothly as it has so far.

Trial today

Only took Raven to the trial today. Cypher is having a break fo a weekend or two. I had entered Raven in a couple of runs and decided to play it by ear. She was certainly well enough today so we went - it was an afternoon trial again. Her Masters Agility run confirmed how much better she was feeling - she broke her start!!! Wasn't a full on blast past me or anything but enough to creep up to the first bar and then knock it of course...so we finished the course anyway I could tell she was enjoying herself. We did a ripper run in Open Agility, again I can't quite help feeling incredibly lucky every time I run her now. I have to smile as we get to have another go. She ran perfectly and with more of her old speed which led to me being too late with the out command on the distance challenge. We copped a refusal but that was our only fault. I was more than happy and grateful for the glimpse of the old Raven. Her lymph nodes (I felt them today) are now more the size of the stone in a small peach which is great. Her appetite still good (fresh cooked bacon for the trial today) and things are looking normal. She's harrassing her back left toes lately, I think the itchiness is creeping back in, keeping a close eye on it. Back in to Murdoch tomorrow for treatment #3.
I had fun running my other two borrowed dogs today - Dexter, another Rhonabwy BC, in Excellent Jumping for a clear round and first place, his owner Janice was wrapt and then Rumour, the Sheltie, she was a bit put out by the minimal warm up but we finished off clear for not a bad run.
We now have a break, long weekend next weekend which is trial-less and then the next one is on June 10th Sunday. That's the weekend Raven gets a week off from treatment on Monday (meaning the long weekend she gets the most toxic drug in her treatment) . I'm now looking ahead to that treatment hoping fervently that she, in her true Raven toughness, experiences no toxicity to this one. We can but hope.

Cypher's First Kids

Well here they are - Cypher's first progeny. Born April 23rd to a dam called Angel (Oodnadatta Shes An Angel). Three boys and three girls. They are 4 weeks old in the photos below taken today. I definitely got my puppy fix in and fell in love with girl number 1. We'll go back and get some more photos when they are around 6 or 7 weeks - if anyone is looking for a puppy right now let me know and I'll put you onto their breeder, Nadine.

Brother and Sister

Boy #1 (already dubbed "Frankie" for his two blue eyes)


Boy #2


Boy #2

Boy #3



Boy #3

Girl #1

Girl #1

Girl #2

Girl #2

Girl #3


Girl #3

Great NEWS for Border Collie Owners/Breeders

TNS Research Update Report
21 May 2007
The donations in 2006 to TNS research from the Border Collie Clubs of NSW, Vic and Qld and several generous breeders from Australia and US came at a critical time and has allowed us to continue the work which has identified the TNS gene and found what appears to be the mutation responsible for the disease. This work was not possible without the samples from litters with affected pups that were provided by breeders. The enthusiastic work of breeders to spread the word about the problem and the research has led to the attraction of funds from the UK Pastoral Breed Health Foundation which had set aside funds to support genetic research in working dogs. Together these funds have allowed us to make rapid progress toward our main aim, which was to identify the TNS mutation, and to examine its distribution in Border Collies around the world.The funding has provided the consumables we need to do the lab work and the PBHF funds provide a PhD Scholarship for Jeremy Shearman, which now allows him to work full time on the project. The support has allowed him to examine nearly all of the TNS gene in 2 TNS affected dogs and 2 carriers and several controls in just 6 months. He has tested about 30,000 DNA bases that make up the functional part of the TNS gene and has found what appears to be the mutation that causes the disease. We need to confirm this by showing that the mutation exists in the large number of affecteds and carriers that we have already tested, and not in unrelated unaffected dogs. To do this we need to develop acost effective, efficient test for the mutation. Once we have shown that this DNA difference is the cause of TNS in all known carriers, we will check that all of the dogs predicted to carry the mutated TNS gene by our previous test examining segregation of chromosomes in TNS related animals is 100% accurate.
We will also screen samples that showed no sign of TNS to confirm that no other chromosome types also carry the TNS mutation.The identification of what is very likely the TNS mutation means that we can now test any dog for TNS. Dogs to be tested no longer have to be related to knownTNS carriers. Information on samples submitted for testing and test results are kept confidential by us and owners are encouraged to publish their resultson the Border Collie Health web site. This means that not all of the test results are generally available yet.This good news of identifying the TNS mutation is well timed as it balances the bad news that the application for funding of this research through an ARCLinkage Grant was not successful.
We will continue to rely on donations and funds raised from our DNA testing to fund further research in Border Collies andother breeds.Since February, we have typed 800 samples to reveal 180 carriers and 2affecteds. Twenty-one of the carriers were from recent litters. We haveidentified 7 carriers from English ISDS lines to date. This supports theunconfirmed TNS cases from ISDS lines on the Border Collie Health Website astrue TNS. It also indicates the mutation is very old and has been around in thebreed for a very long time.Testing has been difficult on a small proportion of samples. This has led to asmall number of revisions of preliminary test results. Some buccal swabs do notprovide enough DNA for testing and so blood samples are preferred. Poor qualityof sample leads to delays in results and are much more likely to produce errors.It is hoped that the new test being developed will allow testing of even thepoor samples that have been submitted.Any samples will now be accepted for TNS testing at UNSW. Forms are availableon the Border Collie Health website, htttp://bordercolliehealth.com , on theTNS page. Once samples arrive in the lab it takes two to three weeks to enterdetails into the database, run tests, and send out results by email, so plantesting accordingly. The preferred sample locally is blood in EDTA tubes whichmust be packaged properly to send in the mail. Blood on FTA cards is moreconvenient for international samples. Mouth swabs can be sent from puppies atjust a few days old but a proportion (~10%) of swabs do not work so resultscannot be guaranteed and duplicate swabs are recommended.
DNA testing of genetic diseases such as TNS, allows breeders to continue to usecarrier animals in matings (if mated to TNS clear animals) and test the progenyfor carrier status. This means no desired breeding lines need be lost andbreeders can still select the best puppies to keep for breeding without anyfurther risk of producing TNS affected animals. Over a period of severalgenerations the disease can be eliminated from the breed by testing and selectedbreeding. Then testing will be no longer necessary. TNS is inherited as arecessive disorder like CL and CEA. If both parents are tested clear of TNSthen their progeny must be also free of the TNS mutation. In matings where oneparent is a TNS carrier, about half of the pups, on average, can be expected tobe carriers. In some litters all pups will be carriers and in others none willbe, but each pup has a 50:50 chance of being a carrier if one parent is. Foreach puppy from matings between two carriers, there is a 1 in 4 chance it willbe affected, a 1 in 4 chance it will be clear of TNS, and a 1 in 2 chance itwill be a carrier. But such matings can result in any combination of affected,carrier and normal pups. For example, one litter had 4 affected, 3 carriers and1 clear puppy.

TNS has most likely been in the Border Collie breed since it originated as itoccurs in several lines that are only distantly related. It occurs in show dogsoriginating from Australia/New Zealand, in pure English working dogs and inAustralian working dogs that are unrelated to the show dogs. The disease canpresent as very different symptoms from one affected litter to another which hasmade it difficult to recognise as a genetic problem. It is probably the majorcause of "fading" or "failing" puppies. Now a DNA test exists there shouldnever be another puppy affected by TNS and eventually TNS can be eliminatedfrom the breed. The purpose of this research, undertaken at University of NewSouth Wales in Sydney, has been to assist breeders improve the health andwelfare of the dogs. A side benefit is that the research could also assist inthe knowledge and treatment of the disease in human patients.Testing is currently only available at UNSW where the TNS and CL tests have beendeveloped. The research into developing a more widely available TNS test anddetermining the prevalence of TNS in the breeding population continues to bedone by PhD student, Jeremy Shearman. Without the support of the breeders andowners, the amazing progress Jeremy has made in a short time would not have beenpossible and his work could not continue.
Alan Wilton,
PhDSenior Lecturer in Genetics
Head of Canine Research Lab

Everyday IS a Good Day

Here we are at Wednesday, a week and a half after Raven’s diagnosis. So far I am very pleased with how she is going, there’s room for even more progress but that would be like a lottery win I think. She had her 2nd chemotherapy treatment Monday. I took her into work on Monday morning, the kids were very impressed. She lay up the front of the classroom on her blanket whilst I was teaching. From time to time she’d wander around seeking some pats from many willing hands. I took her into Murdoch straight after that and filled in her weekly update chart this covered whether she had an episodes of vomiting, diarrhea, appetite reduction, lethargy or sleepiness levels plus her weight (I also had typed up a one page report of how she went during the week, based on her general well being, diet and exercise). The nurse who checked her in spoke to me as I asked a few more questions. I found out that her Lymphoma is B-Cell type so that was good (it is the one that responds better to chemo rather than the T-Cell type) and that when they take her blood that morning before treatment they check her white blood cell count and hope that it is around 2. The nurse said if it was 1.9 or 1.8 then it would be up to Ken Wyatt’s discretion as to whether they push ahead with treatment. So I left her there around 10.30am with the promise that I would be seeing her at 3.30 to pick her up. She didn’t like being left there, definitely wanted to walk out the door with me, but eventually she went with the nurse on lead without causing too much fuss.

He had asked how she went exercise wise and I told him that she had come to training with me both nights and done a few jumps and a simple course. I explained that we had been to Geraldton on the weekend and that she had originally been entered in 8 runs, 4 on the Saturday and 4 on the Sunday. I scratched her from 3 of the runs each day and took her out to do one run in the Masters Agility class each day. I figured if she wanted to have a go she could, she had been rather frustrated watching Cypher do his runs, so I surmised that if she felt well enough and wanted to run with me we’d have a turn. I am becoming more and more convinced that the positive and optimistic attitude towards her health that will help her overcome this includes her being able to participate and enjoy her life as she normally does and with agility always being such a big part of her life I truly believe she would definitely feel that something was amiss or wrong if she couldn’t still partake in this activity that has been a huge part of her weekly routine. So we lined up on the start line and before I’d even given her the OK to go I found myself just smiling at her like an idiot thinking how lucky I was to be able to share this with her. We took it easy and she seemed to do the same, I handled her in a much more laid back fashion than usual. My relaxed attitude nearly contributed to an off course and caused a very wide turn but by the end she was flying in front of me and we finished the course clear for 5th place. She was having a ball! She got a whole egg out of my bacon and egg toastie for her jackpot and she thought that was great! She was fine after the run, certainly not too tired to stop barking instructions to Cypher round his next few runs! The next day we had another go at Masters Agility, she had travelled very well, slept well and was eating like a horse so I figured she was up for it. We had a couple of wobbles round the course, she got stuck at the end of the chute, weaver entry had a slight glitch but I was just having a ball running her cherishing every second. She ran clear again for 4th place this time just behind Nifty, Jess and Terra. It’s amazing, whilst my handling was far from exact and sharp, I was just so relaxed, not caring if we ran clear or not it seems to have added an element of control that is sometimes missing from our runs! She was really responsive and tuned in. I was so glad I had made the long drive, despite Cypher having weave pole issues all weekend. At least he managed two clear very nice runs in Open and Masters Jumping at the end.
So the nurse was happy to hear that she had felt well enough to be active on the weekend and he kept my report in her file.

I returned at 3.30pm to pick her up and this time a different nurse came and discharged her. She came out with her bum wriggling and tail going madly very happy to see me. She looked no different from when I dropped her off apart from being happy now and having a small patch on her other front leg shaved. The nurse told me it had all gone well; she had the treatment fine and was ready to go home. I asked about the blood test and her white blood cell count and he told me it was low but Ken had decided she was fit enough for treatment. I asked how low and the answer came back – 1.4. Internally I was a bit alarmed at this recalling what the Nurse had said that morning, and basically said “Wow and he still did treatment!?!” The Nurse nodded and said Ken obviously felt that she was fit and healthy enough to take that risk. Which I was glad for because otherwise her treatment plan would have been delayed by a week but I was still surprised. I emailed Ken the next day asking about it. He agreed that he had made a judgement call based on the fact that he thought she was doing well (lymph nodes have reduced somewhat and she had gained 0.3 of a kilo) but also that my concerns about her being more susceptible to infections should not be too deep because the length time the WBC is low for means in general, infection cannot take hold. The only problem might arise from bacteria that already exists in the gut and that I should let him know straight away if she has any appetite reduction or is more sleepy than usual. So I took her home and she seemed a little tired but nothing out of the ordinary. She had a slight episode of upchuck of some yellow bile at around 7.30pm but that was it and an hour later was busy getting a good sized meal down her. She slept the whole night through Monday night and was toileting normally. So far that little episode is the only evidence of the chemo treatment.

I of course have still been scanning, browsing and reading lots of information and I also emailed Ken asking about the creditability of some of the documents I had come across.
I had found some very interesting reading from the World Small Animal Veterinary Congress held in Prague last year 2006. Check this page for a few the of latest findings and theories;

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2006&Category=2681&O=Generic

I have a list of questions to email Ken with now (I am trying to space my emails out so I don’t seem like a completely neurotic dog owner!). I emailed Ken initially with the following question; Should I or can I give her additional Arginine supplements (at the moment her sources would only be poultry and seafood - sardines and tuna) as well can extra Glutamine and Cysteine be given?
I had read in the documents at the website a study or two had suggested positive findings with regards to the use of these supplements. Ken replied (very promptly!) that the author of the papers was well respected and whilst the information he provides has logic currently there is very little evidence (simply due to lack of studies) to back it up. That said he also stated that it would do no harm to give these supplements at 1/3 the dosage on the bottles. So I am looking into purchasing these supplements right now.

My other questions that I need to pose include;

1. Can Raven’s serum levels of docosahexaenoic acid be tested to see if they are elevated? That way I will know if the supplementation I am currently giving with the n-3 fatty acids (in the form of fish oil capsules) is working. It also helps with lowering her plasma lactate levels.
2. When she enters remission will her lactate and insulin levels decrease to normal levels? These levels are a major part of what causes her to feel tired right now when exercising.
3. Should I give Trimethoprim/sulfadiazine to reduce her GI toxicity when she needs to have the doxorubicin treatment? (This drug is the most toxic of the four drugs in her protocol)
4. And the most serious/biggest implication question for Ken; does he think that the autologous bone marrow support that allows chemotherapy dose intensification would be worth doing given the increased toxicity risks?

That last one is critical, everything I have read about the treatment of transferring bone marrow has so far been definite that the chances of cure and longer remissions are far greater than without the bone marrow support. It sounds like a drastic procedure and the toxic effects can be far greater due to the much higher dosage of chemotherapy. It is something we have to seriously think about and probably enter into long discussions about between ourselves and with Ken. So far I am highly impressed with the treatment both myself and Raven has received at Murdoch. The Nurses and the doctors (both Ken Wyatt and the intern Amy Lane) have been nothing but patient and absolutely on the ball with all queries and concerns. Their prognosis, whilst guarded, is undeniably positive and their attitude is optimistic. This had helped alleviate my concerns considerably knowing that Raven is in good hands when I leave her there each Monday.
So that is where we are currently at, as I mentioned we’d have won the lottery if all signs of the cancer immediately disappeared and she was on her way to a confirmed cure however all things considered I feel she is doing very well. Her lymph nodes have decreased in size, she has put weight on, she is not experiencing toxicity from the treatments. I’d really like to see her WBC back to a more normal 2 next week but we shall see. She has the Vincristine again next Monday, then the doxorubicin the following Monday.They do not do a test to confirm remission until her 9th treatment, and thankfully (because whilst I know biopsies are not a big deal I still feel an aversion to them) they only need do an Node Aspirate where they take a sample of cells from the lymph nodes via a needle to test for the presence of cancer cells.

I’d just like to say a word of thanks to all those people who have emailed, messaged, left messages here – it means a lot to know that so many people are wishing for a positive outcome for my girl. If psychic vibes play any part she is well on her way to beating this cancer!

Stay tuned for the next update!

Early Days

Well so far so good. It's Thursday, 4 days after Raven's first treatment last Monday. So far the only side effects I have noticed is on Monday night her increased frequency of urination and pooping. All outside thankfully, though I did not get much sleep that night! I am sleeping in our lounge at the moment so that if she needs to go it's not far for me to stumble out of bed still half a sleep to let her out. Monday night that was about 5 times. Tuesday night only once and then last night we slept the whole night through. She is still eating and drinking well, no signs of vomiting at all. She was semi off her food a bit on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning - but she was back to demolishing a chicken frame Wednesday afternoon. She is experiencing a some soft stools at the moment but nothing too excessive. We go back in on Monday and work has decided to be flexible, I can take her between teaching classes. She will have a repeat blood test every time before they do the chemo.
As for her activity she is still running to the door each time one of us arrives home, insisting on being at the door before I left for training both nights and was even feeling up to doing some light training over a simple course and a few jumps. Feeling good enough to have her usual barking at me over jumps happening. She's lapping up the attention though I have to say....I'm thinking she'll be milking it too very soon! She's not silly, she'll figure out pretty quick that if she looks attentive enough and nudges a pocket insistently then she's pretty much got it in the bag treats wise. Diet wise she's still enjoying her raw BARF patties, veggie mash, yogurt and chicken frames, turkey wings are on the menu in the next couple of days too. I do have to say though, in the way of training treats for dogs there's really not a whole heap of 'healthy' options out there that still gets the kind of 'will do handstands to have' kind of mentality. There is such a lot of garbage in frankfurts, chicken roll, chunkers, pre cooked sausages of ANY kind. Four Legs is not bad ingredient wise but that coconut gets everywhere and plus pasta is one of the main ingredients and I can't use carbs on Raven, not a whole heap anyway. I'd like to keep the raw meat for dinner time rather than training. Anyone else know of a really quick convenient healthy but tasty option for training treats (not counting cheese) that doesn't involve a whole heap of chemicals or carbs??? Yes I can cook up liver and chop that up, and I do on occasion but even that is time consuming and smelly for the kitchen I have to say!

First Win Under Her Belt

GREAT NEWS! Raven's bone marrow came back clear of cancer along with her blood test, so her marrow and blood are still very much cancer free YAY!
She is lying at my feet on her favourite Snooza Pet Futon, feeling very drowsy and tired but contented to be home. The other two youngsters Cypher and Spryte are sniffing at the door wondering what's going on but Raven deserves some peace and quiet right now.
The nurse who discharged her, Amy, gave us two lots of drugs to take with us just in case. One is if she has some mild nausea and the other is for more serious vomiting. She said 1 in 5 dogs will show some side effects but it is not very common at all. Her first drug in her chemo treatment was Vincristine and they inject it via a catheter. All her treatments will be via a catheter due to the risk of even a tiny drop not going where it should. She will go back next Monday for her 2nd treatment. She goes once a week for four weeks then one week off. This continues for 16 treatments. So far so good. I will see if she is interested in food tonight and give her a half or quarter meal. But other than giving her time to sleep off the sedation effects of her marrow test and ensuring she can let me know when she needs to go outside or have a drink there is not a lot more that I can be doing right now. We will know within 4 days whether or not she tolerates this drug well as the nurse said it can take up to 4 days for any side effects to develop. We've got the first win done so hopefully this second one will happen as well.

Raven's BIG Day

Raven goes in for chemo and a marrow aspirate today. It's 7am right now and I am wondering what exactly her day will be like when I take her into Murdoch and leave her there. It sounds horrible "leave her there", but according to a number of sources and basic logic really it would be unreasonable for me to expect to be able to hold her paw through this one. Even if I did go out and purchase all my own HAZMAT gear and turn up in it. Not sure Murdoch is big on allowing it's patients' owners' run that chemo drug exposure risk.
She came to the trial yesterday and was most vocal when I was running Cypher, I think she thought he must have been doing it all wrong. Either way people told her she could bark as much as she liked and that I shouldn't be telling her off! She got her walks round the grounds and enough pats and cuddles to see her through to next year even. Spoilt with polony and sausage treats all day she was very pleased with herself and her beseeching talents that appeared to work so effectively for her all day.
Cypher was certainly enjoying himself after a full week off from training. First run up was the Open Agility and I worked him through his weaves all the way to then end (instead of just trusting him like I should of) causing him to pull off the aframe after he'd put two paws on it in the distance challenge. He was flying though and very responsive. Next was Masters Jumping and his handler needed some ginseng or something because she managed to get lost a few times and caused him to run clear but over time for the first time in his career, 3 seconds of faffing around cost us! Good boy though for being polite and waiting for me to point him the right direction. Then it was Open Jumping and on this one he ran clear for 4th place, I actually remembered the course and he was switched on. Masters Agility was a lovely course, my boy was the only dog to come out the bendy tunnel and look back to see an off course tyre that he just had to take. Grrrrr....oh well he was just making things even since I stuffed him completely on the Masters Jumping.
In the afternoon we faired much better, Open Agility clear and 6th, Masters Jumping clear and 5th (after a very desperate and loud COME as he thought the course should go one way whilst I was going another) and then Open Jumping clear and 9th. Masters Agility again brought home to me how much we really need to work the tunnel under aframe scenario, he always sees the tunnel NEVER the a frame, even when he is virtually standing on the bottom of the aframe he still tried to do the bendy tunnel. Definitely one for training!
So here we are Monday. The Monday where I'd just like us to have two wins, two very big wins I guess. Win One: Her marrow is clear of cancer Win Two: She tolerates the chemo with flying colours. Raven loves to run fast and win, hopefully she'll fight for these wins today.

Saturday update

Raven still looks okay today. She had one upchuck in the afternoon but nothing serious just a bit of yellow bile. She kept a whole large chicken wing down without any trouble afterwards and was harassing for more! I think the lymph nodes in her neck are now just starting to slightly irritate her throat as she having a slight cough here and there if she gets up too fast or jumps down from the bed/couch. Still fairly bright and interested in the household routines. I went shopping, bought a trolley load of veges, some flax seed oil, fish oil capsules and some chicken carcasses, lamb's liver and chicken wings. She likes her veggies but I need to make sure her diet is mostly raw meaty bones or meat by itself.
I went and scrolled through the photo websites from the Nationals and have decided to upload a bunch of them here. These were from Epsom Rd Studios, Kim Bartons Photos, After FX Photos and of course Yourdogphotos.

Cypher on the start line - unfurling the tail in launch prep

Raven - Open Agility Sunday morning, toilet brush tail in tow

Cypher actually looking like he means business

Raven - at least she's easy to pick out...

Shock horror - we caught another Cy on a mission look


The above shots are from her finals run on the Sunday afternoon




These are the weave poles used and this illustrates how beautifully they moved after a dog like Cy goes through them

There is definitely something wrong with this photo - either Cy's eye has just been caught by sexy female canine ringside OR he simply has not understood his SPIN command (go LEFT!)


More pics from Raven's Finals Run

Cypher riding the biggest seesaw he's ever been on!
Poncy Cypher - I swear he deliberately makes his fur do
the 'windswept' look just for the camera

Rippin' it Up Cypher



Weaven Raven! Girl on a mission!




Cypher getting ready for four on the floor

Raven riding the biggest seesaw in the world to the ground
Ain't no judge gonna see me miss this contact!
Cy - all focus during the challenging distance part, but decides
the easy section is not hard enough!

Now if she'd snapped half a millisecond earlier my tail would NOT be in this shot!
Masters Jumping - the handler had all the info just failed to let the dog know in time!

I believe the photographer may have caught a rare moment here - I think he might actually be watching me lead out!Of course he was watching - look at that focus!

Raven did this Open Agility course like the seasoned pro that she is, just one slightly tapped bar cost us a finals spot.

Fine okay I'll ride the seesaw ALL the way if you insist!

Raven on the start line, Simone is probably reviewing her memory of the course. Raven has obviously heard about the neck exercises elite athletes always do before a run.