Wednesday, March 19, 2014

News

Well, it's been a while since I've had the time, energy, willpower, what-have-you to sit down and update y'all about the kids.  We got some potentially amazing news about this guy, Guy, today:


This brave little soldier may be coming to the end of his chemo road.  We are scheduled for on last treatment in two weeks.  We will follow his chemo with some chest x-rays to make sure that there is no visible mass.  Depending on the results of the chest x-rays, and really the most likely outcome, we will then follow with a thymidine kinase-1 test, which, as I understand it, is a DNA blood test to check on lymphoma levels.  This test almost never gives a false negative, but it can give a false positive.  Depending on the results of this test and the chest x-rays, we may need to also do a full CT scan, which is nerve wracking not only because of the cost (ALL of this is killing us financially, but kids, man.  We love our kids more than all the money in the world), but more importantly because Guy would have to go under anesthesia and, obviously, we want to avoid doing this whenever possible.  Please keep us in your prayers, thoughts, wish on a shooting star, what-have-you.  Now, no matter where we end up in 2 weeks, it is 98% likely that our little hero will not be in full molecular remission, especially since his lymphoma is T-cell, but it will give him enough remission to get back to life as usual until he relapses, at which point we will be looking at a whole new slew of possible treatments.  Thank God this little bug is a fighter and a champion because he is enjoying a normal and wonderful quality of life.  We want to keep it that way.  For as long as possible.  Forever if I had my way.  So there's that.

And then there's this little shit (I write with love):


Poor Coopsies is still a mess, but, true to form, he is also a brave little soldier.  We have not yet been able to get him off of all his pain medication (he takes 50mg of tramadol/ultram every 8 hours and 300mg of gabapentin every night).  He is doing fantastic with his acupuncture though and we have gotten him well enough to have started physical therapy.  His physical therapy consists of half an hour of obstacle courses that focus on strengthening his rear legs and forcing him to lift up his paws when he walks... like REALLY lift them up.  And he LOVES it.  I mean, this dog is so naughty (sometimes it's a blessing he's not too mobile) that I can barely get him to walk half a block and I usually end up carrying him part way home.  60lbs of bulldog is at LEAST 180lbs of regular weight!  I will set up an obstacle course in the backyard of our new house to keep him active.

"New house?!", you say.  Yes.  Unfortunately in the middle of all of this we are being forced to move.  We will have been in this house 2 weeks shy of a year.  Our landlords want to sell the place and we do not want to buy it.  Our new house, which I found in 3 days of learning of the move, is truly a thorn in my side at the moment due to a few issues with the landlord (we are going from overly, inappropriately attentive to "tough shit" landlords) and just quirks with the house in general.  I am confident we will be very happy there after much elbow grease, cussing, and champagne.  We were also lucky to find a house fairly close to where we are now, which keeps us close to our oncologist and critical care vets as well as our regular vet.  It also keeps us close to my parents (read: free babysitters).  Speaking of the move, I need to get back to it.

xoxox and puppy kisses in spades