Nothing But Love in Her Heart

It’s been 100 days since it was confirmed that Fallon had a bone tumor…85 days that Fallon has been Tripawd.  We’ve come a long, long way.  I forget what life was like before.  What did I do all day?  These days are structured around Fallon, but nothing like the first month or two.  That new normal is really kicking in.  It’s more like trying to figure out better ways to do things—meals that make sense and are healthier, day structure, etc.  I re-read sections of the Dog Cancer Survival Guide as now they are in context and make more sense.  I regularly check the prices of Apocaps and K9 Immunity to see where it’s less expensive.  I’m learning sections of Tripawds beyond the blogs and see how much I missed by not figuring this out earlier.  I cry some still, but not for days at a time like before.  I’ve got to work on getting myself back together–‘cause Awesome Fallon’s got this.

Chemotherapy #4 is in the books, and went well, as the prior ones have.  We feel very grateful that Fallon hasn’t had any nasty side effects afterward, and that she’s doing FABULOUS, per Dr. Sue.  I wanted to discuss the new osteosarcoma vaccine, as I desperately want Fallon to get it, but there wasn’t much time for the level of detail I wanted (it was the day after holiday and the hospital was VERY busy).  BUT, Dr. Sue brought it up first and said they will be getting it at the VCC, but they haven’t received it yet, and we’d re-visit this in 3 weeks when we’re back for carboplatin #5, AND that Fallon is a great candidate for the vaccine.  So YAY!!  We also discussed another clinical trial for osteosarcoma that they have at the VCC, to examine anti-tumor immune responses to proteins EFGR and HER2.  I don’t know what that means.  But long story short on that one—I read through material provided to us, and the main thing that is turning us against this one is we’d need to make an extra trip to the VCC that we would not normally for a blood collection the week after the protein vaccine.  It is 2.5 or 3 hours depending on traffic, and we’re in Winter here, so we are considering the benefits carefully—and the fact there may be none, as there is a control group that receives a placebo.  However, if the stars align, any tumor growth could be slowed.  So we’ll decide before chemo #5.  We can do this concurrently with the osteo vaccine.

Moral supporter Maggie generally likes to socialize at the oncology appointment, but she was hypnotized by a nearby cat.

I have been working the home cooking HARD.   I’ve made 3 batches, and we get the process down better (mostly) every time.  Most recent tries are adapted from the Dog Cancer Survival Guide recipe—first mix was beef and chicken, red peppers, cabbage and carrots, and brown rice.  There were some ingredients I just could not find that time (turkey necks (or any necks, for that matter), so I added ground up calcium tablets, as that substitution was mentioned, and also could not find liver of any kind, so I left it out, because I just wanted to get started).  Next recipe was better, chicken, beef liver (found it!), cottage cheese, brown rice, fresh broccoli, fresh cauliflower.  Found turkey necks, but lazied out by using Citrical again.  My big mistake this time—trying to save work by doubling the recipe.  I don’t have any container big enough to mix a double recipe!  It took much longer to mix than it had to, and we actually added work.  Boo.

I decided to feed a big morning meal, and then put down kibble later in the day in case the girls are still hungry.  I did step up the quality of kibble a little and decided on Taste of the Wild, as it was rated really well, mentioned in the Dog Cancer Survival Guide as a good food, and was the most cost-effective of the options named.  Fallon’s weight was up a tick at her last chemotherapy, but not a concerning amount, so we’ll just monitor.  Her weight is perfect now, and for mobility’s sake we want it to stay that way.

Next week—rehab again!!  Fallon’s favorite!!

More to come….