The Not So Good News

Toby is now pretty much blind. Cataracts. One eye is completely gone and the other is mostly gone. Very sad. He's doing OK, but he does startle easily. We've adapted -- we talk to him so he knows where we are, especially when we move. I keep him closer to me on walks so he feels more comfortable. He can't really handle steps anymore, but he does have a ramp in the front which he can handle with guidance.

The vet did a urine test just to make sure that he wasn't diabetic (he wasn't) and she did note blood in the urine. That's not surprising -- I'm sure the bladder cancer is taking its toll.

But Toby is still happy and functioning well. He eats and drinks (and it all comes out) normally. He's happy to be with his family and his quality of life still seems good, despite the challenges.

Treatments Stop

Well, I've run out of options (money) so we had to stop Toby's treatments for the time being. He seems to be doing well, but the only real way to know is to do an ultrasound, which I can't afford. My daughter says she's going to get a job (which I have been asking her to do for, oh, 4 months) to help pay for future treatment.

Toby did have a couple of days when we thought he might be having neurological problems. He seemed to be having vision and smelling problems (couldn't locate food that "fell" on the floor) but yesterday he was perfectly normal. The vet did say that humans undergoing chemo can experience problems with the smell sense but she wasn't sure if that applied to dogs.

Anyway, chemo was never going to save Toby, it was just going to postpone the inevitable. So, we go on.

Everything Going Well

Nothing new to report with Toby. He seems to be doing very well. He is supposed to go to the vet school next week for a round of chemo and ultrasound/x-ray exams. I can't afford this, so I don't know what I'm going to do. But after all I have already invested in Toby, I'd like to find out if its truly working. At any rate, he seems very happy and healthy for which we are grateful.

Update

Toby continues to do well. He had chemo this week at the vet school. He goes again in 3 weeks for what we hope will be his final chemo for now. Hopefully, I will be able to afford the full exam that will allow the vets to determine the effectiveness of the chemo (this involves ultrasound and X-rays).

We've noticed that Toby is tired a day or two after chemo, rather than the immediate day after. He was perky and fine on Thursday, but really dragging yesterday. He also doesn't eat without encouragement. But today he seems more energetic. His blood counts remain good, so he seems to be tolerating the chemo well.

We remain hopeful that the treatments are working. Toby's quality of life is great and that's really the key.

Pretty Boy

Note Toby's new photo (right).

Latest Round of Chemo

Sorry for the late update -- I had a stomach virus on Thursday and still wasn't feeling well Friday. Toby had his latest round of chemo on Wednesday and continues to do well. His skin infection is cleared up. He's happy and loving, as usual. The staff at the vet school always say nice things about Toby -- he is so sweet and cooperative.

The doctors want to do a staging the next time Toby goes in for chemo. That's a chest X-ray, full exam, ultrasound, etc. I simply can't afford it. His chemo runs about $250, plus he has CBCs every week which are close to $40 a week. An ultrasound is around $100-150. Of course, we do need to do at least the ultrasound every couple of weeks so we know that the tumor continues to shrink or at least not grow. But without the full staging procedure, we have no idea if the cancer has grown into his lungs, etc.

I added it up the other day - I've spent about $3,500 since May on Toby. At this point, I'm not sure how I'm going to continue the chemo, let alone any other procedure. But as long as he's doing well, I'm going to try.

If Its Not One Thing, Its Another

Well poor Mr. Toby now has a skin infection. This is not surprising, since his immune system is compromised from the chemo. But just when we thought he was weathering things well, this happened.

We noticed Thursday night that he had some crusty thing on his back and upon examination, realized it was raw and oozing. He was also lethargic and didn't want to eat. So, we took him to his regular vet on Friday and ($140 later) they said he has some kind of bacterial infection (not a fungal infection, which is what I suspected). He's back on antibiotics and we have to clean and put antibiotic ointment on the infection twice a day. Poor guy. But he does seem a bit better today.

He was so good at the vet. I'm sure it hurt when they were working on the wound but he didn't cry or bark or try to bite them. Just a lot of anxious licking. Good boy!

Doing Great

Toby went for his weekly blood test today. He is losing weight but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's happy and seems healthy, so we can only continue his treatments and keep hoping for the best.

We've been having nightly thunderstorms here and that leads to four panicked animals (one dog, three cats). Poor Toby had to go out in the pouring rain last night to take care of business. Ugh -- he smelled like wet dog (which he was) for much of the rest of the night!

Good News!

The report from the vet school yesterday is that Toby's tumor is shrinking! I don't have the details -- I am waiting for them to email his discharge papers. But it does seem that the chemo and piroxicam treatment is working. We are so happy! Now I just have to figure out how I am going to afford keeping his treatment going.

Toby Tummy Troubles

After his dinner on Friday, Toby let out a huge burp! It would've been amusing, except we are on guard for any signs of problems with him. Nothing followed, so I guess he's OK.

The piroxicam he is taking tends to cause stomach upset, so he is also taking famotidine (generic Pepsid AC). He does seem to get crazy near dinner time, so I am guessing that he may have some stomach problems (ulcer?) that he interprets as severe hunger pangs.

No other problems to report -- he looks and acts just fine.

Annual Check-Up

Toby had his annual check-up today. It was sort of silly since he is being seen at the vet school every 3 weeks. But he needed his rabies shot, so we had to do it. His regular vet kindly agreed to a less costly exam and she also called the vet school just to be sure it was OK to give him the rabies shot, given that Toby is undergoing chemotherapy.

So far, so good. Toby still seems healthy and happy. His blood count is stable and he isn't showing any signs of discomfort or pain. Next week, he has an ultrasound to see if the chemo is reducing the tumor. Then, we'll figure out next steps.

Photo Ops

We have been taking lots of pictures of Toby. First, he's just so cute, but also it will be nice to have all those photos one day.

He seems to be doing just fine. Absolutely no problems. But we will find out whether the treatment has been effective after his next vet school appointment on July 2.

Toby Loves Cats

The other day we were out walking and a neighbor came by with her dog (a very excitable minpin mix) and another neighbor's cat (a huge Siamese) was walking along with them. Toby did a quick sniff of the dog and then made a beeline for the cat. Of course, the cat arched up and hissed. I guess because he's a herding dog and because he has 3 cats at home, Toby loves cats. But they don't all love him!

Toby seems to be doing fine. He had a CBC yesterday at his regular vet, and of course vomited in the car on the way home. No word yet on the CBC results. But as far as eating, behavior, and bodily functions, Toby seems just fine.

Speaking of bodily functions, my daughter and I joked about how we are now obsessed with closely watching Toby pee! But it is important to make sure his bladder cancer is not affecting his ability to pee. It reminds me of when you have your first baby and you take baby care class and they show you the laminated card with the pictures of baby poop and everyone expresses much disgust. And then the instructor says "In a few weeks, this will be very, very important to you." And it is.

Good Weekend

Toby seemed normal this weekend. It seems to take him about 2 days or so to recover from chemo, so he was tired Thursday and Friday, but fine over the weekend. Its just about time for his morning walk -- it'll be way too hot this afternoon for a walk. But its supposed to cool off for the rest of the week, so maybe we can work in two-a-days.

Tired Toby

My daughter reports that Toby was very tired yesterday. I imagine he sleeps most of the day anyway, since we are not usually home (she's out of school for the summer). So his behavior may not be unusual. But she did say that Toby did not get up when a friend of hers came to the door and he usually bolts for the door when he hears someone there. He also did not eat his breakfast.

But by the time I got home, he was running around and barking and wolfed down his dinner. He seemed just fine. Who knows?!

Second Chemo

Yesterday, Toby had his second chemo treatment. He did just fine, although he did seem very tired yesterday night. He was perky this morning, his usual self. They gave him a slightly smaller dose to try to keep his white blood cell count from dropping drastically. He will have his usual CBC blood tests for the next two weeks, then his third chemo and an ultrasound in 3 weeks. That will tell us if the drugs are working.

They did feed Toby while he was at the vet school, leading me to total panic that he would vomit in the car on the way home. But fortunately he didn't. I did have them note that they should not feed him.

Hierarchy

Really nothing to report. Toby seems to be doing fine. Its very, very hot here, so he has mostly stayed inside.

I did kinda freak him out last night by laying on the floor next to him. He's very hierarchical; since I am the lead dog in his mind, if my head is below his, he doesn't think what to think. He has always seen himself as second dog to me -- this has led to him biting my daughter twice when he first came to live with us (also she got too close to his face, which he doesn't like). But now that she's older, she doesn't put up with that so Toby may still growl and show teeth to her, but he knows not to bite her. In fact, when I am not here, he assumes second dog to her lead! Silly dog.

Doggone Hot!

Not much to report -- Toby seems to be doing great. But it sure is hot -- its been close to 100 degrees all this week with no break in sight. I keep telling Toby what a hot doggie he is -- even though his forays outside, except for an early morning walk, have been few. Even with air conditioning, its hot in the house when its this hot outside.

Good News

Doctor just called with the results of this morning's blood test -- Toby's white blood cell counts are back up. They're still on the low end of normal but they are back up. I'm sure they will decline again with next week's chemo treatment, but its good to know that he may be tolerating this well. He certainly seems to be feeling great -- he's absolutely normal in every way. Good dog, Toby!

My Third Child

I have always tried not to anthropormorphize my animals but its really hard not to with Toby. Yesterday my son said Toby was like my third child and he really is. He's like a toddler -- very clingy to mom. Toby literally follows me everywhere. When he can't get to me (closed door or baby gate) he sits right there until I reappear. He could save himself a lot of energy if he would quit following me around, but he's obsessed.

Health-wise, he seems to be doing fine. He is burping a lot though -- I suspect the piroxicam gives him an upset stomach that the famotidine only partly helps.

A Little Tired

Toby seemed a little tired on Saturday. He didn't eat his breakfast and he lazed around more than normal. Of course, it was very, very hot for the first time. But around 7pm, he perked up, devoured his dinner and stayed pretty active until bedtime.

Today, we went for our morning walk and he was his usual self. He even walked up the stairs to sit with Mommy while she is on the computer, which he often doesn't do of late.

Bunnies Galore

Its interesting to me that Toby does not chase the many rabbits that we have around our house. Sometimes, he doesn't even see them. Other times, he sees and sort of goes on point, but he doesn't chase -- although to be fair, the rabbits usually freeze when they see Toby. A few days ago, we went out in the back and a rabbit was at the bottom of the steps and thus rapidly hopped away as we came out. But still, Toby didn't go after it. Maybe he had to pee too badly to think about chasing the bunny!

First Weekly Vet Visit

Toby went to his regular vet yesterday for his weekly visit. This is to do a blood draw for a CBC (complete blood count), which will measure the affect of the chemo on his white blood cells.

Unlike most dogs, Toby hates the car. He almost always gets carsick. He was panting heavily all the way to the vet and sure enough on the way back, he got sick. This is unrelated to his illness, but it will be an unpleasant consequence of these weekly vet visits.

I also heard from the vet school that the urinalysis they did when Toby was hospitalized last week showed that he does have an infection, so we will continue with the antibiotics. Probably good to do so anyway, given that the chemo will lower Toby's resistance to infection.

Looking Good

Toby has had a great weekend! He seems to be tolerating his medicines well. He looks great -- to look at him, you would never know anything was wrong. Today on his walk, he encountered friends Loki (a German shepherd) and Otis (a rambunctious Newfie). He's relaxing now, enjoying having Mommy home today for Memorial Day.

Toby's Treatment

This week, Toby had his first chemo treatment. He also started on an antibiotic because of a chronic urinary tract infection and because the chemo will reduce his white blood cell count and thus his resistance to infections; an NSAID called piroxicam which not only provides pain relief, but also has shown tumor shrinking abilities; and famotidine (generic Pepsid AC) for the stomach upset the piroxicam is likely to cause.

Interestingly, dogs do not lose their hair or nails with chemo, as people do.

Toby will have chemo every 3 weeks. He will need weekly blood tests to check his white blood cell counts. We plan on 3 chemo treatments, then an ultrasound to see if the tumor on his bladder is shrinking. If it is, we continue the chemo. If it is not, we will stop and consider our options.

Meet Toby

Toby is a collie-corgi mix who is about 9 or 10 years old. He came to live with his family 7 years ago (Mother's Day, 2001). This week, Toby was diagnosed with bladder cancer. With the help of his "mom," Toby will chronicle his battle with cancer.

Toby is a great dog. He's laid back, easy going, happy, friendly, well behaved -- everything you could ask for in a dog. He has 3 cats in his family -- they aren't especially sanguine about him, but he doesn't mind. Toby loves to eat and loves to follow his mom everywhere.