Week 6 and a big decision

On September 30, Trapper had a dose of Vincristine and it was really tough on him. He just felt awful.

Poor little buddy after his Vinc treatment :(

The night of October 2 was hard. I looked at Trapper and his spirit was weak. I really think the chemo was slowly killing him. His life wasn't what he wanted it to be....I'm certain that if he could talk he would have told me so. I decided, and Michael agreed, that we wouldn't continue putting Trapper through this. He is such a proud dog, such a larger-than-life boy, and it just wasn't fair to him.

The next day I spoke with his chemo vet and she told me that in her mind, this treatment was the proverbial "line in the sand". If he had another bad reaction to what had historically been one of the easiest drugs for him, that it was time to consider another path. I can't say enough good about Dr. Karin Cannizzo--I'm so thankful to have her on this journey with us!

So, 6 weeks into the 26 week protocol, we pulled the plug on the Wisconsin-Madison treatment protocol. It served Trapper so well 2 years ago, but it just isn't in the cards this time around.

Trapper bounced back pretty well and thanks all of his fans for their love and prayers...
he's looking like that proud boy I know and love!

Tired baby

There are still days that I look at Trapper and my heart breaks a little. Thankfully, his appetite has returned, but still he's so thin. He had reached 47 pounds, but today (Oct 9) he was only 46.4 pounds. We gave him IV fluids on Oct 3, but happily his diarrehea settled down so we didn't have to give him any more. We're still waiting for his GI system to totally return to normal. I think that will help him feel SO much better.

That is the face of a HUNGRY boy!

Chillaxin' in the living room

So, what now? The first step, to quote the vet, is to see how good Trapper can feel. We want him to be happy, be interesting in playing, and return to agility class, even if it means jumping 4" jumps :) Next step is we hope for a long, long remission time. If/when he comes out of remission, we will likely start him on lomustine, which is the final medication in our "bag of chemo tricks". Until then, as much snuggling as Trapper will allow and gratitude for every day we have with him. And yes, plenty of tears when I think of the inevitable.

Give those pups an extra hug for me and thanks for all the support--it means the world to us!