A New Season Is Here

It seems that after almost a month of being so sick Frida has decided that she wants to make the most of her canine existence. She is active, perky, frisky, and full of energy!  This brings so much needed fresh air to our life, after being overwhelmed by all sort of bad news.  Every zoomie, every slipper stolen and every jump over the sofa brightens our heart.

This has been basically the first week of treatment.   Frida is feeling great.  Every second day she gets a gourmet breakfast: kibbles, two wet food balls (with the secret ingredients) and a spoon of pumpkin puree.  I think she looks forward to those days! She’s not showing any side effects, and even the response to the diuretic has been mild;  I thought she was going to need urgently to pee all day long, but that has not been the case.

So just as the spring is arriving, we are also starting a new season with Frida that will last as long as we can keep the cancer dormant.   Is this the calm before the storm?  It’s a very bitter sweet feeling. She is so alive and at the same time she’s carrying a fatal disease.  Sometimes I wonder: Did we get the right diagnosis?  And if there was a mistake? Is Frida going to beat the odds?  I’m embracing that ray of light, and I’m wishing,praying, that she will live longer than the statistics and doctors have predicted.

This journey has been all about living the moment.  Whenever I catch my thoughts wandering way long into the future, I stop and say out loud:  “That’s not happening now, today [and here I fill in our current situation, usually a very positive one]”  And I feel much better.  This journey has been about gratitude. Every night I thank God for letting her live one more day.

I’m happy to say that we have had a great week.  Thank you all for your support and love!

“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”  – Anatole France

Before going for a walk

4 mg of Hope

Thursday evening I got the phone call that delivered more good news: Frida’s blood test were OK, so we were allowed to start her treatment. Yeih!!!

Before I continue with my story, I want to say THANK YOU!!  for your thoughts, prayers, interest, support and love. 

I continue now:

I placed an order on a compounding pharmacy  Northmount Pharmacy, they were great! . A compounding pharmacy adjust the doses to whatever has been prescribed. Let’s say that they “reprocess” the medication.  I just learned all this!  And to my surprise, here in Canada veterinary compounding exists!!  Everyday I’m surprised by the level of speciality that has been been developed in the veterinary field. I know that in other countries this doesn’t exist.  We are privileged to have access to this. Of course, everything costs a lot more, but if you can afford it, the resources are here.

So today we started.  Frida took this morning her first capsule of Cyclophosphamide, this drug  interferes with the growth or duplication of cells. There could be some side effects, but one of concern is hemorragic cystitis. For this reason she is taking the chemo drug with a diuretic medication.  Poor Frida! she usually drinks lots of water, because her normal food has this effect on her (she developed crystals in the urine a long time ago, so her kibbles are a way to keep that away) and now she will be drinking even more. But whatever is needed to make this easier and safer for her.

Frida’s protocol (Metronomic Chemotherapy) :   Cyclophosphamide 4 mg capsules, every 48 hours.  For how long?  As long as the drug can keep the metastasis away.

So today Frida received her first 4 mg of medication, hidden in some of her favourite food, and of course lots of love!  4 mg that carry with them the possibility of fighting this disease and being with us for a longer time. From now on, 4 mg of HOPE.

“Healing and transforming God,

your love knows no boundaries,

and in your sight every life is precious;

look with compassion on Frida,

and make us your agents of healing in a broken world.

Amen”

After the phone call

She has her bed back!

After I cried, Mark cried, my dad cried, and my close friends and family sent all sort of encouraging thoughts and prayers, it was time to start dealing with this.

Our first decision was that Frida wouldn’t sleep in the kennel, where she had been so unhappy the last days, as she’s used to sleep with us, on the bed. We had thought that to prevent her from jumping freely from the bed, as she usually does, it would be better to have her sleep in her kennel these weeks, as she healed. She never really complained, but she wasn’t sleeping well, having to sleep with the T-shirt was already weird for her. So knowing that  she was sick and that life had just changed, we put our mattress on the floor! That way it would be safer for her.  She’s safe, I sleep, she sleeps, Mark sleeps, we all sleep!

The second part was getting the pathology report. It was emailed to me. Here’s the description of the “nasty one”

“This spindle cell tumor falls under the broad heading of “non-lymphomatous, non-angiomatous splenic sarcoma”. With the mitotic rate seen here, the prognosis for such tumors is identical to that of splenic hemangiosarcoma.”

Reality is, that the prognosis for hemangiosarcoma is poor (article about hemangiosarcoma on the Info& Links tab)  There is basically no survival, the best that can be done is try to buy some time for the dog, with chemotherapy.

Do we want Frida to have chemotherapy? (side effects are not the same as in humans, but there are)

Can we afford chemotherapy? (vet services are extremely expensive)

Alternative medicine? (reputable vets? )

As hard as it sounds, those are things that we have to think about.  My research continues. My heart breaks from time to time, then I put it back together, so I can be strong to help my Frida.

Second decision: We will enjoy her the time God lets her stay with us. Everyday is a bonus!!

Third decision: We are seeing the oncologist, she will have extra tests done, and we will arrive to the appointment with open ears, ready to learn more about the enemy, but we will fight for Frida’s quality of life.