The Science dog!
Well Monday was Shilo’s two month Palladia checkup and my little malamute is doing great! They said the blood count is a little lower than last time but still very good.
Shilo is starting to not mind the checkups and is doing her old ‘pet me… pet me NOW!’ tricks. Took the assistant 20 minutes to write the summary because Shilo kept barging in on her. Its cute for like 5 minutes.. but 20 minutes in it’s pretty old.
Next visit (July) is the chest x-ray. Kinda scared…
Putting up the pool yesterday and my brother brings over some pool steps… he also has Monk with him (aka Shian the dog I mistook Shilo for when I initially found her).
So two high energy dogs in my yard… the 4 leg vs 3 leg chase is on. Shilo kept up with Monk no problem. Every time they would run buy on a lap (they run around the garage race car style) my brother says EVERY TIME “I can’t believe how good she does on 3 legs”. Well duh… my dogs kick butt.
Shilo tired out kinda quick.. but she kept up!!!
Was working outside and was taking a break… Shilo came up to me and wanted to play. After a few minutes of play I looked up and saw this.
Now if HE could just cure her cancer….
Took Shilo for her last weekly visit. Blood work is normal and filled out the questionnaire. Met the vets and students that are doing the trial for a few minutes and got an update.
One of the dogs in the study had died. But not from cancer or the Palladia…. sad that someone’s pup is gone, but good that the cancer didn’t get them.
Now Shilo is doing monthly visits and July will be her first chest x-ray since she started the Palladia. So I’m excited to find out how my little pup is doing but scared that I might get bad news.
This was Shilo on Monday… up the hill running around like a nut. Its a cell phone pic so it doesn’t truly capture how happy she was. She was in the bush and rolling in whatever is in the bush that dogs roll in.
Man they must really love my little pup!
http://www.vet.upenn.edu/
Its one of those slideshow things…. but She’s in there.
I had no idea she made the front page. As Shilo’s agent, I am now booking personal appearances and speaking engagements on her behalf.
Check out this write up they did on Shilo for the UPenn Vet web site:
http://www.vet.upenn.edu/research/clinical-trials/patient-stories
Today was go see the vet day and while I was waiting I was introduced to Carole a photographer (I want to so Doug? If your name wasn’t Doug, sorry I forgot it) and they asked if my little pup would like to on the UPenn Veterinary web site. Shilo didn’t object so we went into one of the exam rooms and I told Shilo’s story as she laid there hamming it up for the camera.
At least my right foot got some press.
Shilo is doing great. They said that her blood work is good but I need to keep her on antacids every day. Not a problem. Shilo loves cream cheese and ignores the pills I slip into it.
While at UPenn I did see an AWESOME Bloodhound. I tried to get it to howl. No luck. Hearing Shilo and a Bloodhound sing would have been epic. Loud, but epic.
Nice day for a drive… Shilo slept most of the way down and back.
Took Shilo to UPenn for the first weeks update on the Palladia. I finally got the pee sample I collected from Shilo out of my fridge! Blood test, talk about how Shilo is doing (GREAT!!) and wait to see if anything was up after they did whatever they do to dog blood.
Everything was normal. Yay Shilo.
Crappy part of the day was the lady and her 13 year old (I think) Redbone Coonhoud was given the news that her dog had a few days left. Man that sucked to hear. I guess it was a student that told her because it was done in a less than professional manner: while sitting on the floor of a waiting room. I felt bad for her and her dog, as the lady sat there sobbing that her beloved pet is at the end of its life. But to be told in public, while sitting on the floor in a crowded waiting room? I think that they need to cover petside manner again before they graduate some of those kids. If that lady read this, sorry about your dog.
The sad fact is that if you are in the UPenn Oncology waiting room, good news is rare and most of the dogs there are are probably not long for this world. I hope I am wrong, but odds are against it.
Here’s a glamour shot of Shilo on the way to Philly. I had to take 309 as the turnpike was closed and my normal route was therefore not available.
Happiest dog in the WORLD!!!
Took my Shilo to UPenn for suture removal, some blood work and to get the first two weeks of study meds. Shilo slept in the car all the way down (lucky girl).
As fate would have it, walking to the Med Building Shilo pee’s. Its not like she hasn’t been in the car for the last two hours. Guess what they first thing they say they need? If you guess urine sample you win! After filling out a questionnaire about how Shilo has been doing, we give Shilo water then walk/run/wait for my little Malamute to pee.
Here’s what Shilo looks like NOT peeing into a cup while everyone waits for Shilo to, well, pee in a cup.
Pro tip: (and I have no idea why the vets never heard of this) USE A PAPER PLATE TO COLLECT PEE!! For a female dog I have never, ever had any luck trying to quick jam a cup under them while they pee. But a paper/wax/plastic plate is more than big enough so you only have to ‘get close’ and still get a sample. For toy/small dogs get the little ‘cake plates’. Its a lot easier with such a large ‘target’. Because NOT getting pee’d on by your dog is a good thing. Male dogs can use a paper/wax/plastic bowl. You’ll still get some ‘splatter’ but at least you’ll get the sample.
In the end they send me home with some sample cups to get some dog pee before I give her the first dose of meds. At 11pm that night I got a few CC’s (I hope its enough) and geve her the pills.
I asked about the study and Shilo is the 4th dog (out of a planned 12 total) to start the drug trial. The first dog has been on the drug 2 months as they say its doing fine (I forgot to ask breed/sex/age). But two months post amp and still healthy is a good sign. As many cancer dog owners know the grim reality is usually weeks, not months post amp. So I am happy to hear that there is some very good, albeit very preliminary results.
It was about this time last week I got that call that Shilo came through the amputation with flying colors!
A week goes by so fast when you are doting on your puppy to get them healthy again.
Other than some minor scratching/licking (solved by an old t-shirt) Shilo is basically herself again. I did find that for her, being away from the other dogs was very beneficial (she has been at my parents house for the last week). With the other hounds there was always the urge to play, bark when the others did etc etc. Not a very calm environment for a just out of surgery dog. When I took Shilo to see everyone once she realized she was in a house with no dogs she found a spot and went right to sleep. So we agreed to let her stay there till she was back to 100%.
So today I make the appointment for next week’s stitch removal and I think the first day with the trial drug.
Checked my voice mail and got some good/bad news.
Bad news: Shilo has bone cancer. They told me the scientific name but I can’t spell it.
Good new: Its the ‘right’ cancer to be included in the trial.. so she’ll be admitted and get the cancer drug on her next visit.
So Shilo is officially a dog of science! Yay?