Good Night Sweet Boy

You were a loyal protector and companion for almost 12 years.  You were Laurie's guardian and ever watchful companion.  Alas, you also fell victim to cancer just as Laurie did.



Over the last several weeks Theo's bone cancer has continued to progress.  I slowly increased his pain medication little by little every 5 or 6 days through this past Wednesday.  This last increase helped ease his discomfort, but he was clearly not in touch with the world and he slept most of the day only moving if it was time to eat or someone came by to visit.  This is no life for a dog and it would be selfish of me to keep him any longer.  It's time for Theo to join Laurie and sleep the painless sleep.

I met with the doctor this morning and he agreed that we could play with medications, but he said this is bone pain and there's only so much that can be done and other drugs would be at least as likely to make him as sleeping or out of it.  So, with his support I made the difficult decision.

It's been a tough week for me, but I've had good friends and counseling to get me through.  Cassie is ever present and there for me as I struggled to assess Theo and do the right thing.  Theo has been a constant presence in Cassie's life and she doesn't really know what life is like without him.  We will rely on each other for support and comfort in the coming days and weeks.

Here are a couple of videos that the dog walker produced of Theo.  They are public facebook, so you should not need an account there.
https://www.facebook.com/seespotrunsanjose/videos/1223716084390327/
https://www.facebook.com/seespotrunsanjose/videos/1223663477728921/

What's going on with Theo -- An update 2 weeks into chemo

Theo and Cassie on Feb 12, 2017 after a walk in Willow Glen

I realized I should probably post an update on how things are going.  If I've talked to you in person during the last week you know most of what I'm going to say here.

Theo started pill based chemo (Toceranib  aka Paladia) 2 weeks ago.  All his bodily activities have been normal, although it may have a slight reduction in appetite, but it's hard to tell since pain is more of a factor for his appetite.  In general Theo is eating and drinking well, but if he is in discomfort/pain he'll resist eating his food with green beans.  Removing the beans is all it takes for him to eat though.

Theo telling Heather how much he appreciates her visit

Unfortunately, Theo's pain has continued to grow as has his tumor.  In the two weeks since the vet oncologist saw him the tumor has showed progression and I can see that it's grown from it's original size (the ?benefit? of the area around it being shaved).  Earlier this week we went from 2 Tramadol twice a day to 3 pills 3 times a day.  This made a marked change in his behavior and he was much less whiny and appeared more comfortable.  Starting Friday I've begun to wonder if we need to increase the medications again.

We saw the doc on Friday and he said we can go to 4 x 3 if we need on the Tramadol, but it may make Theo groggy.  After that we can add in gabapentin.  Again, this will likely make him groggy.  So we have a couple levels of pain management we can work with.

Theo the happy boy Feb 18, 2017

It's not clear at this point if the Paldia is having much impact.  The doc likes to give it a month to decide if we should continue.

The amazing thing is that Theo's demeanor has generally been good.  If he's not walking he's sweet and loving and the same old boy.  When he walks though it's really tough.  He's still able to get around and is still making a nightly trip to sleep by me.  I am about to go on a brief work trip and I expect that when I come back I'll start sleeping on the first floor so he won't make the trip.  It's a balance between my needs and his.

Post Radiation Follow-up for Theo

Good news and bad news for Theo.  The bad news is that there is progression, but the good news is that it's mild and there are no major changes.  Given the progression I decided to begin a pill form of chemotherapy called Palladia.  The doctor said it has a 30% chance of slowing or stopping the progression.  I figure that's worth the price of admission (which, being chemo, isn't small; but we're talking about Theo).  They are running a blood panel to make sure things are OK, but the expectation is that I will start Theo Friday night.

Here is the report from the doctor