Just wanted to post a cute video of Mac playing this morning. We are trying to keep him active despite the lack of walks. He used to LOVE going on walks and he could go pretty far too, but now we can barely take him to the corner and back without him getting tired!
Hoping to order him a life vest this week so we can get him in the pool!
https://youtu.be/_zEkdVqyUss
Well I must say that I have some GREAT news to share! Mac had his 3rd chemo yesterday (1 more to go!) along with his first set of scans since his surgery on April 29, 2015 and they are CLEAN!!!!!
I couldn’t be more thrilled. It sucks not knowing whether or not the chemo or the extensive amount of Eastern meds are actually making a difference or not, but I’d like to think so! We have our last chemo in 3 weeks and then we are DONE! Scans every 3 months after that. I asked Dr. Turner when we consider a dog to be in remission and she said 2 years of clean scans. Well, since Mac is 11 1/2, if he made it another 2 years REGARDLESS I would be a very happy mama.
As I told my mom yesterday when she told me to be prepared for a bad result, I thought Mac would be gone by now so anything extra is just bonus time.
Thanks for reading!
Lots going on in our lives right now! First, this doesn’t exactly have anything to do with Mac (besides the fact that he is our ‘baby’) but you guys are my friends and I wanted to tell you that Connor and I got ENGAGED this weekend!!!!!!!! We tried to show Mac the ring but he was just interested in belly rubs 🙂
You know, before Mac was diagnosed, I had thought to myself ‘Man, life is GREAT right now!’ We had just spent a week in Mexico, our 5-year anniversary was approaching, we had the best dog in the world who was healthy and happy as a clam… Then, our happy little life was destroyed by the pain of the diagnosis and also the decision of what to do. After we had finally MADE the decision, we had to deal with the surgery and living away from home for 3 weeks during the recovery, AND the cost of it all. I kept thinking about how happy we had been and how sad and conflicted we were now.
I think either Mac knew how pained we were or he is just a general badass (or a combination of both) and made his recovery as inspirational and as truly manageable as possible. As you know, bringing him home was one of the most nerve-wracking things due to our stairs, but he has just completely obliterated any fear. We don’t even need to supervise him anymore – he just flies down them without any problems (see below videos 🙂 ).
And now it really feels like a balance in our life has been restored. We are home, Mac is happy, pain-free, incredibly muscular, and healthy (as healthy as a cancer-dog can be) – WE are happy. We are living in the moment, and things finally feel ‘right’ again.
In other ‘Mac’ news, the lovely Two Hands Four Paws’s Lauren Kay took a couple AMAZING videos of Mac during his second physical therapy a few weeks ago. I love that you can see the mechanisms of his 3-legged swimming from under the water. THANKS LAUREN!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDqjwgMS6GA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-WU126eLlE
Thanks for reading! Wednesday marks the 2-month ampuversary so I will be sure to post more photos from Mac’s most recent shoot.
Mac had his second chemo yesterday afternoon. The doc (Dr. Turner) wanted to up the dose by about 15-20% since we vocalized we are only interested in doing 4 (as opposed to 6) rounds of chemo. He emerged happy, wagging his tail and excited to see me. The rest of the day and night, however, he was a VERY SLEEPY PUP! He drank an enormous amount of water and was moving at a glacial pace.
Luckily he woke up this morning his usual, energetic self. We are scheduled to come in for PT tomorrow afternoon – do you think that is too much for him 2 days after chemo?
Our awesome photographer friend, Alex, came over again last night and took some magnificent, beautiful and gorgeous pictures of the sleepy Mac so hopefully soon I will be able to share with you.
I know I JUST posted an update about Mac’s physical therapy (and now there’s a video!) but I promised I would show you a video of Mac and his stair progress! Here’s ‘Up,’ which was great by Day 1. Here he was yesterday:
https://youtu.be/FuRqy_AvRuw
Annddd….drum roll please….here’s ‘Down’ as of yesterday:
https://youtu.be/eaLlCriO6nI