Lisa's Lounge

Just a little update on our boy. He had his 4th chemo treatment today (his 3rd different kind) and right now is not very happy with me for taking him. His lymphocyte count (the leukemia cells) has been slowly increasing after the huge decreases we had a couple of weeks ago. Our doggie oncologist told me no reason for alarm. But I'm still a worry wart! The treatment he had today was given intravenously, and at about 11am they called to ask me if they could give him something to "calm him down". I imagine he was very ticked off and letting them know about it. He cried this horrible howl when they took him from me this morning to go to the dreaded "back". Anyway, I picked him up about 3 and he would barely look at me. He kind of whined all the way home, telling me about his day. He's soooo tired! Poor baby! He's the sweetest dog ever. Next week we go just for a check up, no chemo. His good cell count has gotten too low to administer any more drugs for now. He is gaining weight, which is a very positive thing. Here in these photos, taken shortly after we got home, he could barely keep his eyes open. And you can see the little shaved spot on his leg from his treatment today.

A group of us gathered at Bear Rock Cafe in North Austin for some good grub and visiting in honor of Ben's bday, of course! Liz ordered a bread bowl of soup, and when it came out we all cracked up! It's huge!



We came up with several usages for the bowl... most of which cannot be mentioned in polite company.

Today is the beagle boy's birthday - he is 11 on the 11th! Ben will celebrate #36 on Monday. Happy birthday to the two most important men in my life!

We are happy to celebrate a birthday with the Beagle. Elway was diagnosed about 2 weeks ago with intermediate cell leukemia, and suspected T-cell lymphoma. I've learned quite a bit about cancer in dogs in these two weeks. His "bad" cell count was at 212,000 on July 28...this past Tuesday it was down to 18,000. The combination of steroids and chemotherapy seems to be working for him. His doggie oncologist is very pleased with his response. (She is a wonderful human being, by the way. I never knew there were vets as specialized as she is. Had we listened to our regular vet, Elway may not be here.) He's very tired but doing fine, eating lots of treats and enjoying extra special attention. No, he won't lose his hair. He hasn't even been nauseous like humans on chemo. We are hopeful that he will recover well and we can keep him around a long time!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE BOYS!