Neverending

Leo did another chemo, but seriously, the tick thing is never ending.

Ticks!

So Leo's doing well enough, and well enough right after chemo that a little light hiking is ok - in fact, the vet recommended that we do things with him, since that's why we're doing this, after all.  So, I decided to take him hiking, with Luna, up in the Sterling Forest Preserve - close by, easy hikes, and I've not been there before.  The downside of this is that 1) he's just had chemo, and 2) I couldn't frontline him, since he's on chemo.  That was not a good thing.

Prednisone!

Just a side note - holy cow that dog can eat.  This weekend he ate constantly - bally, snacks, dinner, more snacks, another bally, another bally. Lisa says he's worse at her place.  Seriously, that dog is eating like crazy.  Between the prednisone and the metabolic changes that he's gone through (a result of there now being a lot fewer cancer cells), he's eating more and weighing almost 10 lbs less (down to 48.9 lbs, well below his happy weight).
Of course, he keeps this up and he'll be fat.  Granted, that the least of our worries.  Anyway, this weekend he's going to get some exercise.

Chemo #3

It looks like Tuesday/Wednesday is the bad day for Leo - he's fine with me, but he is definitely not the best with Lisa.  Aside from a bit of the poops, tho', he's been pretty good. Although it seems he reacts to diuretics like I do...

Remission

On Saturday Leo went in for Chemo #2.  While he had a bit of the Leo bounce back, he was still only at 75-80% - although he did take me for a long walk on Saturday morning.  We'd noticed his lymph nodes weren't swollen anymore, but was this remission? Could it happen this fast?
The folks at VERG were happy to see him (which is nice), and were even happier at his progress and his response to chemo.  In short - he responded as well as they can ever hope for, his side-effects were minor, considering his stage, and he's in clinical remission.

Week 1: Is this working?

So, Leo went in to chemo with a fairly high "tumor load", as the terminology goes.  His lymph nodes were big - many centimeters by many centimeters, and they showed up on ultrasound and x-ray.  He was a little bloated, and definitely not feeling well.  Chemo treatment 1 was supposed to work fast, reduce the tumor load, and reduce the swelling.  It did, and then some.

Chemo, Day 1

Leo asking to go outside instead of going to chemo.

There are several treatment options for canine lymphoma.  Palliative and supportive care, some older chemotherapy protocols, and the gold-standard Modified Wisconsin Protocol. Because of Leo's age, his general vitality, and our desire to have as much Leo-time as possible, we opted for the latter.