New Year, New Ears

So I get to have NYE with EO, which is nice. It will certainly be low-key, since neither of us are feeling particularly great.

That's not good

It's back.

It got through and it came back.

I noticed before the latest checkup that his popliteal nodes were big. Others were, too. We're out of remission (again), it's multiple nodes, and it broke through.

Our options are
Do nothing - nope
Do rescue therapy - can't give up yet
Do COP - I guess we'll see.

Wish he was here

My friend W and I did a hike up to Oyster Dome. First, getting there was amazing. We came from Vancouver (having spent the night watching a Rangers game, then eating Mexican food. In Canada. Because you do.) so the vistas on the way there were pretty cool. Some coastal plains, some major mountains in the distance, and then an amazing drive through the Temperate Rainforest. Stunning!

But the hike was great - starting off in the damp and green of the rainforest, then climbing up over 2000 feet over the course of 3 or 4 miles. It's effectively like either walking up a really steep ramp or walking up stairs. It's challenging, I won't lie, and it is hard on the knees. But the payoff was pretty good.

Wow.

Geologist, for scale

The only thing missing

What's awesome is that you reach what seems like the top, and then the trail splits off into a bunch of little trails that lead to the vista above. You're in the trees and the woods and you've just climbed up this thing and you feel so proud of yourself... and there's like 25 other people up there, in various states of fitness. 

But the dogs - oh my, the dogs! Seems like every other hiking group had a dog. Lots of labs and young dogs. I think Leo could have made it, but he would have needed some serious couch time afterwards.

I know I did.

So far so good

Things are going well - he's responding well to treatment

The bad news is that it's so damn expensive, and every week.

The good news is that it's working.

I'm going to AGU to present my work, see him when I get back.

Panther Mountain

I recently had a birthday, and despite being far too busy for a real hiking trip with Leo, I wanted to do something special. Two of my favorite pictures are me and Leo on this ledge in the Catskills (in younger, less-lymphoma-y times) and then all of my friends and Leo on the same ledge.  In one of my favorite facebook comments every (yeah, I know), someone asks my friend "who won the king of the mountain?". The reply: "The dog won."

Another episode of "White feet, don't treat"

In politics, they say "it's the economy, stupid."
For Leo, it's more like "it's the ivermectin, dummy."

Back to Watchung

Today we went back to the Watchung preserve, ostensibly to lead a field trip. Yeah, that didn't happen.

Grumble. I went to meet help my students who needed to complete the field trip. I was there. They weren't.

So far, so good

It's been a month an 4 treatments, and Leo is now feeling good. We've had dinner with Grampy, a ton of wandering around Greenpoint and Williamsburg, and now a hike back in Fahnestock State Forest on a most beautiful fall day.

Flugertown, no bears, 500 miles

Previous Flugertown Rd. trip, same site, same coolers, same dog.

Septembro! Time for another Flugertown road experience. Of course, these damn treatments are really inconvenient, and this one was scheduled for Saturday. The camping trip was Friday-Sunday.  I had 2 options - either go for just one day (and miss at least one person - and would have missed 2, had I only gone up on Saturday) or go up for both and drive back for treatment. We all know what I did.

He can do it!

So on Wednesday we had treatment #2. It was not looking good for the home team - Leo had no energy, the poops, and still had a swollen shoulder node. But this weekend - well, Sunday - was just glorious. And I mean glorious - 70, sunny, light breeze. On Saturday, Leo had been, well, pretty darn good! He had energy - it was coming back - and was eating like a champ. His stomach issues seemed to have abated a bit (granted, he was eating chicken and rice and pumpkin), and I need to go on a Geology field trip. So, off we go!

Stop 1 - basalt! There's a parking lot behind me.

Re-evaluating what's really important

This has been an incredibly difficult 2 weeks.  There was the lump, then the confirmation, then the treatment, and now it's the aftermath.  Leo is soldiering through, but the first shot of Vincristine took a huge toll on him (white feet, after all).

Back to the familiar settings

So, we went back to VERG on Wednesday. First, traffic was horrendous. Second, what were we doing there? We have an 11-year old dog whose been in remission for 2 1/2 years. What do we do? What are the options?

It's back

The cytology came back on Saturday.  His rear swollen lymph node is, indeed, lymphoma.

It's back.  After 2 years 5 1/2 months, and nearly 2 years after the first round of chemo ended, it's back.

Cancer just keeps coming.  It keeps coming and keeps attacking and it always wins.  It always fucking wins.

Normal!

Well, that was some good news! Leo's blood work came back normal - which makes me feel a lot better about that lump.  It may well just be from all the flea bites - yeah, he apparently has a flea allergy, and despite having his collar, he still gets bit by fleas (they just don't stick around too long, apparently, because I don't see them on him, nor on me or the cat... ) and he has a terrible reaction. He also doesn't have heartworm, which is really what I've been stressing about over the past week.

A suspicious item

I have scheduled a senior wellness checkup for Leo this week, mostly to make sure that his heartworm test comes back negative and to get a few weird things looked at (is that a granuloma? what about the hairy tumor thing on his leg?). I was poking around, and there's a lump - a lymph node - behind his right rear leg. I can feel it - that's bad. Now, he's got all kinds of scabs and hot spots on his back quarter - seriously, it's awful! - so it could just be from the infection/scabs/bites/what have you. I hope.  We shall see.

Bruno RIP

I have found out that Bruno, Leo's dog-friend, has passed away.  Bruno also had cancer. The last time that we saw Bruno it was on Friday. He was not doing well, and when Leo went up to him he didn't get up - but the tail was wagging, and he perked up when his old pal came by to say hello.

ELEVEN

The quote is "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics"; I'm going to say there's even damned statistics.  Leo has made it to eleven years old, which is, statistically, improbable.  But here he is, and I'm happy for it.

Leo's friends

Do dogs have friends? I know, weird question, but it's certainly something that I think about when I see him interacting with other dogs.

Lies, damned lies and statistics

As I do the statistics necessary to write a climate paper, I am struck by the outlier I see regularly. That is,  Leo, who is the definition of an outlier.  He's part of the long tail of a distribution.  The unfortunate fact of the matter, it's a distribution of outcomes, of recurrences - in short, of survival.  The fortunate part is he's on the good end of things, the part where statistics stop mattering so much.
It is hard, at times, to look at something or someone that you care about as the result of statistics.  But it's true - we are all parts of various distributions, whether we know it or not. Some are happy (our long-tail-dwelling friend), and some are not (the poor souls whose cancers don't respond, or whose remissions are measured in days, not years).

I am simply happy that Leo's good health, and good luck, continue, and that he continues to be part of the Long Tail of outcomes.  It's not only good for him - it's good for me, too!

2 years

I'm very late with this, and happy to be late.
2 years ago, I got a terrible phone call from L that something was wrong with Leo.  When I saw his face, I knew it was bad.
On March 29, 2012, Leo was diagnosed with Lymphoma.  He began chemotherapy on 3/31/2012.  His life expectancy was anywhere between 9-18months, with a median survival of 1 year or less.  Hence the name of this blog.

Checkup

Leo's been having a bit of trouble with his throaty-thing, so it was back in to see the doctors.  This wasn't a "let's do something!" visit, but rather a "let's figure out if we should do something" visit.  And again, after a lot of time and patience and poking and prodding, we've come to the conclusion that there's nothing obviously wrong. Which is good!

Luna's Birthday

There are a few pictures from Luna's last birthday, when she turned 14.  L celebrated her birthday on Halloween.  Here are the pics from 12/31/2013.

Heartbreak

This is a blog about Leo, but there are other animals in the house.  There was Bit, and there's the other dog Luna.  Luna was a slightly neurotic, slightly crazy, completely sweet and wonderful 14 year old dog.  And Sunday morning, she was put to sleep.  My heart is aching.