Final lap

I think we're nearing the end of our adventure with Leo.

He's certainly improved from Friday and yesterday. His appetite is better, he's got a little more energy - I mean, he tried to take me to the park this morning - and he just ... looks better.

But it's not really enough.

I hope...

I found this:

He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.

I hope I have.

It was going well

We had an appointment on the 10th, and his nodes were pretty swollen - so much so that we thought he might be in some distress. The vincristine did it's magic, and they were down within 3 days.

He was a little slow and a little tired, but otherwise ok. By Sunday, he was great. He was doing so well we moved his appointment on the 20th to the 24th, just to give him a bit of a break. The nodes were small, and he was getting better.

Things did not go as planned.

About a week

It looks like the vincristine gives us about a week, maybe a little more, of no swollen nodes. Then they come raging back.  The problem, of course, is that his tolerance to the vincristine is getting lower. He shows signs of side-effects (tired, not wanting to go our, stomach issues) for about 4 or 5 days. So, that's tough. The cycle we're on, of knocking them down then letting them swell up probably isn't sustainable.

But living on vincristine isn't, either. So, we will do what we can.

COPS

It's back to COP, I guess. While his nodes were big again by appointment time, the Vincristine took care of them (again). This time we're going to hit it with some cytoxan when they come back, just to see if that does anything. Perhaps we'll be able to get some good times.