Monday, April 30, 2012
10 days post cyberknife- Still doing good!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Jake's eye, energy and cough
For the last 2 days Jake is obviously feeling good.The littlest things are so important to us now. He's been laying in the hallway less and wanting to be with us more (and under our feet more like he used to always be). His energy is great. He has been walking so much slower than before this all started but today he walked out ahead of me and actually led the way like he used to!
His right eye also seems to be drifting less. Not sure if we mentioned it before but his right eye used to drift a little when he was really tired. Since the treatment we noticed his eye was always drifting and seemed almost 'vacant' compared to his other eye. Looking at him with his eyes so clear again is such a great thing!
He still has his cough/gag that he's had since he first got sick. It's upsetting to hear. I don't know if this is something that other dogs with brain tumors have so in case it helps anyone I'm going to upload a video of him doing this so you can compare to your dog. He does it whenever he eats or drinks.
For the whole week since radiation ended he's seems to have one good day then a bad day and the cycle continued. We got 2 days back to back this weekend so we're thrilled and hope things continue this way :)
His right eye also seems to be drifting less. Not sure if we mentioned it before but his right eye used to drift a little when he was really tired. Since the treatment we noticed his eye was always drifting and seemed almost 'vacant' compared to his other eye. Looking at him with his eyes so clear again is such a great thing!
He still has his cough/gag that he's had since he first got sick. It's upsetting to hear. I don't know if this is something that other dogs with brain tumors have so in case it helps anyone I'm going to upload a video of him doing this so you can compare to your dog. He does it whenever he eats or drinks.
For the whole week since radiation ended he's seems to have one good day then a bad day and the cycle continued. We got 2 days back to back this weekend so we're thrilled and hope things continue this way :)
Thursday, April 26, 2012
6 days post cyberknife
Jake is now 6 days post cyberknife. I see he's been reporting how he feels himself but I want to weigh in on how he's doing too. We're starting to be concerned that the tumor is still active. He's able to walk straight but is still leaning to the left and voraciously hungry- which could be the tumor or the steroids. He is also moaning every time he lays down as if to say "ugh.....i am so sick of this and just want to get comfortable and can't". I'm not sure if it's because he's in pain.
Also at times his limbs (especially the front left paw) gets stiff and crooked and he can't seem to straighten it out. We massage him and it seems to help but this was happening just before radiation when he was at his worse so we're not happy to see this happening again. Strangely this only seems to happen when he's very tired at the beginning or end of the day.
His personality is still not quite the same as before. He wants to be off by himself laying in the hallway alone a lot. I don't know if he's tired, in pain, etc. This might not seem like a big thing but his personality before was that he was literally involved in every single conversation and activities we did in the house. He was never one of those dogs who just sat by himself. He was always the center of the house. It's weird to say but even though he's here we still miss him.
Also at times his limbs (especially the front left paw) gets stiff and crooked and he can't seem to straighten it out. We massage him and it seems to help but this was happening just before radiation when he was at his worse so we're not happy to see this happening again. Strangely this only seems to happen when he's very tired at the beginning or end of the day.
His personality is still not quite the same as before. He wants to be off by himself laying in the hallway alone a lot. I don't know if he's tired, in pain, etc. This might not seem like a big thing but his personality before was that he was literally involved in every single conversation and activities we did in the house. He was never one of those dogs who just sat by himself. He was always the center of the house. It's weird to say but even though he's here we still miss him.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Feelin' Great !!!!
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| day after radiation ended |
This has been a completely bizarre experience. Today I felt good and jumped off the bed, lunged and barked at the tv and scarfed down a rogue munchkin I found on the floor- ALL of which normally would have made mommy mad at me but instead when I do these things now I get hugs and a "Good boy". What is going on ????
I feel strong, I'm wondering why everyone is fussing over me. It's total MOTHER SMOTHER. I want to go outside and run but I seem to get tired faster than normal when we go for walks. Other than that I am great!!! I'm planning to keep up this blog myself from now on. I can handle writing about my experiences.
I made a friend who also had cyberknife radiation and he wrote about us meeting on his blog. Check him out at: http://maxck.blogspot.com/
Uh oh, mommy's coming. gotta go, will write more later :)
Friday, April 20, 2012
Day 3 - Radiation done !!!!
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| Jake in recovery room after last treatment |
Jake finished his cyberknife radiation treatments today!!! We were prepared that with the anesthesia three days in a row he might be worn down and not respond well but instead he actually got better each day!! He walked out of the clinic just like yesterday, straight as an arrow instead of his usual head tilt and leaning to the left. He was even excited at the site of his favorite tennis ball again. It is nothing short of a miracle!!! We think he may have sent that tumor packing!
Just like with humans, animals also deserve dignity during their illness and treatment. I have to say that before treatment Jake was starting to lose his dignity and quality of life. He was tired all the time, stumbling around the house and couldn't take walks and play. He couldn't even go to the bathroom without leaning on the wall outside the house or us holding him to prevent him from falling over. Jake was too dignified to live like that. I am SO grateful that we found a treatment that was non invasive and able to help give us all more time. He has given so much to us over the years and he deserves every available option.
Another paws up to our AMAZING treatment team at the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers. We know that it wasn't just the treatment or the medicines that made him better but the entire setup and how they take care of the animals, minimizing their anxiety (and the owners) and showing care and concern every step of the way. Dogs like mine who are a very sensitive and smart breed can feel this from the staff in all of their interactions. I know it may seem like a cliche but every day truly is a gift. Without this treatment we would have lost Jake weeks ago and this has given us all more time- bonus time we never would have had otherwise.
Jake has made a furever friend in his nurse Emily- see below. Emily and Dr Joseph were so invested in Jake's treatment and were so genuinely concerned for him- we cannot thank them enough and consider them our angels.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Day 2 done, doing great!!!
Day 2 of 3 cyberknife radiation treatments done!! I have no idea why Jake did so well today but after today's treatment he was able to walk straight (without leaning to the left) for the first time since this whole thing started. He literally moonwalked right out of that clinic today!!!
This treatment is not at all supposed to work this quickly -its really the combination of steroids they're giving him that's working miracles right now but we'll take it!! Today's recovery was so great, he was resting and glassy eyed but then after an hour we said "wanna go for a ride?" and he popped up and started walking !! He wanted to go home :)
We really cannot say enough about the staff at the Yonkers animal specialty center - they have been so amazing. They have really gotten to know Jake and learned what he needs to be comfortable- from what combo of meds work best for him right down to the littlest details of how he likes to be covered with his blankie and positioned comfortably during and after his treatments.
I feel like our tech Emily has become one of the pack family. Jake - a very reserved sheltie who doesn't give hugs and kisses until he really knows you - actually went over to her and leaned into her to say goodbye today (his version of a hug). He knows he's well cared for and feels safe there. Who could ask for anything more?
Emily took this cute picture of Jake when he first came into recovery.
DAY 3 HERE WE COME!!!!
Other cyberknife doggies on this site
We cyberknife doggies have to stick together. Jake says read my friend's blogs (Max and Roxy) at:
http://maxck.blogspot.com/
and
http://roxycyberknifebraintumor.blogspot.com/
Paws up!
http://maxck.blogspot.com/
and
http://roxycyberknifebraintumor.blogspot.com/
Paws up!
Day 2 going well
 |
| Jake writing his blog |
I am staying positive. I am still on a roller coaster. I go from profound sadness to acceptance back to sadness. I also have been spending way more time with him, doing fun things or just hanging out together. No matter what, I have no regrets. Feeling the need to share pix of happier times.
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| I love the snow!!!! |
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Day 1 done, Doing well !!
We were so nervous about today's first radiation treatment that we messed up the time were supposed to arrive :( We were so happy that they let us sit with him during his pre treatment medication time and immediately after coming out of the rad treatment we were able to sit with him through recovery! None of us were happy we had to be going through this but so relieved we could all be together throughout it. :)
No bad reactions to the anesthesia this time and we were able to be home by 2pm and he was able to rest. He has his little iv port in for the 3 days of treatment and we have to flush it every 6 hours. Apparently he has bad veins (who knew?) and it's better to keep it in rather than stick him 3 separate times. I don't mind, the littlest things that we can do for him now mean so much more.
He's home resting, looks great so far! 1 down, 2 more to go !!
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| jake getting pre treatment meds on radiation day 1 |
Pre treatment, Day 0
We hadn't thought this would be a big treatment day so we didn't schedule time off work to stay with him and we at the last minute had to make an unscheduled visit to our regular vet to get iv fluids and medicine. With this type of tumor (and having anesthesia) the brain swells and in his case he became disoriented and needed a diuretic medicine to take the swelling down. 1 ER visit to the vet and he again rebounded and was good as new. He's got a lot of fight in him yet!!
His leaning is still bad and we have to counterweight him by pulling on his harness (in the opposite direction of his body lean) when goes to the bathroom so he doesn't fall over. He still doesn't bark quite right. Forgot to mention but this was one of the early signs we noticed before we knew it was a brain tumor. When he barks he sounds like a dog that has been debarked for some reason. He also stumbles around the house - in fact the internet refers to this as 'drunk walking'. We've had to make the whole house disability accessible for now because he trips over everything and needs the perimeter of the house clear of furniture and objects- to balance himself he leans his left side on the walls. There are now rugs everywhere so he doesn't have to struggle trying to walk on slippery tile or hardwood- which is usually 95% of our house. But for a dog with a brain tumor this is all relatively good- he's doing well; eating, drinking a lot (still on steroids so they eat, drink and pee a lot!).
We got our clearance to start our radiation treatments starting next week!!
Specialists
We should say, our inspiration for this blog came from finding "Max the cyberknife dog"- a blog on this site. It gave us hope when we thought there was no one else going through this. Jake was going to be a therapy dog, maybe through this blog he'll be able to bring a different type of help to people and their dogs at the same time......
With a brain tumor time is of the essence. He was going downhill fast and we needed to decide what we would do. Within a week's time of Jake's diagnosis we investigated all our options and find amazing resources so we thought we'd share the story of how we chose his treatment.
Maybe we should drive to Minnesota for a clinical trial???
We're researchers at heart (and profession) so we scoured the internet and come across a dog clinical trial for the exact type of tumor Jake has being done by Dr. Liz Pluhar in Minnesota (http://www.cvm.umn.edu/newsarchives/2009/BrainTumorClinicalTrials/home.html). She actually calls us back personally the same day I leave a message, agrees to review his scans and get back to us which she does in no time. She is the kindest, most knowledgeable and honest dr I've ever spoken to!!!
We speak about the potential benefits, risks and also the challenge of driving him to Minnesota 20 hours away. She's honest about the success rate of prior cases exactly like Jakes and we decide collaboratively its not the best choice for him. Her work is amazing and I vow to myself that I will 'like' her facebook page, scream from the rooftops, do whatever I can in the future to let more people know about the work she's doing. She gives options to people and their dogs who have no other options in the world- and with kindness and compassion rarely seen by drs of any kind. AND, she takes the time to conduct actual research just like human randomized clinical trials that make head to head comparisons of different treatment regimens to advance vet medicine and give us real data to guide treatment options. Rarely do vets ever conduct clinical trials so her work is a HUGE benefit to the field and will undoubtedly help improve treatment options for many dogs in the future. A big paw's up for Dr. Pluhar !!
The Animal Cancer Foundation is giving a lecture on new treatments in canine oncology the week we find out about Jake's tumor- maybe it's a sign!
We knew NOTHING about cancer except for the human experience of misery and harsh treatment side effects. The week of Jake's diagnosis we find out Dr Gerald Post, a vet oncologist and Founder of the Animal Cancer Foundation (http://www.oncovet.com/about) has decided to move his vet specialty practice to Newtown, CT about 10 miles from me! He's holding a cancer talk in my town and I decide to go and see what I can learn. This was a hugely important step in deciding what treatment we would pursue because his talk was about the myths and realities of canine cancer treatment. Most importantly it taught me that cancer treatment is NOT the same in animals as it is for humans. The side effects are so much more minimal and in fact he showed pictures of a dog he treated who actually won agility trial championships while taking chemotherapy meds!
When you get a cancer diagnosis its natural to think "Do i really want to put my dog through that?" "Is my dog going to be throwing up and having diarrhea, burned from radiation and miserable for his last days?" Dr Post's talk was enlightening and so relieving to hear. It wasn't a choice we had to make out of fear of side effects, we could move forward just considering what is the best treatment for the type of cancer he has. Huge relief. Dr. Post - another paw's up!
Maybe we should go with Cyberknife radiation treatment at the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers, NY .
We learn from our local vet that we happen to live within 1 hour of one of the best vet specialty centers (Animal Specialty Center - Yonkers, NY); http://www.vcaspecialtyvets.com/animal-specialty-center). They have specialists of all kinds- neurologist, oncologists, dermatologists, dentists, physical therapists, etc all under one roof. We visit with their neurologist Dr. Joseph and within seconds he tells us he knows its a brain tumor, later confirmed by MRI (see picture, top left base of brain). The tumor is large and in the base of the brain - the area responsible for breathing and all basic life functions so surgery is NOT an option.
We hear from Dr Joseph that if Jake gets strong enough and responds well to steroids we can schedule him for cyberknife radiation- a special type of radiation that was pioneered at this center and is the only machine in the world (yea, that's right.........not country, but world that has it). Now, let me tell you, this is some high tech stuff. From what I understand, regular radiation requires 15-20 treatments with anesthesia EVERY treatment and can leave your dog sick and with radiation burns, etc. The cyberknife radiosurgery uses a high tech robotic arm to deliver laser like precision doses to the exact location of the tumor and treats the tumor in 1-3 treatments. This is a HUGE improvement, more efficient and precise.
So, we're told there's only about 400 dogs who have had this treatment before in the last 2-3 years and no published data is yet available. These are the facts we're also faced with: Dogs who do not get treated for meningiomas have about 2 months to live,dogs with cyberknife can get 1 to 1 1/2 years if all goes well and you follow up with chemotherapy. For us it was a no brainer (poorly timed pun I know). We schedule the cyberknife to start on April 18 for 3 consecutive days.We go on a tour to see the robot that will be delivering the radiation - I affectionately call it "Johnny Five" from the 80s movie Short Circuit.
After reviewing many excellent options and finding many kind and knowledgeable people along the way to help us we've decided on our treatment. Johnny Five here we come!!!!
Disclaimer- I am a distraught owner of a dog with cancer and although I pride myself on being smart, I'm at about half strength right now with the emotional roller coaster of this all so I may not be fully explaining cyberknife treatment in the best detail. For full, accurate medical info see: http://www.vcaspecialtyvets.com/animal-specialty-center/departments-doctors/departments/radiation-oncology
With a brain tumor time is of the essence. He was going downhill fast and we needed to decide what we would do. Within a week's time of Jake's diagnosis we investigated all our options and find amazing resources so we thought we'd share the story of how we chose his treatment.
Maybe we should drive to Minnesota for a clinical trial???
We're researchers at heart (and profession) so we scoured the internet and come across a dog clinical trial for the exact type of tumor Jake has being done by Dr. Liz Pluhar in Minnesota (http://www.cvm.umn.edu/newsarchives/2009/BrainTumorClinicalTrials/home.html). She actually calls us back personally the same day I leave a message, agrees to review his scans and get back to us which she does in no time. She is the kindest, most knowledgeable and honest dr I've ever spoken to!!!
We speak about the potential benefits, risks and also the challenge of driving him to Minnesota 20 hours away. She's honest about the success rate of prior cases exactly like Jakes and we decide collaboratively its not the best choice for him. Her work is amazing and I vow to myself that I will 'like' her facebook page, scream from the rooftops, do whatever I can in the future to let more people know about the work she's doing. She gives options to people and their dogs who have no other options in the world- and with kindness and compassion rarely seen by drs of any kind. AND, she takes the time to conduct actual research just like human randomized clinical trials that make head to head comparisons of different treatment regimens to advance vet medicine and give us real data to guide treatment options. Rarely do vets ever conduct clinical trials so her work is a HUGE benefit to the field and will undoubtedly help improve treatment options for many dogs in the future. A big paw's up for Dr. Pluhar !!
The Animal Cancer Foundation is giving a lecture on new treatments in canine oncology the week we find out about Jake's tumor- maybe it's a sign!
We knew NOTHING about cancer except for the human experience of misery and harsh treatment side effects. The week of Jake's diagnosis we find out Dr Gerald Post, a vet oncologist and Founder of the Animal Cancer Foundation (http://www.oncovet.com/about) has decided to move his vet specialty practice to Newtown, CT about 10 miles from me! He's holding a cancer talk in my town and I decide to go and see what I can learn. This was a hugely important step in deciding what treatment we would pursue because his talk was about the myths and realities of canine cancer treatment. Most importantly it taught me that cancer treatment is NOT the same in animals as it is for humans. The side effects are so much more minimal and in fact he showed pictures of a dog he treated who actually won agility trial championships while taking chemotherapy meds!
When you get a cancer diagnosis its natural to think "Do i really want to put my dog through that?" "Is my dog going to be throwing up and having diarrhea, burned from radiation and miserable for his last days?" Dr Post's talk was enlightening and so relieving to hear. It wasn't a choice we had to make out of fear of side effects, we could move forward just considering what is the best treatment for the type of cancer he has. Huge relief. Dr. Post - another paw's up!
Maybe we should go with Cyberknife radiation treatment at the Animal Specialty Center in Yonkers, NY .
We learn from our local vet that we happen to live within 1 hour of one of the best vet specialty centers (Animal Specialty Center - Yonkers, NY); http://www.vcaspecialtyvets.com/animal-specialty-center). They have specialists of all kinds- neurologist, oncologists, dermatologists, dentists, physical therapists, etc all under one roof. We visit with their neurologist Dr. Joseph and within seconds he tells us he knows its a brain tumor, later confirmed by MRI (see picture, top left base of brain). The tumor is large and in the base of the brain - the area responsible for breathing and all basic life functions so surgery is NOT an option.
We hear from Dr Joseph that if Jake gets strong enough and responds well to steroids we can schedule him for cyberknife radiation- a special type of radiation that was pioneered at this center and is the only machine in the world (yea, that's right.........not country, but world that has it). Now, let me tell you, this is some high tech stuff. From what I understand, regular radiation requires 15-20 treatments with anesthesia EVERY treatment and can leave your dog sick and with radiation burns, etc. The cyberknife radiosurgery uses a high tech robotic arm to deliver laser like precision doses to the exact location of the tumor and treats the tumor in 1-3 treatments. This is a HUGE improvement, more efficient and precise.
So, we're told there's only about 400 dogs who have had this treatment before in the last 2-3 years and no published data is yet available. These are the facts we're also faced with: Dogs who do not get treated for meningiomas have about 2 months to live,dogs with cyberknife can get 1 to 1 1/2 years if all goes well and you follow up with chemotherapy. For us it was a no brainer (poorly timed pun I know). We schedule the cyberknife to start on April 18 for 3 consecutive days.We go on a tour to see the robot that will be delivering the radiation - I affectionately call it "Johnny Five" from the 80s movie Short Circuit.
After reviewing many excellent options and finding many kind and knowledgeable people along the way to help us we've decided on our treatment. Johnny Five here we come!!!!
 |
| Jake's MRI |
Disclaimer- I am a distraught owner of a dog with cancer and although I pride myself on being smart, I'm at about half strength right now with the emotional roller coaster of this all so I may not be fully explaining cyberknife treatment in the best detail. For full, accurate medical info see: http://www.vcaspecialtyvets.com/animal-specialty-center/departments-doctors/departments/radiation-oncology
 |
| cyberknife machine, AKA "Johnny Five" |
From the beginning..........
We decided to start this blog because we recently learned our 9 yr old Sheltie, Jake, has a brain tumor (meningioma) in the brain stem, inoperable. Jake is our son, nothing less, and we are devastated. He's always been healthy, full of life and ironically, had recently even started training to become a therapy dog to bring comfort to others who are sick.
Suddenly, the first week of March he started leaning to the left and walking sideways. He was also coughing and gagging when he ate or drank his water. We struggled to figure out what could be causing all this....maybe he had Lyme disease (he did have a tick)....maybe he has an inner ear infection that's throwing off his balance....maybe the antibiotic he got for the ear infection damaged his inner ear......we had no idea. We actually thought the vet thought we were crazy since he couldn't even see the symptoms when we brought him there. Of course, whenever you bring your child or dog to the dr they're suddenly fine, right?
Things started getting better as soon as he was given steroids. He was given 2 weeks of dexamethasone and he was great! Then within 3 days of finishing the medicine he was flat, his limbs were stiffening and he started leaning to the left, tilting his head to the left and almost ignoring the right side of his body. Strangely, he would go from laying stiff as a board to popping up and barking as soon as someone comes to the door.
By 3-28 we're sent to an appt with a vet neurologist for further testing, we've officially outgrown our regular vet's knowledge base. In our next blog post we'll describe the testing process and our adventures through treatment options: specialty vets, doggie clinical trials and more........
Suddenly, the first week of March he started leaning to the left and walking sideways. He was also coughing and gagging when he ate or drank his water. We struggled to figure out what could be causing all this....maybe he had Lyme disease (he did have a tick)....maybe he has an inner ear infection that's throwing off his balance....maybe the antibiotic he got for the ear infection damaged his inner ear......we had no idea. We actually thought the vet thought we were crazy since he couldn't even see the symptoms when we brought him there. Of course, whenever you bring your child or dog to the dr they're suddenly fine, right?
Things started getting better as soon as he was given steroids. He was given 2 weeks of dexamethasone and he was great! Then within 3 days of finishing the medicine he was flat, his limbs were stiffening and he started leaning to the left, tilting his head to the left and almost ignoring the right side of his body. Strangely, he would go from laying stiff as a board to popping up and barking as soon as someone comes to the door.
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